Law of Self Defense
Attorney Andrew F. Branca's weekly plain-English legal educational News and Question & Answer show on American use-of-force law--self-defense, defense of others, and defense of property, to enable law-abiding people to make better informed, more confident, more decisive, and more lawful use-of-force decisions.
Law of Self Defense
Did Deputy “Execute” Airman Roger Fortson, or Is That Defamation
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Intentionally and falsely characterizing someone of having committed a crime is generally defamation per se, meaning that the person wrongfully accused is presumptively entitled to monetary damages. Even worse, when this kind of unmerited and gratuitous reputation destruction is done for reasons of personal profit—a few more YouTube bucks, for example--it would seem particularly contemptible behavior.
Today we explore the question of whether explicitly labeling former Deputy Eddie Duran’s shooting of Airman Roger Fortson as having “executed Fortson for exercising his Constitutional rights” might qualify as precisely this kind of defamation per se.
This question is, of course, prompted by the repeated publication of Attorney William Kirk, on his YouTube channel Washington Gun Law (WGL) of the explicit claim that Duran executed Fortson merely because he was exercising his Constitutional rights.
Promised links from today’s show:
LOSD: REAL LAWYER | The Roger Fortson Shooting: Awful? Lawful? Both? (5/13/24) https://youtube.com/live/Zy1xcbAU2l0
WGL: The Florida Man Who Was Executed for Exercising His Constitutional Rights (5/13/24) https://youtu.be/IWepSw11YiA?si=hO7QaGkgk1QbgflQ
LOSD: Sound Legal Analysis, or Shameful Misinformation? (5/15/24) https://www.youtube.com/live/JEf63eHv0ac?si=dnHROCOoL2N1pFPZ
WGL: Charges Filed Against the Deputy Who Ended This Man's Life Because He Was Armed (8/25/24) https://youtu.be/BPN8V2SgUkE?si=onqmYu0nW4j6SepR
Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office: OPS Administrative Investigation (5/30/24)
https://lawofselfdefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IA-2024-012-Final-Report-002-1.pdf
Florida First Judicial Circuit State’s Attorney Press Release (8/23/24)
https://lawofselfdefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/State-Attorneys-press-release-information.pdf
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