William confronted a drunk intruder on his property on the night of January 29th, 2022. The intruder was a man named Christopher Cotton. Cotton was caught trespassing after dark on Scholle’s property. According to Scholle, he held Cotton at gunpoint while waiting for Routt County Sheriff’s to respond to his wife’s 911 call.
At some point Cotton refused to stay on the ground and when he got up, Scholle shot him once in the abdomen. Cotton eventually survived. Scholle was charged with two felonies — first-degree assault and menacing, and one misdemeanor, prohibited use of a firearm.
Originally Scholle tried to use the Defense Against Intruder law to defend his actions. This defense ended up being rejected by the presiding judge as the shooting did not take place within the dwelling.
The judge also determined that Cotton had not made an unlawful entry into the dwelling. The court determined that “dwelling” and “premises” are two separate things, and after considering numerous other court cases, the judge concluded that the concrete patio where Cotton was shot shouldn’t be defined as a part of the dwelling.
This was not the only issue with Scholle’s invocation of the Defense Against Intruder law, but it was an insurmountable problem for Scholle.
Scholle also made inconsistent statements about the events of that night. Without video evidence, the prosecutor and ultimately the jury are left to decide who the credible parties are. Scholle originally said that he shot Cotton after Cotton stood up from the prone position. 10 months later, Scholle stated that he now recalled that Cotton and he exchanged punches before Scholle fired. Prosecutors did attack Scholle’s credibility based on this change of story, as well they should if they are any good at their job. This is exactly why it’s so important to get an attorney involved immediately when involved in a self defense incident. A competent attorney would have helped Scholle gather all of his thoughts as well as evidence before providing a statement to detectives. This isn’t because Scholle was guilty, but his job after protecting his family is to protect his affirmative defense.
Eventually, a jury was left to decide whether or not Scholle’s actions were “reasonable” in defense of his life and the life of his family. The jury did acquit Scholle of all charges. However the path to a conviction is much easier when the jury is left to decide the case under the Defense of A Person statute, especially when dealing with an unarmed attacker and a Defendant who has admittedly changed his story.
William Scholle did hire an attorney but from all appearances, this was not done immediately and almost certainly at extremely high expense. I’m sure Scholle counts the cost of the attorneys as “worth it” to keep him out of prison. But I’m also sure that it was a very painful experience.
Once again this is why we recommend Firearms Legal Protection, in part so that you will not hesitate to call an attorney right away after you have defended yourself. William Scholle was protecting himself, his wife and his children. But without a plan for the aftermath, William created problems for his case that cost him a year of his life, an expensive legal defense and the stress of leaving his future up to a jury of his peers.
We get this question in our Free Concealed Carry classes on a pretty regular basis, and it’s worth discussing.
What happens if you end up in a self defense shooting but you were carrying the gun illegally?
Before you jump to conclusions on ‘illegally carrying’, the most common way people end up carrying illegally is carrying in a ‘gun free zone’, often unaware that carry is prohibited in that area. Colorado has just made this circumstance much more likely by removing some important state law that prevented local jurisdictions from enacting local ordinances about where concealed carry can be prohibited. With 336 local jurisdictions, it becomes impossible for everyone to keep track of all the prohibited places.
What we’re going to discuss here is a guiding legal principle. I won’t promise that it is true in every circumstance because I’m not an attorney and honestly I’m not well enough informed to be fully aware of possible exceptions to this principle. I’m not qualified to give legal advice and you should always consult an attorney about specific legal circumstances.
Coffee was acquitted by a jury on 5 counts including attempted murder of a police officer. The jury agreed with the Defense’s argument that Coffee was reasonably acting in self defense. However Coffee was also a convicted felon and possessed his firearm illegally.
The fundamental question in these circumstances is whether or not you surrender you’re right to self defense by being in possession of an illegal item. The short answer is, no, you do not surrender your natural right to self defense just by possessing a gun in an illegal area, or even possessing an illegal item. This is better illustrated with a couple of examples.
in 2017, Andrew Coffee was involved in a shootout with a Florida SWAT team. The shootout resulted in the death of Coffee’s girlfriend, Alteria Woods. Woods was killed by police in the raid and Coffee was charged with felony murder for causing her death. I won’t rehash the details of the case, you can read a synopsis HERE. Coffee was acquitted by a jury on 5 counts including attempted murder of a police officer. The jury agreed with the Defense’s argument that Coffee was reasonably acting in self defense. However Coffee was also a convicted felon and possessed his firearm illegally. The jury convicted Coffee of the possession charge, and Coffee was eventually sentenced to 10 years.
A more recent case is even more stark. in June of this year, William Thompson was arrested after being involved in a shootout with a group of teens who had assaulted his 9 year old daughter. The attack on his daughter led to a fight which escalated to a shooting. Thompson was armed with a ‘ghost gun’ (a non serialized homemade gun) equipped with a switch that converted the handgun to full auto. A grand jury announced today a no bill (no charges) against Thompson for his act of shooting at his attackers in defense of himself and his daughter. But Thompson is not off the hook for the illegal machine gun. He is still facing a federal felony charge which carries a possible 10 year sentence.
This principle could also apply to carrying a gun while under the influence. The difference with being under the influence is that the prosecution will likely try to use your inhibited state against you, questioning your judgement in the moment.
These kinds of legal questions are good reasons why it’s important to expand your legal education about self defense law beyond just taking a concealed carry class.
Even if you’ve already taken the state mandated classes, you will benefit from more FREE education and training.
Guns For Everyone is now offering multiple versions of our Free Concealed Carry classes that focus on specific topics, such as the legal implications of deadly force. Even if you’ve already taken the state mandated classes, you will benefit from more FREE education and training. You can find our complete class calendar HERE. Continue your training and education, your life and your freedom may very well depend on it.
Tuesday afternoon I was stopping in to a gun store to see a fellow instructor. As soon as I walked in the door he told me, “Another mass shooting. Elementary school, so far 14 kids.” I was instantly speechless. Unfortunately we are used to hearing this kind of news but hearing about it taking place at an elementary school hits harder.
I’m sick of hearing about this. Many people are tired of hearing about it too. But because of my role as firearms instructor I am steeped in news of violence far more than just mass shootings that make it to the headlines. I have a responsibility as an instructor to be a student of violence. It’s a dark place to hang out. I force myself to watch and read about the most heinous types of attacks in order to better understand how and why it happens.
The details of this latest shooting in Texas are unusual in a few ways that I don’t really need to go into here. The point of bringing it up here is to underscore the fact that as much as we try to group these events under the convenient umbrella of “crazy”, or “racist” or “evil”, at some point these reasons are not useful to us. Lots of people struggle with crippling mental illness without shooting up a school. Lot’s of people are sociopathic or psychopathic without being violent. If we continue to rely on these broad descriptors then we will never have a useful way to confront these issues.
This young man has a history of violent and anti social behavior according to friends, family and others. But we have many of these people in our society who never get close to shooting up a school. How do we stop this kind of tragedy when the target is so small and so concealed amongst the noise?
I have a controversial answer to this question. My answer is that is the wrong question. In my humble opinion, the right question is to ask is, “How prepared can you be for when horrific moments come to you?”
“Evil” has been with us since Cain killed his brother in a jealous rage. Mankind has always been murderous towards his fellow man. The motivations vary, but murder is in our hearts just like kindness and goodness is in our hearts. We blame whatever helps us make sense of the act, but essentially this is part of who we are. Just like Mother Nature will always give us food and at the same time threaten to kill us with heat, cold, storms, drought, even lightning.
How do we protect ourselves from Mother Nature? We build shelters, we plan for the worst, we plant in the spring and harvest before the cold. We understand that the world doesn’t owe us safety and we work extremely hard to guard against the inherent danger of the world. That’s what a responsible person does. And when the sun is warm and the wind is calm, we bask in the joy of Nature.
These killers will always be with us. Sometimes we will see them coming from a mile away, and sometimes they will cloak themselves until they are ready to destroy and no one will see it coming. The responsible thing to do is to accept this reality and be as prepared as possible.
How do we prepare? My belief is that the first step is Mindset. Mindset drives everything we do and understand, or fail to understand, about the world around us. In this case, I think a useful mindset is to acknowledge the reality of this world and not trick yourself into believing that you have a right to safety. You have a right to defend yourself, but not a single person on this planet can guarantee your safety. Developing and maintaining this mindset requires you to confront the reality of the potential for evil in the world around you. This shouldn’t make you cynical, it should make you aware.
The rest of your preparation will depend on you, your values, your priorities, etc. Are you the type of person who would fight this kind of evil should it come to your threshold? Then prepare by learning how to fight, whether with hands or weapons. That may not be the best answer for everyone, you will have to make these determinations for yourself.
We cannot wipe away the evil in the hearts of men, and trying to remove their means for evil will be an exercise in futility. I’m reminded of the line in Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.” The sick but very real inverse of that line is, “Death finds a way.” Our job is to prepare for it.
Last week, we sent an email with a story about why it is so important to have a legal plan for the aftermath of a self defense encounter. This week we will be talking about a horrible situation involving two young girls shot in a road rage encounter.
This story is tough to believe. But the way it starts is all too common. Two drivers take offense at the other’s driving, which leads to brake checking, swerving, obscene gestures, thrown objects and ultimately gunfire.
William Hale and Frank Allison were involved in a road rage incident in north Florida on October 8th, 2022, that ended with both men shooting each other’s daughters.
We will probably never learn exactly what started the confrontation between these two men, but witnesses say that both drivers were driving erratically, chasing each other, trying to get in front of each other. We do have a witness statement that at one point one driver flipped off the other. Then an object was thrown. That escalated to a gunshot from one driver, which hit a 5 year old girl in the leg. The other driver then fired multiple rounds at the other vehicle, striking a 14 year old girl in the back.
Both drivers pulled over near a deputy who was already stopped on the side of the highway and then began fist fighting until the deputy broke up the fight. Both girls who were shot survived, one with a collapsed lung. Both drivers are now charged with attempted murder.
What can we learn from this incident as responsible gun owners and self defenders? The first lesson I take from this act of stupidity is that we have to remember that our actions have the potential to affect more than just ourselves. Both of these men acted selfishly and their children paid the price.
The second lesson is that what may seem like self defense to you can easily be read as escalation to your opponent. I’m sure both of these men felt like the other driver was escalating the confrontation, while in reality both of them repeatedly increased the intensity and stakes of the fight. Either one of these guys could have stopped this confrontation by refusing to continue, but both of them chose the wrong options. And from the reports, it wasn’t just the men driving, at least one passenger engaged in the escalation as well.
The third lesson from this story is that when you hold the power of life and death in your hands, the consequences for wrong actions are extreme. Both of these dads not only caused life changing injuries to their children, but both of them now face legal consequences that will affect them for the rest of their lives. In addition, there will be life changing financial impacts for both of them. Both will lose their jobs, both will have serious criminal records even if they don’t get convicted. Both will have trouble getting jobs in the future, qualifying for loans, for insurance, Whether or not they accept responsibility, both will live with the knowledge that they put their child in life threatening danger over something so idiotic that it defies belief.
This story reminds me of another road rage tragedy from 2013, in which two Michigan men, both with Concealed Carry Permits, shot and killed each other. James Pullum, 43, and Robert Taylor, 56, escalated from tailgating to murder within a few moments. I’d be willing to bet that both men probably felt like they were in the right for defending themselves, and both are now dead.
When we cover when it is appropriate to use deadly force in our Free Concealed Carry classes, we discuss the concept of Could versus Should. It is important we don’t focus on asking when “can” we shoot, we instead ask, when “should” we shoot. The defensive mindset includes understanding what is truly at risk when a confrontation starts, and doing everything we can to deescalate an encounter. If deescalation is ultimately not possible, we may find ourselves in a position where we have to resort to deadly force to protect ourselves. Road rage is a common example of people losing sight of what is most important, and this story is no exception.
In a majority of self defense incidents where a gun is used to defend a person, the gun is used without having to fire it. This is the best case scenario as it limits the overall risk to the defender. But in some of these cases, the bullets do start flying. Once that happens, the risk to the defender becomes extreme.
Two weeks ago in Seattle, a father of 2 was forced into this position. Returning home with his wife and children, a 30 year old man was accosted by two armed bad guys who pointed guns at him. Drawing his own gun he fired at the attackers who fired back. According to the good guy, he moved away from his family while the shooting was happening to draw the attack away from his wife and children. He ended up with 3 bullets in his legs and foot. He applied a tourniquet to one of his legs while waiting for police and ambulance.
He survived the shooting, and the two bad guys escaped and have not been found. Our good guy demonstrated not just bravery but also preparation by having the ability to think and act in the middle of a dynamic critical incident as well as to help himself survive after the shooting stopped. He is certainly a hero to his family.
His story demonstrates to us that while it is a great advantage to be armed when attacked, these are highly dangerous encounters and our training should reflect that. I cannot recommend enough that you not only train on how to use your gun defensively, but to also learn how to treat life threatening bleeds and carry the tools to treat them. A good place to start with this training is StopTheBleed.org.
This man’s wife and kids not only can thank him for being prepared to act, but also prepared to survive.
This week I want you to take 3 minutes and 49 seconds to understand an extremely important concept when it comes to your personal defense. The topic is presented in the video below by Rob Pincus, founder of I.C.E. Training and developer of the Intuitive Defense Shooting curriculum that we use to teach our students about using a gun for self defense.
Before we get to the video, I want to point something out that I think many people don’t fully understand. When we say “Warrior Expert Theory”, many people think to themselves, “Well I’m no warrior, how does this even apply to me?” You may or may not be a “warrior”. But if you are ever targeted as a victim by a violent attacker, you ARE in a war. This makes you a warrior, even if just for those few moments. What kind of warrior you will be will depend in part how prepared you are. This is why understanding how we should learn to respond to these kinds of threats is important.
The video is short, but the mindset described in those few minutes can take a long time to develop and understand. Take some time to reflect on your own mindset when it comes to your training, your education, and how you understand the very high stakes of a violent attack.
