PA Bill Number: HB1441
Title: Providing for tenants' rights in cases of violence.
Description: Providing for tenants' rights in cases of violence. ...
Last Action: Referred to JUDICIARY
Last Action Date: Jun 30, 2024
Oklahoma Self-Defense: Woman claims self-defense in Wednesday fatal shooting :: 05/29/2020
The state will not be filing charges against Ragina Louise Armstrong, 51, in Wednesday's fatal shooting of John Robert Atkinson, 44, according to Assistant District Attorney Kevin Etherington.
Payne County Sheriff Kevin Woodward told the News Press Wednesday that Armstrong called 911 at 8:21 a.m. and told the dispatcher she had shot Atkinson in the head. The shooting occurred in the 3100 block of S. Twin Mounds Road in Yale.
Etherington said Armstrong claimed self-defense in the shooting.
Everything Armstrong told the District Attorney's Office about why she shot Atkinson, and the events leading up to it would have given her the right to claim self-defense, he said.
"If a defendant claims their actions were in self-defense, not only do we have to prove the elements of the crimes charged but, then the state also assumes the duty of proving that it was not in self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt," Etherington said.
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