A jury in a suburban Detroit murder trial is weighing a man’s use of deadly force that he claims was justified.
Prosecutors hope to have persuaded jurors that Theodore Wafer, a 55-year-old homeowner in Dearborn Heights, Mich., murdered Renisha McBride, 24, when he shot and killed McBride while she stood at his front door early one morning last November.
Prosecutors charged Wafer with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Under Michigan law, there is no duty to retreat in your own home, according to news reports. But the jury is confronting a more complex question.
Wafer, who testified that he shot McBride through the locked screen door, says he had justification to use deadly force. He testified that he “shot in fear,” but did not shoot at a particular target, and that he fired his shotgun after he woke to the sound of someone banging on his door, according to news reports. Wafer did not call 911.
McBride’s knocking “kept getting louder and louder,” according to Wafer, who testified that he noticed the screen door was tampered with and that he saw a figure emerge from the side of the house. McBride, who was shot in the face, had crashed her car earlier that night about a half-mile from Wafer’s house. At the time of her death her blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Wafer is white. McBride was African-American.
In a majority of states, a person may use deadly force to protect his dwelling only if he reasonably believes he is threatened or to prevent a felony inside.
Prosecutors in Wafer’s case argued that a person who claims self-defense must reasonably believe that he is in imminent danger of either losing his life or suffering great bodily harm, and that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent that harm. Wafer does not satisfy that test, prosecutors charged.
Here in New York, a person must retreat before using deadly force unless the person is in his own home. Even there, a person has a duty to retreat from his doorway.
Based on the testimony presented at trial, Wafer’s claim that he feared for his safety seems to be undermined by his failure to give ground or to call the cops. It sounds like he had less deadly options.
The case belongs to the jury, which deliberated Wednesday afternoon without reaching a verdict. There are four black jurors and eight white jurors, ABC News reported.