Grain of Salt Warning: We only have what has been published in the media and for purposes of analysis and learning, we will assume it is as close as the truth as they can managed to come up with.

Dothan, AL (WTVY)- It appears a murder charge against a Dothan man will be dropped before he is to have gone on trial Monday.The Houston County District Attorney’s Office Friday requested charges against 23-year old Starlin D’Neil Knight for fatally shooting 33-year old Shira Dwayne McKinnie be dismissed. It cites need for further investigation. Defense Attorney Matthew C. Lamere had argued in a previous motion that Knight should be immune from prosecution under Alabama’s Stand Your Ground law.“The Defendant and a female witness, while in his vehicle prior to the shooting, were chased extensively by the deceased, who actively stalked the Defendant until the Defendant ended up in his aunt’s driveway where he was residing at the time. The Defendant, standing in his own yard, was fired upon by the (McKinnie), and, at that time he fired back,” Lamere alleged in the motion. A hearing was never held on the matter but, Friday, Assistant Houston County District Attorney Seth Brooks asked charges against Knight be dropped. Houston County Circuit Judge Henry D. “Butch” Binford will likely concur negating the need for a trial this week.

Source: Murder charge against man will likely be dropped

Damn, where do I begin?

I have to start with “Don’t do Stupid Things” like delivering pot to dealers. That right there should have save the guy all the trouble in the world. Now, on face value, Mr. Knight did what was supposed to do: He fled the scene, tried his best to disengage, ended up in a place where he had the right to be and used the amount of force needed to defend himself and a companion.

Not mentioned o this article is that he used and AK clone and placed two rounds on the body of his attacker who was inside a vehicle. This vehicle ended up farther than the road where it caught fire. I am sure that the concept of gang-banger-doper-with-AK47 might have influenced the police’s decision to charge him with murder.

Now, this happened in March of last year and once again the Prosecution did not bother to check facts till right before the trial and probably because the Defense shoved a bunch of paperwork in their faces. The Prosecutor didn’t even ask for a continuance but straight went for dropping the charges, which should make you not warm/fuzzy once again.

I have to say it again: DO NOT PLAY STUPID GAMES OR YOU WILL WIN STUPID PRIZES. In this particular case, Mr. Knight got himself his life frozen for 18 months and got sacked with a $750,000 bail, later reduced to $75,000 and tagged with a GPS device like a tracked animal in the wild.

And once again we have Prosecutors that are not giving a crap about cases but just making judicial sausage. No doubt that Mr. Knight was lucky to score a good lawyer who managed to do an investigation and gathered enough evidence to get him out of trouble.

Get yourself a good lawyer, in fact, be prepared and have one standing by.  I am gonna plug Armed Citizens Defense Network because I think they are the best out there and have been doing it right the longest. And just the material they send you is worth the prize of admission. The Defense Lawyer finder is one of many cherries on top.  Think of it as your Legal Blow Out Kit.