is backshooting legal in pa?

[Philbert]

Originally Posted by JoeWilliams

If I'm on the jury and you shot someone in the back, your defense attorney is going to have to work his/her ass off to prove to me it was really necessary. Point blank, I'm going to be heavily disposed to vote to send you to jail. Killing someone in self defense when needed, sure. Shooting them in the back... better be able to prove to me (instead of the DA having to prove the case) that they weren't running away.

What about if they started to run just as you fired? There was a BBC show about this a while ago, see here (video is linked there). An assailant can turn tail pretty quickly. If someone is shot it is not only relevant what they were doing at the instant the bullet struck them, but what they were doing immediately beforehand.

[Steve in PA]

If your refering to shooting someone in the back (because you thought they were a threat and your life was in danger), you better be able to explain why you did it.

On the face, no.......it is not legal to shoot someone in the back. The threat is over.

One exception to this would be the person turned so fast that he ended up getting shot in the back. Many LEO's were getting jammed up on this because without explaination............it looks bad for the shooter.

That was until a man from Force Science News did detailed, very detailed studies that showed it was possible for a person to be a threat and when the other person made the decision to shoot to protect himself, the threat was able to turn before the shot could be fired, hence........he was shot in the back.

The study also showed that when a person made the decision to shoot it was basically humanly impossible to stop the shot.

The short and sweet answer is no, back shooting is not legal and you will end up with a LOT of explaining to do.

[dtree25]

Originally Posted by Steve in PA

If your refering to shooting someone in the back (because you thought they were a threat and your life was in danger), you better be able to explain why you did it.

On the face, no.......it is not legal to shoot someone in the back. The threat is over.

One exception to this would be the person turned so fast that he ended up getting shot in the back. Many LEO's were getting jammed up on this because without explaination............it looks bad for the shooter.

That was until a man from Force Science News did detailed, very detailed studies that showed it was possible for a person to be a threat and when the other person made the decision to shoot to protect himself, the threat was able to turn before the shot could be fired, hence........he was shot in the back.

The study also showed that when a person made the decision to shoot it was basically humanly impossible to stop the shot.

The short and sweet answer is no, back shooting is not legal and you will end up with a LOT of explaining to do.

Luceeee! you gots lot of splainin to do ! sorry just had to say it :]

[Emptymag]

As no one seems to understand the question, this thread full of guesses isn't really of much help to the OP. (Unless one of you were lucky enough to answer correctly)

I'm closing this and PMing the OP.

Depending on the reply, I will decide whether to re-open it.

~EM