Ohio Supreme Court to weigh question of whether self-defense "burden shift" should be applied retroactively

The Gongwer News Service reported recently that the Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to weigh the question of whether the self-defense "burden shift" should be applied to incidents that occurred before the effective date of March 28, 2019.

From the article:

At issue is the case of Ladasia Brooks, who was charged with several crimes, including assault, after a June 5, 2018, incident at the home of the father of her child. (Docket)

At her October 2019 trial, she unsuccessfully sought a jury instruction on self-defense.

She appealed to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which also determined that the law does not apply to incidents that occurred prior to its effective date.

In reaching that conclusion, however, it created a conflict with the Twelfth District Court of Appeals.

Justice Patrick Fischer dissented in the decision to accept the appeal.

In 2018, Buckeye Firearms Association successfully lobbied to change Ohio self-defense law via HB 228.

For decades, Ohio has been the only state which required the victim of a deadly force encounter to prove self-defense if charged. The State could seize your property, deny your civil rights, and imprison you without ever proving a thing. Thanks to passage of HB 228, however, people who exercise the right of self-defense no longer be required to waive their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. The State now must disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant acted in self-defense.

For more information on the changes to our self-defense law via HB 228, click here.

Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.