With a criminal trial just two months away, the wife of the man is hopeful that he will prevail in court.
All of the attorneys for the man charged with first-degree murder said this is a stand your ground case, according to the man's wife.
On May 26, 2020, at around 1 a.m., Daniel Hardwick tried to break into Premium Smoke, LLL, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when he saw LaRue Bratcher. This was not the first time that Hardwick tried to break into the business.
When my husband warned him, he was breaking in. My husband fired through the door when the man continued to break in. The man was on the other side and my husband could not see what he was doing, so he shot him in the head.
When officers arrived, they found that the marijuana business that LaRue Bratcher was operating was without an active license. Police seized over 500 marijuana plants worth over a million dollars.
The Oklahoma County District Attorney charged Bratcher with second-degree murder a week after he was released from jail.
I believe it was one of the prelim hearings where David Prater said this was not second degree and charged you with first degree.
On December 4, 2020, the murder charge was upgraded to first degree murder. He was in the Oklahoma County Jail until his bond hearing. The judge set the bond amount at $400,000.
The Oklahoma City Black Lives Matter chapter stepped in and paid the bail of the man. The BLM board voted to use its money to disrupt the criminal justice system, according to the executive director.
Dickerson said that the cash bail system should be abolished, it should not exist, and those that are affected are generally Black, brown, indigenous poor people.
She said that the bail fund is used for people who are being treated unfairly within the judicial system.
The stand your ground law in Oklahoma allows a person who is not engaged in illegal activity and who is attacked in a place that he or she has a right to be to use self-defense. Such a person can meet force with force, including deadly force, without any duty to retreat.
Do you stand your ground to protect him from his expired marijuana grow license?
Ari Freilich, the State policy director at the Giffords Law Center, believes that state prosecutors may zero in on the lapsed license of the man who may disqualify him from stand your ground claims.
Other factors could affect the case. Even if there was no allegation that Mr. Bratcher was engaged in any illegal activity as a result of the expired license, I believe he would still have to prove that he was aware that the person was illegally entering that place of business.
Since he was released from jail in June, he wears aGPS ankle monitor, but his wife says she is thankful he is home with his family.
The upcoming trial which is set for Feb. 28, 2022, will be the only thing that I can think of from the moment I wake up.
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