CO: Extreme Risk Protection Order Filed Against Cop In Justified Shooting
In 2017, Corporal Phil Morris of the Colorado State University police officer encountered 19-year-old Jeremy Holmes acting erratically with a large hunting knife. Morris asked Holmes to drop the knife 36 times in the two-minute video.
In the police video, Holmes stated that he wanted police to shoot him. Morris tried to holster his gun to change to his taser to stun Holmes. Before he could, Holmes charged Morris with the knife forcing the officer to shoot and kill him.
District Attorney Clifford Riedel found the shooting to be “clearly justified.”…
Under Colorado’s red flag law, a family member, household member, or law enforcement officer can file an extreme risk protection order. One of the choices on the form is “I have a child in common with the respondent.” Holmes marked that she and Morris has a child in common.
Holmes points out the form says nothing about having a biological child in common. In her interpretation, she and Morris have Jeremy Holmes in common. The law’s intent was to let a family member file the report, but the form does not make the intention clear.
Holmes check the box on the form that stated Morris was “a credible threat of or the unlawful, reckless use of a firearm.” She stated on the form that “Phil Morris used his firearm to recklessly & violently threaten and kill 19-year-old Jeremy Holmes.”
Holmes also marked that Morris “might” have a history of domestic abuse. AmmoLand News has not been able to find any domestic violence charges against Morris. Since the ERPO doesn’t require proof or the person to be sure of the charge gun-rights activist, believe complainant could exploit this question to get the ERPO through the courts…
Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America sees this as an example of why red flag laws do not work.
“This is the very reason we cherish Due Process,” Pratt said. “No one should lose ANY of their rights without a trial by jury, or without the benefit of having one’s counsel present before the judge, or without facing his or her accuser. But “red flag” gun confiscation orders throw Due Process out the window. They strip people of their gun rights without any trial whatsoever, as the police show up to confiscate weapons before one even knows there’s an issue. These laws are egregious. And that is why Gun Owners of America is working to defeat this legislation in Virginia and elsewhere — and to repeal these guns grab laws wherever they’ve been enacted.”
Morris will now have to fight for his Constitutional guaranteed gun rights in court on Thursday. Gun rights activist points out that Morris will have to prove his innocence. They believe that goes against the American tradition of “innocent until proven guilty.”…
Read more at Ammoland