Man charged in night club shooting files ‘stand your ground’ motion
Published 1:37 am Friday, January 6, 2017
The Elba man facing murder and attempted murder charges in the June 2014 shooting in an Opp night club has filed a motion under the stand your ground law.
Kanavis Malik Cole is accused of shooting up the Little Harlem Club on Hardin Street in Opp.
Cole is charged with murder for the shooting death of 20-year-old Demetrice Hines.
Cole is also charged with attempted murder of 26-year-old James Danshay Edwards.
Cole allegedly opened fire at approximately 1:30 the morning of June 8, 2014.
The club has since been closed.
Attorney Gary Bradshaw, who filed the motion, which will be heard Wednesday morning by Circuit Judge Lex Short, is representing Cole.
In the motion, Cole and his attorney ask Short to dismiss the case or conduct an evidentiary hearing on this motion for immunity.
The motion says that any action taken by Cole in reference to the alleged shooting were made “in reasonable self-defense and/or reasonable defense of others.”
Cole and his attorney are using Section 13A-3-23 of the Code of Alabama, which says that a person is justified in using physical force upon another person in order to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force by that other person and he may use a degree of force which he reasonably believes to be necessary for the purpose.
Included in that statute is use of deadly physical force if the other person is using or about to use unlawful deadly force; using or about to use physical force against an occupant of a dwelling while committing or attempting to commit a burglary of the dwelling or committing or about to commit a kidnapping, assault in the first or second degree, burglary in any degree, robbery in any degree, forcible rape or sodomy.”
They also site that a person who uses deadly force pursuant to this statute is immune from criminal prosecution.