The Akron police responded on Jan. 30, 2021, to a call of shots fired from the 800 block of Thornton Street. They found Lacey Claxton, dead from a gunshot wound, lying in his driveway. Work-up of the body indicated he was shot under his left armpit from 3 to 5 feet. The police determined that Princess Fitzgerald was a person of interest and that Lacey's car had also been stolen.
On Feb. 5, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Princess
in Columbus, OH, and recovered Lacey's car.
Princess was transported to the Summit County Jail and charged with
murder, having weapons under disability, motor vehicle theft, and tampering
with evidence.
That’s the fact picture and start of our lesson
plan. All this information can be found
online at the Akron Beacon Journal and other media sources. It's important to note that there are facts
and inferences we will never have due to the nature of journalism.
Princess’s original story claimed a masked stranger
entered the home and was challenged by Lacey.
In the ensuing struggle the gun went off resulting in his death. This is the classic SODDI defense: Some Other Dude Done It.
Later she claimed the gun went off by accident. I’m sure there is some additional baggage
that went with that story.
Finally, Princess claimed she shot Lacey as he
assaulted her, making a self-defense claim.
It is well established that the affirmative defense is
the best and perhaps only viable defense following a self-defense shooting and
resulting death. That is, I fired in
self-defense to save my life.
If the jury believes you shot solely to defend yourself,
they must find you innocent. The
downside is you have, by this claim, admitted to shooting and potentially
killing another human being. If the
prosecutor can find one untrue fact, your claim can and will unravel. It is a defense only for the truly innocent.
At the trial, she was represented by Attorney Jeff
Laybourne, a criminal defense attorney.
I suspect she did not ask for a lawyer initially, as no lawyer would
allow her to change her story three times before taking a plea bargain.
Attorney Laybourne later said if the case had gone to
trial, Princess would have claimed self-defense and had two witnesses to
corroborate her account. But despite
this, it appears Attorney Laybourne suggested that Princess accept a plea
bargain to avoid a life sentence.
Princess pleaded to a reduced charge of voluntary
manslaughter with a three-year gun specification, tampering with evidence, and
having a weapon under disability.
Judge O'Brien sentenced Princess to 17 to 22.5 years.
Here are a few points to remember.
If the surroundings seem dangerous, please go
somewhere safe and call the police. Do I
need to tell you to wait there for the police?
In general, the American culture views people who run away as
guilty. Some place safe doesn’t mean a
city 125 miles away from the incident.
Also, stealing a car doesn’t add to your credibility.
You want to cooperate with the police in the presence
of your lawyer. Having a lawyer should
prevent you from changing your story three times. It is conceivable you might lie to the police. You might even lie to yourself after
surviving the horrific experience of a self-defense shooting. But eventually you and your lawyer must
explain that to the jury.
Still, why did Princess take a plea if it was self-defense
and she had two witnesses? Perhaps the
judge would not allow her to enter a plea of self-defense due to her history of
lying. Maybe her witnesses had no
credibility.
Then too, shooting someone during a struggle isn't
consistent with being shot from 3-5 feet away.
It’s been said nothing good comes out of the barrel of
a gun. That is a true statement. It doesn’t appear firing that shot did
anything good for Princess.
Comments
Post a Comment