TexasCHLforum.com

Apparently Pennsylvania does not have a civil immunity law for self-defense shootings, or there's an attorney who thinks he can get past it anyway.

The guy that Gerald Ung shot, DiDonato (who is partially paralyzed), happened to be the son of a big-name lawyer in a big-time Philly law firm (or is it big-name lawyer and big-time law firm? anyway...). DiDonato has hired "...one of Pennsylvania's leading personal injury lawyers..." and is suing Ung and pretty much any bar they thought he might have been in that night.

The comments at the link note that Ung, who was a Temple law student at the time of the shooting, is pretty much "judgement proof" in that he probably has few assets and many liabilities (like a student loan and bills from his criminal lawyer), but he is going to get chewed up in the process so that DiDonato can get money out of the bar owners. Pretty ugly for Mr. Ung.

http://abovethelaw.com/tag/gerald-ung/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But still, better judged by 12 one-balls instead of one eight-ball, even if they are on a civil jury. Another Temple student (graduate, actually) did not fair so well when confronted with multiple attackers:
http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-16/n ... tim-police" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

seamusTX wrote: ...The bottom line for me is that any use of deadly force had better be obviously justified according to natural law that even the yellow 1-ball can understand.

- Jim

I understand the sentiment, but if you are ever faced with a violent situation, I hope you base your actions on what will save your physical hide, not what looks good to the 1-ball. Better judged by 12 1-balls than killed by one 8-ball and all that.

Break-Break

A dozen posts, and no one has commented on the fact that Ung stopped his assailant with a .380. It was a six-shot stop, but it did the job. Of course, had any of his assailant's pals had any fight left in them, Mr. Ung could have still had a considerably worse day.

Summary as I understand it;

On 17 Jan 2010, at 0230, in Philadelphia, a group of three (two men, one woman) ended up in a verbal altercation with a group of four (four men). Shouting and insults. The group of three moved along, followed at 10 feet or so by the group of four. More insults. Some testimony that the group of three asked and told the larger group to back off, sometimes rudely. The larger group is focused on one individual of the smaller group, a man named Ung.

Video (the incident happened in front of a Fox news studio, and apparently they had street cams) shows one (Kelly) of the group of four moving out into the street to come up parallel with the smaller group, then rushing in twice towards them. The woman testifed that she intercepted him once when he had his arm cocked as if to strike. She also testified that he yelled he was going to kill Ung. The second time Kelly rushed in, Ung tried to kick him away, backed up, and pulled out a gun.

One (DiDonato) of the other members of the larger group then lunged towards Ung. He later testified that he was trying to "defuse" the situation. Ung testified that DiDonato said,"Who you going to shoot?" Ung tried to kick DiDonato, but Didonato grabbed his foot, and his shoe or boot came off. Ung then fired and hit six times with a Kel-Tec.380, empyting it. DiDonato went down.

Apparently two of DiDonato's friends left the scene. Ung stayed, apparently put his pistol in his pocket, and called 911. Some Philly police officers were nearby, heard the shots, and one of them testified they were on the scene in "five seconds." He also testified that witnesses pointed out Ung as the shooter, he put Ung against a wall, and he struggled and it took two more officers to handcuff him.

DiDonato lived but is somewhat paralyzed.

Ung was arrested, and the Philly DA charged Ung with the following at various times;
- Criminal Attempt - Murder, later changed to Criminal Attempt - Murder of the First Degree
- First Degree Aggravated Assault
- Simple Assault
- Possession of an Instrument of Crime with Intent to Employ It Criminally (I think -- I am going from abbreviations here).
- Recklessly Endangering Another Person
- Firearms Not To Be Carried Without a License
- Carrying a Firearms in Public in Philadelphia

The last two charges were "disposed of in a lower court," apparently because Ung had a license to carry a concealed handgun. The DA chose not to prosecute the charges of Simple Assault and Recklessy Endangering.

Ung pled self-defense.

The trial started on 9 Feb 2011 and ended 15 Feb 11. The jury found Ung Not Guilty on all counts after deliberating about 3.5 hours.

Some links:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110 ... lking.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110 ... ected.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110 ... trial.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110 ... dazed.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110 ... r_man.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/116258729.html?c=r" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://abovethelaw.com/tag/gerald-ung/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://abovethelaw.com/2011/02/breaking ... -shooting/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;