LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- The amount of cases involving self-defense are on the rise and one local attorney said the margin of error continues to shrink, so he will look to the Donald Hayes murder case for guidance the next time he goes in front of a judge.
A jury saw the Donald Hayes murder trial one way, but police saw it another.
"We'll go back and look at it and see how we can improve for the next case,” Lt. Todd Kessinger said.
Local defense attorney Thomas Clay said cases of self-defense are often a toss-up, regardless of the facts.
“Having done this for over 40 years nothing a jury does surprises me anymore,” Clay said. “Trying to predict what a jury is going to do, I’d rather go to the boat.”
Clay feels this case, and many others like it, are decided before it gets to the jury when the prosecution and defense haggle over the language in the jury instructions.
“The stand your ground provision allowing self-defense under these circumstances was instrumental in the jury returning a not guilty verdict,” said Clay.
The law is clear in Kentucky, you can fight force with force, but judges rarely rule that way.
“Judges don’t want to make decisions make on law, they want the jury to decide on it,” said Clay.
Clay said the best legal advice one of Louisville’s top defense attorneys can give you is this: “Avoid having to go through a criminal prosecution and do whatever you need to avoid going through the criminal justice system,” said Clay. It doesn’t always work out for the person who is trying to assert his own defense. It’s far better to avoid the problem.”
Clay said he feels that a good case could be made for a wrongful death suit against Donald Hayes by Danny Wilson's family because there is a different burden of proof in civil court where different facts are admissible, and there is a different jury.
WHAS11 reached out to Wilson's family to see where they plan to go from here, but haven't heard back.