Hours after Jason Lewis turned himself in on second-degree murder charges, D.C. Magistrate Judge Judith Pipe told him she saw “no reasonable basis for fear” when Lewis allegedly fired the shots police say killed 13-year-old Karon Blake.
Pipe continued that by allegedly shooting first towards a trio of young people outside his home, Lewis became the “first aggressor” and lost his right to self-defense.
The judge added that he could have walked back into his home. Through his attorney, Lewis said no crime was committed. Tuesday afternoon, Lewis was sent into custody.
Lewis held a valid concealed carry permit and had a legally registered firearm in D.C. the day of the shooting. The question of "reasonable fear" is an important one in the case.
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It is what the law in D.C., and many other states, hinges on—whether a shooter reasonably believes they are in fear of imminent danger. Without it, the law says there is little basis for the use of deadly force.
According to teaching documents and jury instructions posted on the D.C. Police Department's website, “the District is neither a ‘right to stand kill’ nor a ‘duty to retreat to the wall’ before killing jurisdiction.” Instead, D.C. law “established a ‘middle ground.’” In other words, do what is necessary to stay safe but avoid deadly force if possible.
It is what Calvin Wellington, a firearms instructor at D.C.’s Tactical Solutions Agency, teaches his students applying for a D.C. concealed carry permit.
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“It's not about pulling the trigger. It is knowing what you should do before you pull the trigger. First things first, always utilize verbal judo. My first thing is, I talk my way out of any fight,” Wellington told the I-Team in mid-January.
“Sometimes you go to the next step of creating space… and you try to talk (your) way out of it," he said.
Wellington says concealed carry permit holders should use the gun as a last resort. In his words, gun owners, should "never go looking for a fight."
Additionally, the law in D.C. gives gun owners virtually no right to use deadly force in protection of property. The same D.C. Police documents give gun owners instructions on using non-deadly force in instances when it’s about to be damaged or stolen.
A recent I-Team examination showed concealed carry permits are growing fast in the district. As of mid-January, there were 12,313 active permits in D.C. In 2022, D.C. Police issued 3,786 new permits issued last year alone —nearly twice the number issued in 2020.
