Attorney Andrew F Brancas Podcasts

Today's show will provide legal analysis and commentary on two gasoline-related use-of-force videos that recently came across my desk. In the first video, a prankster pours apparent gasoline (actually water) over the hoods of occupied cars, almost getting himself shot. In the second, a woman in a car at a gas station is confronted by a man who open…

A Tennessee homeowner confronts several armed car thieves breaking into his vehicles in his driveway at o-dark-thirty. Suddenly, the thieves began shooting at the homeowner--and the homeowner returns defensive fire. In all, at least 28 rounds were exchanged in the gun fight before the thieves fled. When the cops show up to the scene of the gun figh…

In today's show we cover the recent successful appeal of a Washington state woman who had overturned her conviction on a charge of first-degree (reckless, unintentional) manslaughter over the stabbing death of abusive boyfriend. The reason for the reversal of the conviction? The woman's trial attorney--and, apparently, the trial court itself--MISTA…

Found myself with some unexpected time this morning, so doing a quick impromptu update on the Daniel Penny "subway chokehold" prosecution/persecution in NYC. Join me LIVE at 10:30 AM ET! Daniel Penny GiveSendGo: https://www.givesendgo.com/daniel_penny?s=01 #DanielPenny #JordanNeely AMERICAN LAW COURSES Get a law-school level education in typical fi…

Yesterday Daniel Perry, convicted in the Texas shooting of a BLM protester, was sentenced, and today news broke that Daniel Penny, the man who choked a threatening homeless man (#JordanNeely) on a NYC subway, will be criminally charged tomorrow. I cover both news stories LIVE today! Join us LIVE at 6 PM ET! BREAKING: Sgt Daniel Perry sentenced to 2…

My good friend Kurt Schlichter yesterday published an opinion piece titled "We Must Defend Self-Defense." I myself have not yet read the piece, so I'll be doing a cold-reading of it on today's LIVE stream. Let's see TOGETHER what Kurt has to say on self-defense! Incidentally, I'll be having lunch with Kurt later this week--I'll chat with him about …

Just a quick, impromptu on-the-road live show to catch up on #DanielPerry #JordanNeely, take questions live, and more! AMERICAN LAW COURSES Get a law-school level education in typical first-year (1L) law classes, including criminal law, constitutional law, evidence, property, and more, at a fraction of the cost and time of law school, and without a…

We're less than two weeks from launching the summer semester of our American Law Courses with our first ever course on Constitutional Law. This ConLaw course will be taught at a law school level, each Wednesday of the 14 week ALC summer semester, and at a fraction of the cost and time commitment of going to law school. Best of all, we've managed to…

Is a BB-g@n a DEADLY WEAPON? A March 2023 court of appeals decision out of Colorado says it IS! In this LIVE show we'll explore how the court arrived at that conclusion. Even better, good friend Attorney Steve. Gosney has written extensively on precisely this topic in his excellent book, "Ideas & Answers in the Law" (available at https://www.steveg…

In 2018 Officer William Darby, accompanied by two fellow officers, responded to the home of a suicidal Jeffrey Parker, who sat on his couch with a gun to his head. After Parker ignored repeated demands to put down his gun, Darby fired a single shotgun round into Parker, causing mortal injury. Darby would be charged with murder for this shooting. Hi…

Today's LIVE show is just a quick one on yet ANOTHER "LEGAL EXPERT" offering "EXPERT LEGAL ADVICE" on use-of-force law, and being 100% WRONG. Indeed, following this "expert legal advice" could well end up with you NEEDING to be CARRIED BY SIX. GUARANTEE LAW OF SELF DEFENSE IN YOUR CORNER FOR JUST 82 CENTS! Guarantee that you don't find your liberty…

The gun control propagandists have launched a fresh wave of attacks on both gun ownership and self-defense, and of course the mainstream media is fully on board in driving forward this propaganda war on our civil rights. I've three examples of recent media reporting on the self-defense doctrine of "stand-your-ground." Two of these, from PBS and FOX…

A man is being attacked by a leashed dog, apparently with the allowance of the owner. Is the dog attack a deadly force attack on the man? Can deadly force be used by the man to stop the attack? Against the dog? Against the owner? What would be the legal doctrines at play? #pittbull AMERICAN LAW COURSES Get a law-school level education in typical fi…

Manslaughter charge has been dropped against Alec Baldwin. We discuss LIVE at 6 PM ET! #alecbaldwin AMERICAN LAW COURSES Get a law-school level education in typical first-year (1L) law classes, including criminal law, constitutional law, evidence, property, and more, at a fraction of the cost and time of law school, and without any of the political…

Today's show is prompted by a news report of an Ohio woman just sentenced to two years in prison for having sicced two of her Pitt Bulls on a group of children, resulting in one 6-year-old girl requiring multiple emergency surgeries as a result of bites to her head and body. There are, of course, circumstances in which using a dog as a weapon could…

As is common in high-profile, politically- and racially-charged shootings, I'm seeing an enormous amount of bad legal takes on whether the shooting of Ralph Yarl by Andrew Lester could possibly have been lawful. In fact, Missouri law explicitly allows for the use of deadly defensive force under the circumstances in which Lester encountered Yarl, an…

In the late night hours of April 13, an 84-year-old homeowner living alone was awoken by someone banging on his front door. Lester prudently armed himself with a .32 caliber pistol, and opened his front door to respond to the person outside. Before him an unknown 6-foot-tall male, trespassing in violation of several no-trespassing signs, was attemp…

Two days ago the defense team for Daniel Perry, found guilty this past Friday for the murder of Garrett Foster, filed a motion for a new trial. Normally such motions are really just a matter of going through some hand-waving, and rarely have any substantive basis for a new trial being granted. Indeed, most of the arguments made in this motion are r…

This past Monday, Attorney Steve Gosney had me on as a guest on his YouTube and Rumble channels. I attempted to simul-stream that live show to the Law of Self Defense community, but of course I "boomered" it, and had to cut off the feed to our community after just a couple of minutes. Today I'm sharing with all of you the playback of that show, on …

Today we have a VERY special live guest: Dr. Markus Funk, a law professor and Partner at law firm Perkins Coie. You may recall that back on March 6 I did a show in which I critiqued an academic paper of Dr. Funk's that engaged in a comparison/contrast of US self-defense law with the defense laws of the UK and Germany. Dr. Funk's key point was that …

The past week or so have seen a plethora of self-defense favorable laws either advance through legislatures or actually become law--sometimes having to override a governor's veto! Today we discuss eight states--North Carolina, North Dakota Kentucky, Oklahoma, Missouri, New York, Florida, and Idaho--that have enacted or advanced improvements to the …

This past weekend a NYC garage worker who defended himself against an armed aggressor found both himself and the aggressor charged with attempted murder and illegal weapons possession. How could this be possible? We discuss! Join us LIVE today, April 3, at 1 PM ET! LAW CARDS! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lawcards/law-cards Gracie Jiu_Jitsu …

Yesterday we covered the interesting appellate reversal of the murder conviction of a woman who claimed self-defense in the shooting death of her boyfriend. She shot him dead under circumstances in which he wasn't in the moment presenting an immediate threat to her. Generally this would mean she killed in the absence of an imminent threat, which sh…

On March 5, 2020 Stephanie Clark, mother of a 5-year-old, found herself once again subject to violent domestic abuse by her live-in boyfriend. After inflicting serious physical and mental abuse for some time, the boyfriend threatened to break Clark's ribs after she had fallen asleep. Clark retrieved a gun, shot the boyfriend once, then retrieved a …

On March 27, 2023 a murderous armed lunatic shot their way into a school and killed six people--three 9-year-olds and three adult school staff. It seems likely that this horrific death toll was no higher only because of the aggressive heroism of the Nashville police officers who flooded into the school and confronted the murderer. In today's show I…

Today we'll take a look at several videos of defensive handgun uses in which the firearm is shot to slide lock--meaning, shot empty. Can this be lawful self-defense, or is it illegal overkill? How many shots is too many shots? LAW CARDS! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lawcards/law-cards Gracie Jiu_Jitsu 101 FREE SEMINAR (Colorado Springs), Ap…

Just a quick live show today to cover some short use-of-force stories that have come across my desk this week, none of which is of sufficient depth for a dedicated show of its own (at least, not yet). LAW CARDS! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lawcards/law-cards Gracie Jiu_Jitsu 101 FREE SEMINAR (Colorado Springs), April 8: gjj101.com NJ v. Ma…

A decision just issued by the New Jersey Supreme Court addresses the question of whether a jury has to unanimously agree on exactly how a defender failed self-defense in order to convict him of the charged use-of-force crime. Gracie Jiu_Jitsu 101 FREE SEMINAR (Colorado Springs), April 8: gjj101.com NJ v. Macchia: https://lawofselfdefense.com/macchi…

Retired basketball player All-Star and current cannabis entrepreneur Shawn Kemp got into a gunfight outside a Tacoma shopping mall last week after his efforts to recover the cell phone stolen from his car resulted in an exchange of gunshots. Although Kemp was originally arrested at the scene after the other party fled, he appears to have promptly a…

Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor in the case against Alec Baldwin and Rust over the October 2021 fatal shooting of its cinematographer, has announced she is to step aside, in a victory for Baldwin, the UK Daily Mail reports. We discuss THIS, as well as some pending self-defense law changes in Oklahoma and Indiana! #alecbaldwin Gracie Jiu_Jitsu 1…

In June 2021, Eric Popper was involved in a road rage incident while driving down I-95 in the Miami FL area. He would ultimately empty his pistol through the passenger window and windshield of his car, in an act he would characterize as self-defense. Popper would be arrested and charged with the felonies of aggravated assault and firing a deadly mi…

On March 1, 2023, a Farmington UT police officer pulled over 25-year-old Chase Allan for failure to display proper registration tags on his BMW automobile. Within just a few minutes, Allen would die in a hail of bullets fired by five officers. In this LIVE show we take a look at some media reports of this report, some initially released body-worn c…

A crazed dude and woman violently breach the front door of a home, amidst much shouting and HA-VOC! What are the actual legal self-defense options for the homeowner in this situation? In most states, they're pretty darned good--and Castle Doctrine is not the important legal doctrine in play! NEW! Law of Self Defense ADVANCED Class! This is our full…

A week or two ago, while guesting on Rekieta Law during our relentless and arduous coverage of the Alex Murdaugh trial, news broke that #alecbaldwin had been relieved of the sentencing enhancement charge that the NM prosecutor had brought against him on top of the involuntary manslaughter charge. I had taken a quick look at the relevant law just be…

Today's show takes a look at the interviews of two of the Murdaugh jurors. Fair warning: Neither is very exciting, but if I don't cover these I'll be inundated with requests to cover them--so here you go folks. I advise a more productive way to spend this time, but of course you're all welcome to join me. NEW! Law of Self Defense ADVANCED Class! Th…

On February 14, 2023, Dr. T. Markus Funk, PhD, published a 10-page paper entitled "Busting the Durable Myth That US Self-Defense Law is Uniquely Harsh." That paper is the subject of today's LIVE show. Dr. Funk is a former federal prosecutor, US State Department Section Chief, and has taught at such esteemed academic institutions as Northwestern Uni…

Alex Murdaugh Sentencing: EXPECT THE MAX! #AlexMurdaugh NEW! Law of Self Defense ADVANCED Class! This is our full-day course on the use-of-force in lawful defense of yourself, your family & your property, applicable to all 50 states. We only teach this one AT MOST twice a year, and this is the first of 2023. Saturday, April 15, 2023--PRE-REGISTER T…

This past Friday a Paulding GA Sheriff's Office dash camera video was released of the March 4, 2022 arrest of burglary suspect Tyler Canaris. Deupties were responding to calls that a person matching the description of Canaris was attempting to break into neighborhood cars during the dark hours of that early morning. When Canaris was repeatedly non-…

This past week Tucker Carlson--whose work I generally admire--did a segment on the right of self-defense, referencing several recent self-defense cases in the news. Unfortunately, Tucker's grasp of self-defense law can only be described as tenuous at best, and his ability to apply self-defense law to actual encounters to be lacking in objectivity. …

On January 31, 2023, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies filed a statement of probable cause for involuntary manslaughter in the October 21, 2021 shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of low-budget western movie "Rust." My own legal analysis of that event, beginning the day following the shooting, had 13 months p…

Today's show takes another look at the Murdaugh opening statements by the State and defense, to see who has done the best job of delivering on what they promised to deliver at the start of the trial. JOIN ME LIVE at 3:30 PM ET! THEN at 6PM ET join me again live as I guest on Legal Mindset's live stream, "Alex Murdaugh Week 2 Recap Stream," along wi…

Tyre Nichols died three days after violently resisting his January 7, 2023 arrest by the Memphis police department. This past Friday, video of that arrest was released. Now five Memphis police officers have been fired and are facing charges of murder. Not that it should matter, but the five officers as well as Nichols are all black. The death of Ni…

On Wednesday, January 18 the Minnesota Court of Appeals heard oral argument on Derek Chauvin's appeal from his conviction in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin was convicted in Minnesota state court of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter (note that all of these are unintentional forms of unlawful k…

In the early morning hours of December 13, 2022 a heavily armed Cherokee County NC Sheriff's SWAT team arrived that the trailer home of Jason Kloepfer and Alison Mahler, and began shouting orders at the couple sleeping inside. Awakened, Kloepfer and Mahler stumbled to the door of their trailer, and opened to shouted commands. Quickly, however, nume…

Today I cover five crazy use-of-force events reported in recent weeks from around the country. Sadly, these crazy use-of-force events aren't as unusual as a reasonable person might wish, but at least they provide the Law of Self Defense community with a learning opportunity. Join me today LIVE at 4:30 PM ET for today's show! NEW! Law of Self Defens…

Yesterday I was a guest on the YouTube show of Legal Vices, an American lawyer based of out South Korea who specializes in admiralty law. We talked mostly Alec Baldwin's manslaughter case, but also a bit about motorcycles, as well as a California prison lifer who killed two child rapists with whom he'd been imprisoned, and some other random stuff. …

Today I'm joined by the defense team--Attorney Patrick Canan and Attorney Dan Hilbert, both of Canan Law (https://www.cananlaw.com/), who won Luis Casado self-defense immunity in Florida last month! Click here to view/download the post-hearing defense memorandum arguing for immunity. NEW! Law of Self Defense ADVANCED Class! This is our full-day cou…

On the evening of May 29, 2021, Luis Casado shot and killed a man on a sidewalk outside a bar in St. Augustine FL, after being subject by that man to a barehanded attack. Following a four-day self-defense immunity hearing held in mid-November 2022, on December 30, 2022, a Florida court granted Casado immunity from prosecution for that killing, ruli…

This morning New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced that actor Alec Baldwin would be charged with two counts of manslaughter in the October 21, 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins as the two worked together on the set of the low-budget movie “Rust.” This decision to charge Baldwin with manslaughter comes a me…

On the evening of May 29, 2021, Luis Casado shot and killed a man on a sidewalk outside a bar in St. Augustine FL, after being subject by that man to a barehanded attack. Indicted on a charge of manslaughter with a weapon, Casado demanded a self-defense immunity hearing, as permitted under Florida law. The result of the four-day immunity hearing wa…