After an almost five-year long legal fight, South Carolina's top court has sided with the owner of a convenience store who was sued after a man was shot in killed in the shop in an act of self-defense.
The judge cleared 18-year-old Suhib Yousef of all criminal charges after an immunity hearing in 2021, but the family of 41-year-old David Wilson filed suit against Mahmoud Yousef, the owner of the convenience store and the armed clerk's uncle. That suit has slowly been making its way to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which issued a decision this week that could have a big impact on other civil suits involving acts of self-defense going forward.
The case dates back to Sept. 28, 2020, when David J. Wilson, 41, went to Green’s Grocery on President Street to buy a phone charger. Suhib Yousef, 18, was working that early evening when Wilson “feigned an attempt to walk away without paying for the charger.”
The situation quickly grew heated between the two men, and Yousef first retrieved a taser, then a machete in an attempt to get Wilson to leave the store. It wasn’t until Yousef pulled a gun that Wilson exited the store, according to the Supreme Court’s June 10 opinion.
The conflict between Wilson and Yousef continued with yelling and cussing, and Wilson rushed back into the store toward Yousef. Yousef fired and Wilson was shot twice in the head. He died the next day. The exchange and shooting were captured on the store’s security camera.
In its decision, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the decision by Charleston County Circuit Court Judge George M. McFaddin Jr., who ruled that the immunity the younger Yousef received in the shooting meant also provided immunity to Mahmoud Yousef and Green's Grocery from any civil litigation stemming from the incident.
The state Supreme Court opined that the extension of immunity was "necessary to uphold the General Assembly’s intent that law-abiding persons must be allowed to protect themselves from attackers without fear of criminal prosecution or civil action," adding that while the Protection of Persons and Property Act doesn’t speak directly to immunity for third parties, doing so is “entirely consistent with the intent of the General Assembly.”
The attorneys for Wilson's estate had also argued that Mahmoud Yousef was liable for Wilson's death by negligently entrusting his nephew with a firearm. As the justices pointed out, though, Suhib Yousef had previously been the target of a robber at the store. His uncle not only helped him obtain therapy for the terrifying event, but took Suhib to a gun range to familiarize him with firearms before purchasing a gun for the store should Suhub come face to face with another robber.
The Supreme Court justices ruled those negligence claims also failed because Suhib Yousef’s conduct was not criminal or wrongful in any respect. If there was no wrongful conduct, there was no negligence, the justices determined.
That seems like an entirely reasonable position to me. It's a shame it took nearly five years for the South Carolina Supreme Court to reach it. Even though Mahmoud Yousef won't be hit with a multi-million dollar verdict in a civil suit, he's still been paying legal fees ever since this suit was filed.
In case you're wondering about the use of lethal force when Wilson had not displayed a weapon of his own, as I was, South Carolina's Stand Your Ground law is pretty expansive. It allows deadly force to be used prevent death, great bodily injury, or the commission of a violent crime, so long as the person who uses deadly force has a legal right to be there and is not engaged in any unlawful activity at the time.
Suhib Yousef obviously had the right to be at the store where he worked, and wasn't breaking the law in any way when Wilson charged at him after Yousef had already made it clear he was armed.
We'll never know why David Wilson decided to re-enter the store and run towards Yousef instead of just walking away, but once he did so I think it was reasonable for Yousef to believe that Wilson intended to do him harm. Suhib Yousef was acting in lawful self-defense when he shot and killed Wilson, and it would have been an injustice to allow Mahmoud Yousef to be sued simply because his nephew acted to protect himself. I wish the wheels of justice turned faster, but at least the South Carolina Supreme Court eventually made the right decision.
