A Michigan man charged with a slew of offenses, including attempted murder and felony firearm possession, is now free after a jury acquitted him of all charges in a New Year's Day shooting.
Brian Lindsay still spent five months behind bars while he was awaiting trial, time that he will never get back. Why a judge kept him in jail on a $1,000,000 bond is beyond me, especially since Lindsay argued from the start that he was acting in self-defense and video surveillance from the scene appeared to back up his contention.
Surveillance video from the bar shows the father and son approaching the driver's side and pulling Lindsay from his car. He leans back and grabs his gun. They then move toward the back of the car, where Lindsay says he was beaten, first by the father, whom he says he shot in the head in self-defense. Several seconds later, he says the son jumped on top of him and beat him as well. Lindsay says he shot the son in the shoulder, again in self-defense.
Lindsay, who had a valid concealed carry license in Michigan, was the designated driver that night. After hanging out a club called a Rockstarz in Garden City, Michigan between 10 p.m. and 4:15, he went to his car and tried to move it closer to the club entrance in anticipation of leaving with his friends. As he was attempting to back in to a parking space, several people were standing in the way. Most of whom moved, but according to witnesses, Dennis Kewin continued to block Lindsay's efforts until he was pushed by Lindsay's partner.
That's when Dennis Kirwin and his son Brendan approached Lindsay, who was still in the driver's seat of his vehicle.
After the shooting, Lindsay left the area. Given the crowd and the potential for retaliation from friends of the Kerwins, that's pretty understandable. He contacted police about an hour later, and surrendered himself later that day.
When he arrived at the Garden City Police Department, he had a black eye, a knot on his head, and was limping. His attorney, Ted Wallace, argued that this shows his client was injured during the encounter, while the prosecution pushed back against this, saying that the injuries could have happened after he left the bar.
Sure, they could have, but did prosecutors have any evidence that was the case?
Kirwin maintained from the outset that he was acting in self-defense when he shot the father and son, but prosecutors filed multiple charges against him; two counts of assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, two counts of felonious assault, and six counts of felony firearm.
A judge found there was probable cause to proceed with the charges, and originally set Lindsay's bail at $1,000,000. In March, the judge lowered his bail to $200,000, but in a twist required Lindsay to post the full amount instead of the 10% bond that is normally required.
It took a jury just six hours to conclude that Brian Lindsay was not the initial aggressor in this case, and that prosecutors had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Lindsay was acting in self-defense when he shot his attackers.
After the verdict, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office released a statement saying, in part, that this was, "a challenging case, but there are some cases that must be decided by a jury, and this was one of them. In coming back with a not guilty verdict, the jury determined that the case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
That reasonable doubt existed all along. The surveillance video shows that the Kerwins were the ones who approached Lindsay, not the other way around. While some witnesses claimed to see Lindsay choking Dennis Kirwin prior to the shooting, that shows that Lindsay was actually trying to not use his gun to defend himself, at least not immediately. Only when he felt like his life was in danger did he respond with deadly force, and when he showed up at the police department less than twelve hours later he had visible injuries that corroborated his story.
Would Lindsay have been better off waiting around for police at the scene, or driving directly to the Garden City Police Department? Probably, but that alone isn't evidence of a crime. Lindsay was understandably shaken up by what had happened, and as I said before, probably thought that he was safer getting away from the father and son's friends in that moment.
Lindsay's story is a cautionary tale for gun owners. You can act in self-defense, but you can still face criminal charges. You can be acquitted, but still spend months behind bars waiting for a jury to hear your side of the story. I wish that Lindsay had some way of being compensated for the consequences of his incarceration, which could have involved the loss of a job and housing, but I don't think that's likely to happen. I'm glad he once again has his freedom, but I still think an injustice was done to him in the months between his arrest and acquittal.
