“I’ll get him!” shouted the man from the darkness.
Roderick Scott raised his .40-caliber pistol, his finger tightening on the trigger.
The 42 y.o. was surrounded by multiple attackers, all of whom had been rifling through his car a moment before.
The figure ran at him.
Scott FIRED twice!
When it was all over, a white teenager was dead on Scott’s suburban property…
…and Roderick Scott was about to learn just how badly our legal system treats American gun owners.
You’re not going to like it, but this is the story of how…
A Black Man Shot A White Teen In LEGAL Self-Defense… & BARELY Went Free!
Roderick Scott remembers getting into an argument with his girlfriend.
Because of that fight, he was sleeping on the couch of their home in Greece, New York, when he heard a disturbance outside.
(It was 3 in the morning, a time when nobody should have been moving around out there.)
Looking out the window, he saw three people rifling through his car.
That’s when he racked a .40-cal round into his gun.
It’s not easy to get a pistol permit in New York State, but Scott had one.
Shoving his gun into his waistband, he went outside to see what in hell was going on.
He found 3 people in his car, looking for whatever they could steal.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he said on the stand at his trial, “so I had to protect myself.”
What Scott didn’t know was that the people in his car were teenagers.
They were Christopher Cervini, 17, his cousin James, and their friend Brian Hopkins.
The three teens had been working their way up the street, breaking into any cars they could.
When Scott told them he had called the cops, Chris Cervini shouted, “I’ll get him!” and ran at Scott.
That’s when Roderick Scott, outnumbered outside his own home at 3:00 a.m., fired the two shots that almost ruined his life.
He was arrested for the shooting.
His gun was taken.
He was treated like a criminal, “guilty until proven innocent,” and put on trial for manslaughter.
The media tried to paint him as a cold-blooded vigilante, a murderer who gunned down an innocent teenager.
They used an old yearbook photo of Chris Cervini that made him look even younger than he was – the same photo you see here.
It looked bad – very bad – for Roderick Scott, and his life was very nearly ruined.
Only luck – and a brilliant lawyer – saved him.
At trial, it came out that the teens had been drinking earlier that evening.
Toxicology reports showed that Cervini was not just legally drunk when he was shot, but that he used pot and speed – facts that helped chip away at the idea he was “just a kid” (and not part of a gang of multiple attackers).
Scott’s lawyer played the 911 call Scott and his girlfriend made to police, too.
That backed up Scott’s story about what happened, and helped the jury to see him as an innocent man defending himself.
But here’s what’s scary:
Roderick Scott was only barely acquitted.
The jury took an agonizing 20 hours to decide that he wasn’t guilty of manslaughter.
In other words, Scott got lucky.
“Justice” was served… but it almost wasn’t.
If you have to defend yourself, do you want to sit in a jail cell hoping that “justice will be served”… while the District Attorney tells the press that you’re a murderer?
Do you want to go bankrupt paying for your legal defense, hoping that you won’t end up in prison for protecting your home and your family?
Do you want to have your name and reputation destroyed, and be forced to move away if you are acquitted – as if you’re the one who has committed a crime?
THAT is how our legal system treats gun owners like Roderick Scott… and that’s how it will treat YOU if you ever have to pull the trigger to defend yourself.
What you can do, though, is make sure you’re better prepared for the legal fight before a self-defense shooting occurs.
My friends at USCCA, the United States Concealed Carry Association, offer a membership that will protect and help you if you’re ever charged with a crime for defending yourself.
They provide up-front bail bond funding, access to a network of experienced self-defense attorneys, and even funding for your criminal defense.
(Honestly, I’m surprised every gun owner isn’t already a member.)
It doesn’t cost much, and I hope you’ll never need it… but if you do, it will be there to cover you.
Don’t let the legal system and our anti-gun courts and prosecutors make YOU the bad guy.
Pick up one of these low-cost memberships today.
You’ll sleep better knowing you’ll be protected if you ever DO have to shoot in self-defense.
