Court rules no murder case because of self defense

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday ruled that murder charges against a Fulton County man must be dropped because he killed a man while acting in self defense.

Deiran Green was indicted for the 2008 knifing death of Jeffrey Waldon, but a Fulton judge found the stab wound to Waldon was unintentional. The Fulton District Attorney's Office appealed, but the state high court unanimously upheld the judge's ruling.

According to Monday's ruling, Waldon, who was renting a room to Green, became irate when he found his wife talking to Green. After Waldon grabbed Green's wrists and head-butted him in the face, Green, who was preparing dinner and had a butcher knife in his hand, stabbed Waldon in his right thigh during a struggle, the ruling said.

The knife punctured Waldon's femoral artery and he bled to death. Green said he did not try to stab Waldon, but that he did not trust Waldon and held onto the knife for protection, the ruling said.

State law says "a person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to what extent [he] reasonably believes that such threat is necessary to defend [himself] against another's imminent use of unlawful force," Justice Harold Melton wrote for the unanimous court. "The evidence was sufficient for the trial court to determine that Green met his burden of proving he was entitled to immunity from prosecution."