Official footage Of #dababy Walmart Incident.

The controversial rapper shot and killed Jaylin Craig in a Walmart. DaBaby swears he acted in self-defense, but never-before-seen footage raises doubts about his story The matter ultimately comes down to the state’s Stand Your Ground law, which provides strong protection for those claiming self-defense, two criminal-law experts tell Rolling Stone. That defense hinges in part on who the initial aggressor is, legal analyst Emily Baker explains. To rely on the Stand Your Ground law, a person who initiates a conflict has to justify their use of force, according to Owens, the defense attorney. If someone acts “as the aggressor and he initiates the conflict, he’s got to be able to show not just that the person was armed, but that there was a serious threat of imminent death or physical injury,” Owens says. “That the person was going to use that weapon, not just that they were armed.” After reviewing the security footage, Baker says Kirk appears to be the initial aggressor by starting the fight, but because witnesses claimed to see Craig with a gun, it changed the dynamic of the situation. “But it’s not clear-cut, and it is not a ‘These people rolled up on me and tried to roll me, and I had to defend myself,’” she says. “That’s not what this video shows. This video shows a fight that got way out of hand very fast, and that resulted in somebody dying.” Owens adds that even with witnesses telling police they saw Craig holding a gun during the scuffle, Kirk’s self-defense claim would be “100 percent contingent” on the belief that his life or the lives of others were in danger. “Self-defense is difficult on a good day,” Baker says. “Cases can be charged when people look like they may be acting in self-defense, and it can go to a jury and be decided, and that’s often the proper way because that’s the community where those laws are written.” Considering the footage, Owens says he thinks the case should have been left up to a jury to decide if Kirk reasonably acted in self-defense. “I don’t see anything enough here to say that it shouldn’t have been presented to a jury,” he says.


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