Former State Rep. Kevin Calvey, author of Oklahoma’s Stand Your Ground self-defense law, is coming to the defense of a business owner charged with first degree murder.
LaRue Bratcher is a 33-year-old combat veteran who shot and killed a man attempting to break into his place of business. Bratcher owns Premium Smoke, LLC in Oklahoma City. However, because his business license had expired, the Oklahoma County DA’s office is using a loophole in the law to prosecute Bratcher with first degree murder.
“LaRue Bratcher did not go out looking for trouble that day,” said Kevin Calvey. “Working with the NRA, I wrote the Stand Your Ground law specifically to protect citizens just like him. David Prater is arguing that, because Bratcher’s business license was expired, he was committing a crime and therefore did not have the right to self-defense. Prater is deliberately misinterpreting the intent and spirit of this law. If someone fails to file taxes, or if their license plate is expired, that does not mean their Second Amendment rights are stripped away. This is a malicious prosecution based on a twisted interpretation of the law.”
Bratcher and his wife, Vicki, are both combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vicki Bratcher had to care for their children alone while LaRue Bratcher spent an entire year in the Oklahoma County Jail awaiting trial. He is currently out on bond, under house arrest.
“In what bizarre world is someone the intended victim of a violent crime and ends up being the one prosecuted? While Mr. Bratcher did not intend to harm the intruder, he still would have been within his rights to defend himself even if he had intended to kill the intruder,” says Calvey. “If Mr. Bratcher’s rights under the 2nd Amendment and the Stand Your Ground law are not safe in this case, then no one’s rights are safe. The right to self-defense, the 2nd Amendment, and the Stand Your Ground law were not created just to protect people of one race. Instead, the right to self-defense, the 2nd Amendment, and the Stand Your Ground law protect citizens of all races.
