William Clinch case re-filed in another court system
The defense attorney is trying to claim self-defense.
Published Jan. 29, 2009
The night before William Clinch's murder trial was set to begin, the charges against him were dropped and then re-filed. It was a first for Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Knight, and an anomaly for the court system.
"It was an uncommon legal maneuver, but I felt it was necessary to maximize chances in case," Knight said. "The victim's family was 100 percent in agreement."
Clinch is accused of shooting 32-year-old Jeremy Bohannon in a McDonald's parking lot in September 2007. Bohannon was Clinch's brother-in-law. Clinch allegedly shot Bohannon because he believed Bohannon would harm his children.
Knight is fighting the defending attorneys' claim that the murder was committed to protect Clinch's children, therefore there was an understandable cause for the killing.
The judge removed the word "eminent" from jury instructions, which supports the defendant's claim of defense.
"The jury instructions are of paramount importance," Knight said. "Eminent should be in the jury's instructions."
Knight said that in order to use deadly force against a person there must be an eminent threat that the victim of the deadly force is committing a crime. This means "the crime has to be occurring right then and there," Knight said.
Although Clinch suspected Bohannon of committing a crime in the future, the fact that Bohannon was doing nothing wrong at the time is not enough of an argument to support the defendant's defense claims, Knight said.
Knight dropped and then re-filed charges in order to try his luck in another court system, he said. A new trial date has not been set.
Comments (3)
1:58 p.m., Nov. 6, 2009
YouKnow said:
Well, Jeremy wasn't abusive towards his kids. His kids were his life. He loved his children. Clinch's family reacted totally different and would harass Jeremy, break into his stuff and everything. Jeremy was my neighbor and I will defend him because I know and I've never seen any bruises on those kids!
11:59 a.m., Jan. 11, 2012
Land of lincoln said:
Since I grew up with Bill I know he wouldn't have done it without a good reason.
12:44 p.m., Oct. 15, 2009
ShowMe said:
The prosecutor played a shady little trick here since he did not get the ruling he wanted. He dropped the case and refiled so he could "shop jusges". It will be interesting to follow to see if he gets off entirely, the max sentence, or something in between as a result of his reasoning for his actions.