Last month I wrote about a Wyoming trans activist named Rihanna Kelver. Kelver is a trans woman who got into an altercation in the street about a year ago with a man named Scott Durham.
Durham was out with buddies and yelled something about the closest thing Laramie has to a gay bar. Kelver, who works at the bar, was standing in front of it and responded to the taunt. Kelver claims this led to some back and forth including a bunch of anti-gay slurs from Durham. Durham denies this and says he just said something rude about the bar. The truth on that point isn't clear because a live feed which caught most of the incident didn't have any sound.
Kelver crossed the street toward Durham with her hand on one hip as if ready to draw. Kelver got in his face and Durham shoved Kelver who stumbled back several steps and fell backwards in a crosswalk. As Durham walked past, Kelver pulled out a gun and racked the slide. Kelver pointed the gun at Durham who just kept walking.
I wasn't able to find a video showing the encounter before but there is one now. This is cued up to the clip from a livestream camera on the street but you can watch the whole report/interview with Kelver if you want.
Police showed up and questioned both of them. And that's when Kelver made a big mistake.
In her first interview with [Police officer] Rope, Kelver claimed she had pulled a knife, not a gun, from her bag. She also told police that she had a gun in the glovebox of her car, which is noted in the affidavit.
“Kelver said she attempted to pull a knife from their pocket but dropped it when she hit the ground,” the affidavit alleges.
That's not what happened. Kelver pulled a gun, not a knife, and later corrected the record.
“At this time, I was very shaken, and I really could not think straight,” she said. “I, at that point, didn’t even really know what had happened, what was going on.”...
Kelver said her mental health conditions also likely played a part in her confusion. She said she is diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and ADHD, both of which can impact memory formation. She said she also manages complex PTSD, which can similarly influence memory.
So lots of excuses but it looks like Kelver told the cops a lie and then, at some point, realized that wasn't going to fly and changed the story.
In any case, Kelver was charged while Durham was not. Kelver claimed to have acted in self-defense in accordance with Wyoming's Stand Your Ground law. Yesterday a judge ruled that won't be enough to shield Kelver from prosecution for pointing the gun at Durham.
Felony charges against Ríhanna Kelver may proceed to trial, Albany County District Court Judge Misha Westby ruled Monday...
The new ruling follows a pretrial self-defense hearing hosted by the court last week. That hearing set out to determine whether Wyoming’s pro-gun stand-your-ground statute protects Kelver from having to stand trial at all.
It does not, the court ruled Monday.
“While Ms. Kelver did not have a duty to retreat because she was not the initial aggressor, she was not entitled to use deadly force because she was not in danger of imminent death or serious bodily injury and a reasonable person in like circumstances would not have judged her actions necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury,” the order states. “Therefore, the State has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that Ms. Kelver is not entitled to immunity under [Wyoming’s self-defense statute].”
The argument being made by prosecutors was that Kelver actually initiated the confrontation with Durham.
Albany County’s top prosecutor, Kurt Britzius, has argued that Kelver, who approached the man before the physical confrontation kicked off, was herself the initial aggressor and was not in mortal danger when she drew her gun.
“The State argues that Ms. Kelver was the initial aggressor in this situation because she walked across the street with her hand on a firearm to confront S.D. over a verbal comment he made,” Monday’s order states. “Ms. Kelver argues that she was not the initial aggressor and that S.D. was the initial aggressor because he was the first person who made the confrontation physical by shoving her to the ground.”
The livestream footage shows Kelver’s hand on her hip or bag, not on the gun itself, which was inside the bag.
It's true the gun was inside the bag but the hand on the hip looked very much like a cop about to draw. I doubt the body language was misunderstood in Laramie, Wyoming of all places. In any case, the judge didn't buy that argument.
“There is no evidence in the record that Ms. Kelver made the first physical act of aggression or that she made a threat to use her firearm,” the Monday order states. “In fact, the evidence supports that [Durham] was the first person to make a physical act of aggression when he shoved Ms. Kelver to the ground. Therefore, the evidence supports the fact that Ms. Kelver was not the initial aggressor … and Ms. Kelver did not have a duty to retreat.”
But Britzius did successfully show the second element — that Kelver’s drawing of the gun was not justified by the danger posed to her.
“A reasonable person in like circumstances as Ms. Kelver would not judge her threatened use of deadly force as necessary in that moment to prevent imminent death or seriously bodily injury as reasonable,” the order states.
Bottom line: There was no call for a threat of deadly force in that encounter. Maybe if Durham had charged and menaced Kelver on the ground or tried to kick her, but that didn't happen. He pushed Kelver once and walked away.
Whether or not Kelver acted in self-defense will ultimately be decided by a jury during a trial. Kelver could still win this case but the judge's decision means a trial is going to happen absent some kind of plea deal.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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