Thursday, January 2nd 2020, 8:19 pm
A Tulsa man accused of shooting a process server testified in front of a judge on Thursday for the first time.
Christopher Barnett asked the judge to give him "Stand Your Ground" immunity because he said he felt his life was in danger, but prosecutors said the process server never pulled out a weapon.
Barnett told the judge he feels "lucky to be alive" after he said the process server showed up on his doorstep late at night, armed with a gun.
Barnett is charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon for shooting the man.
He said he didn't realize the person knocking on his door was process server, because it was so late at night, and he could see a gun in the man's front pocket.
Barnett said the man knocked on his front door and wouldn't leave for several minutes even after Barnett asked him to do so.
Barnett told the judge, "I believed this man was going to rob my husband and I, and we'd become a crime statistic in Tulsa."
Prosecutors pointed out Barnett had interacted with process servers many times before and had even researched whether it was legal to shoot a process server.
Prosecutors argued that nowhere in the surveillance video does the process server pull out the gun or threaten to shoot Barnett.
Barnett told the prosecutor when the process server turned back, he believed the man was pulling out his gun, and that's why he fired.
Barnett is asking the judge to give him immunity under Oklahoma's Stand Your Ground law, which means a person has the right to stand his or her ground by using deadly force if it's necessary to protect their own life, or somebody else's.
If the judge gives him immunity, Barnett still faces four counts in a separate case of threatening an act of violence for threatening a mass shooting at TU and threatening multiple staff members there.
The judge spent Thursday afternoon reviewing the surveillance video; she will decide on Friday whether Barnett had the right to shoot the process server.
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