He tasked the jury with deciding whether Timothy Simpkins is guilty of attempted capital murder or aggravated assault.
Those instructions came after an hours-long recess to allow the judge time to hammer out the details. That was followed by debate from the defense who argued that jurors should be presented with another choice.
"It looks like we're being denied an instruction for self-defense of which there's more than enough evidence,” said Simpkins’s attorney Marquetta Clayton.
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It’s a point the defense focused its case on, saying Simpkins pulled the gun only after engaging in a fight with classmate Zacchaeus Selby.
"Tim could have feared for his life in the moments that led up to the shooting to occur, so we believe that would be egregious harm,” she said.
"Self-defense requires that the accused person reasonably believed that the other person is about to immediately use unlawful force against them,” said criminal defense attorney Mike Howard.
Howard, who’s not associated with the case, said in denying the request for a self-defense charge, the judge likely considered that Selby wasn't using deadly force, too.
"I don't get to bring a gun to a fistfight. I don't get to shoot somebody who is just beating me up,” said Howard.
He said he likely also considered evidence that Simpkins’s bullets hit two innocent bystanders along with claims that Simpkins reached for the gun after the fight had already ended.
"So once it stops, the big question becomes, is it immediately necessary?” he said.
But as long as the defense presented a scintilla, or shred, of evidence that Simpkins’s actions were immediately necessary to defend his life against a deadly force, Howard said they had a right to object.
"This is probably one of the most frequent causes of cases to be overturned because the bar is so low for the defense. The defense could almost always get self-defense if there are facts that raise it. So, it is quite dangerous for a court not to give the defendant self-defense, because then it could come back on appeal,” said Howard.
Simpkins faces life in prison.
He's pleaded not guilty.
