The Trial of Michael Drejka ... So Far

Obligatory Disclaimer: I'm not your attorney and this is in no way intended as legal advice. If you want legal advice, hire an attorney.

     As you may remember, Michael Drejka shot and killed Markeis McGlockton last year in a Florida convenience store parking lot after McGlockton had violently pushed Drejka to the ground. I first wrote about this incident in July 2018. Initially, police did not press charges, but eventually Drejka was charged with manslaughter. His trail is currently ongoing, and I've tried to keep up with some of the news reports, especially because many facts that were currently unknown have come to light. I just want to highlight a few of these.

     As you may remember, the sequence of events that started this story was Britany Jacobs, McGlockton's girlfriend, pulling into a handicap parking space while McGlockton ran into the convenience store. Drejka subsequently pulled in and parked, saw Jacobs' vehicle in the handicapped space, and decided to confront Jacobs about it. She provided testimony yesterday about the incident. Per a Daily Mail article:

      Jacobs recounted how she parked up the handicapped spot with McGlockton and their young children moments before, but as her partner went inside, she said she quickly became fearful when she noticed a man walking around her car, scoping the vehicle out.

      Cracking a window, the mother, who was three-months pregnant at the time,  confronted the man - later identified to be Drejka - who questioned her as to why she’d parked in the spot.

     ‘I didn’t know who this strange, suspicious man was,’ she told court, sitting across from Drejka. ‘I just wanted this man to leave me alone… Leave me and my babies alone.’

      She described Drejka’s demeanor as being ‘angry and aggressive’ towards her. The claim was later substantiated by witness Becki Conrad, who called the defendant ‘authoritative’ and ‘argumentative’ during the lengthy exchange.

     Hoping to warn Drejka off, Jacobs said she asked him, ‘Do you want me to get my man?’ but the purported verbal warning shot on deaf ears and the argument persisted.

      ‘It was loud,’ Jacobs said of the heated exchange, saying passers-by soon took notice of the incident. ‘I said that as in maybe he’ll leave me alone. Maybe he’ll back off if he knows I have somebody with me.’

      Drejka allegedly responded to the now mother-of-four that ‘yes’, she should fetch McGlockton, ‘if you want him to fight’.

      As the spat continued, one bystander went inside the store to tell the clerk about the dispute, advising them to call police.

      Over hearing the conversation at the counter, McGlockton put down his shopping and ran outside the store.

     ‘Get away from my girl,’ the father said according to Jacobs’ recollection of the events, before he shoved Drejka hard to the ground.

Unfortunately for Drejka, this is not the first time he had been aggressive toward people parked in handicapped spots.

      The first witnesses was another African American man who told the court that Drejka had threatened to shoot him for parking in a handicapped five months before he shot McGlockton.  

* * * 

      Rich Kelly recalled how in February 2018, he had parked in the same handicapped spot outside the Circle A food store where McGlockton died when he found Drejka taking photographs of his truck. 

      He confronted Drejka and, he said on Wednesday, Drejka told him he would have shot him if he'd had a gun. 

      Drejka is not disabled and had no one with him on either occasion but he has said in the past that he gets upset when he sees people misusing handicapped spaces because his mother-in-law is disabled as was a former high school sweetheart who is now deceased. 

      Kelly, who works nearby, chose not to report the incident to police. 

      Drejka later called his boss, John Tyler, who also testified on Wednesday, to complain about him using the parking spot. 

      Tyler testified that Drejka also told him that he would have shot Kelly.   

Even the store owner testified that Drejka was "nosy."

     All of this is evidence that could be used to support a theory that Drejka was hoping to provoke a violent response or was predisposed to responding violently. It is pretty bad that, just based on the argument between Drejka and Jacobs, a bystander went into the store to get someone to call the police. Remember that it is not self-defense if you provoke the attack.

     There is some evidence that is helpful to Drejka. First, despite how obnoxious Drejka was being, McGlockton was unwarranted in physically attacking Drejka. Also, in his conversations with police following the incident (which, of course, were played at trial--remember, everything you say can be used against you...), Drejka noted that after being shoved to the ground he thought his life was in danger because, he thought, McGlockton was going to kick him. "Drejka said he feared he was going to 'finish what he started' when he pushed him over and that he was trying to preempt it." And, in fact, stomping or kicking someone on the ground can be considered deadly force.

    The problem, which I noted in my original discussion about this incident, is that the video shows McGlockton backing away as soon as Drejka pulled his firearm. "When the detective told Drejka that instead of approaching him, [McGlockton] was backing away, Drejka said he 'disagreed'." There are multiple reasons why Drejka would say this in all truthfulness, and one of these is that the brain, especially under stress, may delay image processing. Thus, Drejka may not have actually perceived that McGlockton had started to back away before he pulled the trigger. And, to be fair, in watching the video, it looks to me that McGlockton didn't start to back off until Drejka started to draw his weapon.

    And there is another issue, which is that Drejka has raised the 21-foot rule in his self-defense. From the second article cited above:

      The detectives found it unusual that Drejka knew so much about the 21ft rule - a term invoked by law enforcement which refer the distance a suspect can travel towards an officer by the time they have identified a threat and pulled their weapon. 

      There was also testimony from a police trainer who was familiar with the 21ft rule. 

     He said the Drejka was wrong to invoke it and said it did not apply in his case.  

I can see Drejka's point, which is that McGlockton was close enough to him that McGlockton could have easily stepped in and renewed his attack. But he should have explained it that way instead of trying to use a "tacticool" shorthand.

      In the end, this case will probably come down to who the jury thinks was the "bad guy": the guy arguing with a pregnant woman parked in a handicapped space, who has a history of threatening people who illegally use handicapped spaces, or the larger and stronger boyfriend that escalated the situation by violently shoving him to the ground. But however it shakes out, just keep in mind that Drejka wouldn't be in this position if he hadn't been such a hot-head. (And Jacobs would still have her boyfriend if she, likewise, hadn't parked illegally and been so stubborn and argumentative about it). As we are advised in Matthew 10:16, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."