A woman who caused fatal injuries to her ex-boyfriend with a broken beer bottle will not face any charges under Colorado's Make My Day law.
On Oct. 2, Azura Lakin, 21, slashed her ex-boyfriend's throat with a broken bottle after a fight during which he choked her and tried to re-enter her house. According to police reports the ex-boyfriend, Shaun Cassidy, 23, was with Lakin and friends at a downtown Fort Collins bar called the Drunken Monkey. Witnesses there told police that Cassidy "began to act hostile," was intoxicated and smashed Lakin's phone before returning to her Fort Collins apartment to take back his things.
Once at the apartment, the two got into another argument and Cassidy started choking Lakin. He was pushed out by Lakin and her sister, but kept banging on the door so Lakin says she opened it again. When he moved towards her as if to choke her again, Lakin says she hit him with the broken bottle cutting him.
Cassidy died on Oct. 9 from a stroke resulting from his blood loss and blunt force head injury.
Though the Larimer County Coroner ruled Cassidy's death a homicide, District Attorney Larry Abrahamson says the Make My Day law applies in this case. Cassidy unlawfully entered Lakin's home, committed a crime of assault, and, Abrahamson says, Lakin had a reasonable expectation of Cassidy causing her harm.
The Make My Day is intended to ensure Coloradans their right to self-protection at home, and Lakin says she was acting in self defense.
"We came to the unanimous conclusion that criminal charges could not be sustained beyond a reasonable doubt," Abrahamson told 7News.
Cassidy's relatives however, are not satisfied with the decision.
"She was mad over a broken cell phone. So my nephew is gone because of a cell phone that was broken. It's not right," Cassidy's aunt, Colleen Countryman told CBS4 News, as quoted in Westword.