You’re out on the street or in a parking lot, minding your own business, maybe heading to dinner with a family member, picking something up from the store or meeting someone for a first date, when suddenly an armed group of thugs walk up to rob or attack you. You’re scared. This is not what you planned and it’s a situation, even the most badass among us don’t want to find themselves in. But there’s nowhere to run. You have no choice but to defend yourself. You are legally carrying your own firearm. 

So, even with a gun pointed at you and shots being fired your direction, you may have even been hit, you manage to get your own gun out and return fire. Thankfully, your shots find their mark. The shooter crumples as the other attackers flee.

Now another onslaught occurs. Police and prosecutors come at you with questions. What happened? Why did you have a gun? Why did you feel you had to use it? Did you instigate the situation? Did you need to shoot? Why didn’t you just call police?

Even with the physical threat removed, you now face a very real legal threat, one that can land you in jail if you were wrong in your actions or have a bad lawyer. Even if you avoid jail, it’s a situation that can potentially leave you financially crushed trying to defend yourself.

But then the district attorney announces, after thorough investigation, there will be no charges. What is most likely the most traumatizing situation you will hopefully ever experience is behind you now. Or is it? You forget civil court. And in the United States, it seems no matter what the case, no matter who is really right or wrong, someone always sues.

And that’s exactly what is happening in New Mexico in the self-defense case of New Mexico State University basketball player Mike Peake, who shot and killed Brandon Travis after Travis and two other men attacked Peake in a University of New Mexico parking lot in 2022.

No charges were filed against Peake after a lengthy investigation by police, but Travis’s family want someone to pay. Even though their son instigated the matter as an act of revenge against Peake, which was proven in court and by video of the event, they feel they’ve been wronged.

But in an odd twist, they aren’t coming after Peake. He is or was, after all, just another broke college student. No, they are going after a place that has money, and who dollars to donuts, their attorney is sure will ultimately agree to a settlement that will get everyone paid. They are going after New Mexico State University and Peake’s former basketball coaches, Greg Heiar and Dominique Taylor.

“The Travis family seeks to hold NMSU accountable for its institutional failures, including the toxic, violent culture condoned by its administrators, that led to Brandon’s preventable and tragic passing,” one of the family’s attorneys told KOAT, a local ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Shooting

The deadly encounter between Mike Peake and Brandon Travis was the culmination of escalating tensions that had been brewing for weeks according to a detailed report by Las Cruces Sun News. The following details of what played out come largely from that report. The animosity between the two groups began on October 15, 2022, during a brawl at the NMSU-UNM football game. This altercation, which involved Peake and other NMSU basketball players beating on Brandon Travis, set the stage for the later confrontation, and ultimately, the filing of the civil lawsuit against the university and coaches.

The brawl that supposedly started it all as posted on X.

On the night of November 18, 2022, the NMSU basketball team was in Albuquerque for a game against the University of New Mexico. Peake was lured away from his team’s hotel by 17-year-old Mya Hill, who had been in contact with him under the guise of a romantic rendezvous. Unbeknownst to Peake, Hill was part of a setup orchestrated by Brandon Travis and two other UNM students, Jonathan Smith and Eli’sha Upshaw.

Around 3:14 a.m. on November 19, Peake met Hill outside the Coronado Complex on the UNM campus. As they walked together, Travis, Smith, and Upshaw approached from behind. Travis, armed with a gun, pointed it at Peake’s face, while another assailant struck Peake in the leg with a baseball bat. Despite being injured and outnumbered, Peake managed to draw his own firearm and return fire. He shot Travis four times, killing him. The other two attackers fled the scene. Peake was also shot in the leg.

The Investigation

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, law enforcement launched a comprehensive investigation into the incident. Surveillance footage, witness statements and physical evidence were all meticulously reviewed. Peake was taken to the hospital, and his actions were scrutinized to determine whether his use of deadly force was justified.

The investigation revealed that Peake had acted in self-defense. The Bernalillo District Attorney’s Office conducted a thorough review of the case and, on May 22, 2023, announced that no charges would be filed against Peake. The decision was based on the evidence that clearly showed Peake was the victim of an unprovoked attack and had responded to protect his own life.

The Lawsuit

While Peake may have been cleared of criminal charges, the legal battle is are far from over. The family of Brandon Travis has filed a civil lawsuit, not against Peake, but against New Mexico State University and its former basketball coaches, Greg Heiar and Dominique Taylor. According to reports by KOAT, the lawsuit alleges that NMSU and its administrators fostered a “toxic, violent culture” that contributed to Travis’s death.

The Travis family is seeking monetary damages, arguing that the university’s environment played a significant role in the tragic events. Their attorney has claimed that NMSU’s failure to address and control the behavior of its athletes created the conditions that led to the confrontation.

KOAT’s legal expert John Day highlighted the challenges the Travis family faces in proving their case. 

“They’ve got to establish in a court of law that New Mexico State was somehow responsible for this situation,” Day noted. The lawsuit underscores the complexities of self-defense cases in the United States, where even a justified shooting can lead to prolonged legal battles in civil court.

This ongoing lawsuit serves as a stark reminder that in the aftermath of a defensive shooting, the fight isn’t over once the criminal charges are dropped and can even reach further than those directly involved. The civil courts present another battleground not often discussed in self-defense cases where the stakes are still high, and the financial and emotional toll can be just as severe as the initial confrontation.

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32 COMMENTS

  1. Pathetic, these dysfunctional parents and families raise sociopathic kids and NEVER accept any responsibility. They teach their kids to take what they can and exploit the weak, then they exploit the system because somehow in their twisted minds it owes them!!!!

  2. PI friendly, “give the plaintiff his day in court,” judges let these suits through rather than nipping them in the bud. “Exoneration” or being cleared in the criminal context means nothing in a civil suit (due to the burden of proof) but a plaintiff must still establish some factual basis for a defendant’s civil liability before a suit can proceed. This should never get beyond the pleading stage but, if it does, look at the judge, not the lawyers, for the problem.

  3. Who knew there was so much “diversity” (of the Detroit variety) in NM. A bunch of “scholars” down there for a _____-studies degree at a couple party colleges? Explains much about the moronic politics of the state.

  4. Stay away from b!la!c!ks. That is rule #1. For whatever reason — poverty, genetics, family dynamics, I don’t care — they are dysfunctional in the extreme. They are NOTHING but TROUBLE. Get tangled up with a group of them, and your life is ruined forever. I’ve seen it too many times. Friends and family befriend a bl!ac!k, and they are dragged down, taken advantage of, guilt-tripped, and put in physical danger. Just stay away from them.

  5. This is why you should if at all possible implement the Shoot, Shovel and Shut up strategy.

    Obviously; this isn’t an option if the event occurs in a public venue where you can be easily identified. However; when in a dark alley where no one knows your name, utilizing the same legal strategy that works so well for gang bangers is worthy of consideration.

  6. So I should just allow myself to be kilt and let my wife try to sue the perps parents and school for damages? What a bizzaro world we live in.

  7. Have read that even in states that prohibit civil suits after trial, that only applies once the DA officially closes the case (which a trial verdict does not do). And, that there have been cases where the verdict resulted in the defender not being convicted, and the family was permitted to lodge a civil suit against the defender.

    There are some law firms that will provide pre-paid legal services (not reimbursement insurance). Recommend looking into that.

  8. I didn’t know who anyone was. Was wondering about the demographics, kinda assuming that the self defense shooter was probably white, his assailant black. Surprise! It was black on black crime.

    OK, as the attorney representing the assailant’s family, I think I would go after George Soros for creating this toxic environment on campus. It is Soros, after all, who has fueled DEI hires among prosecutors and other offices. Maybe name BLM and Antifa as co-defendants, because they have been instrumental in enabling criminals in the US. And, sue the assailant’s mother who failed to teach her son not to go looking for trouble. Assailant’s mother allowed her baby to grow up feeling privileged to do whatever he wanted to do.

  9. Thankful for the laws in North Carolina. Under North Carolina General Statute § 14-51.3., a person is immune from criminal and civil liability when the use of force is justified. While the section doesn’t address 3rd parties, I would think such case against a 3rd party would be extremely difficult to win.

    • I concur. North Carolina must be saved from Democrats and their lawlessness. Blue cities and blue states are hellholes of violence and poverty because the Democrats want it that way. What the Democrats have done to Black Americans with the ghettoes, awful schools and DAs keeping criminals on the streets is a crime against humanity.

  14. Anyone that participated in the attacks should be charged with the death.
    All these people that just walk when someone is committing a crime and they help, should not be allowed to just walk away freely. They were responsible.

    • Your definition of USCCA is evidently… U̲S̲E C̲APITAL C̲APITAL A̲LPHABET IN ALL POSTS

    • “Robberies, Shootings, and Stabbings Still Happening on NYC Subways Despite Rollout of Weapons Scanners”

      NYC needs to make all that stuff illegal.

  22. Surely the fault lies with the corrupt Americans politically motivated JUDICIARY where even a HOT cup of Coffee can result in compensation and restitution. You must know what I mean.

    Therefore don’t blame the parents of a would-be killer for trying to milk the system after all they are no doubt taking HIGHLY PAID legal advice on the matter. It may well set a PRECEDENCE as well- think on them bananas ‘ It could result in a whole new LEGAL industry and it would surely get some serious attention at the top of Governments and TAX PAYERS if they ultimately had to foot the bill as they would’
    The other thing that bug’s me somewhat about this incident, and not by any means for the first time, is that the whole tone of the headline comment seems to be suggesting that NO INVESTIGATION should be necessary after a FATAL SHOOTING because it was in self defence – and a bloody LUCKY self defence at that.

  23. So-called “journalists” and their Democrat political allies regularly claim concerns about noncitizens registering ahead of and voting in the 2024 election are baseless because it’s already illegal for foreigners to cast ballots in federal contests.

    Well, that’s a BS claim because thousands if not millions of illegal immigrant ‘invaders’ that crossed our purposely-made-by-Biden-and-Harris-to-be-insecure border, and others, are being discovered in several states to have been placed on voter registration roles and were thus eligible to vote. Virginia is the latest one and so far their count in just a day is over 6,700. But several states have discovered this and are in the process of removing these from the roles, while in Blue states and cities they are being added to the voter registration roles. Yet despite this the violent left wing extremist democrat politicians (sometimes call ‘progressives’, but its really all of them) and their allies in private secretive organizations, by use of American tax payer money, continue to try to get thousands of these on the voter registration roles in states and cities all across the nation.

    In sanctuary cities, as soon as these illegal ‘invaders’ get off the bus or plane these private secretive organizations give them literature which lie to them to begin manipulating them, by indicating they are now U.S. citizens and are eligible to vote and remind them that its the Democrats and Joe Biden that let them be citizens and Democrats are who they should vote for. Along with this is literature are instructions that tells them how to register to vote, and ‘hand holding’ guidance by these secretive radical left wing extremist organizations to get them registered to vote.

    They are able to do this because SCOTUS, in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., 570 U.S. 1 (2013), held that the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the “Motor Voter” law) prohibits states from requiring proof of citizenship when processing federal voter registration forms, so the democrats exploit the state systems. Yet, still its federal law that one must be an actual U.S. citizen, which these illegal ‘invaders’ are not, to vote in federal elections but the problem is that no one really verifies that, and democrats have steadily fought the idea and any law or bill that such verification should be done, and unless its discovered by other means the votes of these illegal ‘invaders’ are counted. Already behind the scenes, and quietly, millions of votes in the 2020 presidential election have been discovered to have been cast by people who are not U.S. citizens and were not eligible to vote.

    In short, the Democrats are trying to manipulate the election process by changing the voting demographic to include their illegal ‘invaders’.

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