Murder charge against teen dropped, NC prosecutors say. What is the Castle Doctrine?

A murder charge was dropped for a teenager accused of killing a man in North Carolina, officials said.

The Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office cited the so-called Castle Doctrine in its decision to dismiss the case against the suspected gunman, who was 17 years old at the time of the shooting. Under the law, people inside cars, homes or businesses can take actions to defend themselves against someone illegally trying to enter with force.

“The state entered a dismissal only because all evidence supports the conclusion that the juvenile fired his weapon defensively,” District Attorney Todd Williams wrote Aug. 29 in a news release.

The case dates to last year, when Asheville police were called to a “road rage incident” on Smokey Park Highway. On April 15, 2021, officers reported finding a man who had been shot several times.

The man — identified as Nathaniel Crosby — later died. He was in his 30s and was from Weaverville, a town in the Western North Carolina mountains.

The 17-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Now, more than a year later, officials reported the results of an investigation into the case.

The day of the shooting, prosecutors said Crosby and the 17-year-old were in separate cars when they “exchanged words and gestures while traveling west on Smokey Park Highway.”

While the cars were stopped at an intersection, Crosby reportedly started to get out and walk toward the teen. He then went back to his car after the traffic light changed, officials said.

“The cars came to a stop again at the next traffic signal at which time Crosby a second time exited his vehicle and ran forward to the passenger side window of the juvenile’s vehicle where the juvenile was seated,” prosecutors wrote in their release. “Evidence showed Crosby appeared to be forcefully entering or attempting to enter the juvenile’s vehicle.”

Officials said the 17-year-old was sitting in the car when he fired at Crosby. The two didn’t know each other, and there was “no evidence of retaliation, premeditation and deliberation, or malice,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Instead, the teen was acting in self-defense when he fired “in response to Mr. Crosby’s apparent attempt to forcefully enter the juvenile’s vehicle,” Williams wrote. “This case is, nonetheless, tragic and Nathaniel Crosby’s family has my deepest sympathies.”

Williams’ office in its announcement about the dropped charges referred to the Castle Doctrine, or North Carolina general statute 14-51.2. Prosecutors said under the law, people inside cars and other structures “have the right to use defensive force, including deadly force” if another person is trying to enter “unlawfully and forcefully.”

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