REASON TO FEAR: The Cultural Defense of Hooty Croy

On the night of July 17, 1978 dozens of police officers engaged in a gun battle with five Northern California Indians who had a single .22 rifle. More than a hundred shots were fired. Three Indians were wounded. A policeman was killed. After spending eight years on Death Row for first degree murder Patrick “Hooty” Croy, an Indian of Shasta-Karok descent was granted a retrial. His new defense team, headed by J. Tony Serra, argued Croy acted in self-defense and gave supporting evidence of the genocide against California Indians that has continued since the 1850’s. This strategy, known as a cultural defense, was used to explain why Croy feared for his life when he returned fire.