Many of you have been comparing two similar cases of Macon women shooting teenage boys out of what they call self-defense. We sat down with a local attorney to verify what Georgia law says about use of force.
"A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when, and to the extent, that he reasonably believes such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or a third person against such other's imminent use of unlawful force," says Macon Attorney, Floyd Buford.
On Monday, Elisabeth Cannon shot a 15-year-old boy after he allegedly threw rocks at her and in August, Delores Gibson-Council shot a 14-year-old boy after he allegedly walked up to her car window and made a verbal threat.
Some of our viewers are questioning whether these shootings were justified. Buford says it's at the discretion of a jury.
"Did she act in a reasonable response, did she use deadly force in a manner which she shouldn't? That quite often is an issue for a jury, for a jury to decide whether she acted appropriately or not," says Buford.
District Attorney, David Cooke, says a lot of people can say there is "reasonable belief" in a case, but "the devil is in the details."
In Gibson-Council's case, Cooke says his office declined to indict her because they decided the shooting was self-defense. So her case will not go to a Grand Jury.
Cooke says to form his argument in a self-defense case he analyzes all of the surrounding circumstances to try to determine if a person used force appropriately. Buford agreed.
"In other words... if someone comes in here and they hit you with a fly swatter and you respond by shooting them with a 12-gauge shot gun, obviously that's not reasonable," says Buford.
Some of our viewers also questioned whether the courts handled those two cases equally, especially in setting bond.
We found out that both women were released on bond within a couple days of being charged.
Delores Gibson-Council was originally charged with one count of aggravated assault, and her bond was set at $6,360 dollars.
Elisabeth Cannon faces two counts of aggravated assault.. and she was released on $12,400 dollars bond.
Cannon's case is still under investigation.