According to testimony in court by one of the arresting officers,¹ Byron Case attempted to run from arresting officers and barricade himself inside his bedroom after they had clearly identified themselves as officers.

The significance of his action is that it suggested to the jury that Case knew that they were there specifically to arrest him, and that he had a reason to flee. It was not necessarily incriminating in itself, but did not help his claim of innocence.

Had Case simply frozen, raised his hands, and questioned why officers were in his home (which could be considered a more natural reaction), it would have given his claims of innocence more credence. Instead, his attempt to resist gave an indication to the jury that he knew exactly why the police were there.

It is of interest that one of Case's assertions in his appeal against Ineffective Counsel was that his attorney failed to subpoena an officer who might have testified that Case did not resist arrest; it was mentioned in rebuttal that the officer in question had not witnessed the arrest and therefore could only have testified that he did not see whether Case resisted or not. The officer who did arrest Case made it clear that he had tried to flee.

It is of further interest that Case's web site makes the claim that Case "was dragged from his bed by a tactical police unit," ignoring that the arresting officer testified that Case attempted to barricade himself in his room. The site further claims that Case "did not know it at the time, but he was being arrested for murder. Led to a waiting Sheriff's car in handcuffs, the only reply he got to his repeated questions was stern silence."

The truth is that once Case was subdued and formally identified by officers, he was informed that he was under arrest for murder and was read his Miranda rights, including the right to remain silent. There is no record of him asking "repeated questions" of the arresting officers.