Illustrative Images- Images can be enlarged to the maximum size by clicking the View @ 100% prompt below image.

Ronnie and Johnnie Beck prom night in Whiteville. The twins enjoyed being together and like most twins, sometimes dressed alike.

JOHNNIE BECK AT THE WHITEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT IMMEDATELY AFTER HIS RELEASE FROM THE EMERGENCY ROOM.

WPD OFFICER PALMER WITNESSES RELEASE SIGNED BY JOHNNIE BECK PRIOR TO DISCUSSING THE EVENTS OF THE SHOOTING - Detective Guyton on left, Palmer in middle and Beck on right. Guyton noticed Johnnie nodding off as a result of the Demeral injection recently received at the hospital due to the recent amputaion of Beck's thumb and stopped the interview.

"Jeff yanked the door open and jumped on Ronnie..."

according to a witness Jeff Watts attacked Ronnie Beck as Ronnie sat in the car, stabbing him. Ronnie fought to remove Watts by spraying pepper spray at Watts.

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according to a study, an average man can run 26 feet in one and a half seconds. Watts was well within Johnnie Beck's kill zone when he was shot.

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JEFF WATTS

Watts was shot two times by a hunting rifle. We have a diagram of the entry and exit wounds based on the autopsy report. Caution these are images from the crime scene and may be distrubing to some.

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In a trial marred with several controversial events, Johnnie Beck was found guilty of 2nd Degree Murder. Just prior to sentencing donnie Beck, Johnnie's father, fell ill in court and had to be rushed to the hospital.

SELF DEFENSE LAW

the laws are very specific in regards to defending oneself with deadly force. someone defending themself can not be the agressor. They can not use deadly force to counter a non-lethal threat. Must also believe it to be necessary to use deadly force in order to save himself from death or great bodily harm.

Issues of the law

DONNIE BECK

Mr. Beck has spent his life savings trying to free his son Johnnie from prison. He has serious health concerns and needs his son home to help with the family business.

LINDA BECK

Mama Beck is the glue that keeps all the family together. Confident her son will someday find justice. Linda enjoys the time she spends on the weekends visiting Johnnie and like a good mom she will sometimes carry a chicken leg to make sure her son keeps a taste of home cooking on his lips.

Ronnie Beck's fingers show the hard work he has undertaken at the family business of repairing heavy equipment. Ronnie's injuries required many months of therapy after being stabbed in the chest 3 times by Jeff Watts. He misses his twin.

Ronnie Beck's wounds

May 20th self defense shooting at Carolina Beach

Two separate acts of self-defense recently in Columbus County that resulted in shooting deaths

Blog site of civilain gun self-defense

Deadly Innocence - Tre Benson, Blue Line Radio

On the evening of November 24, 1995, 18 year-old Johnnie Beck used a hunting rifle to shoot twice into the chest of Jeffery Watts,19, in the parking lot of the Whiteville, NC Burger King. Watts had just stabbed Johnnie Beck’s twin, Ronnie Beck three times in the chest and once in the arm, just before turning on Johnnie Beck and slicing off Johnnie’s left thumb. Jeffery Watts succumbed immediately to his two gunshot wounds, dying face down in the parking lot.

Johnnie Beck was brought in for questioning by Detective Ron Guyton of the Whiteville Police, immediately after Beck was released from the hospital. Beck still groggy from pain medication administered in the hospital’s emergency room, was excused by Det. Guyton from questioning and placed under arrest for 2nd Degree Murder. The charge was later changed to 1st Degree Murder and Beck was ultimately released, to await trial, on a one million dollar bond.

At trial, Beck claimed self defense. Witnesses said that Watts, while in route as a passenger with Daniel and Jonathan Norris, had said that he was going to the Burger King “to kill the Beck boy” as a result of an earlier confrontation with brother Ronnie Beck.

The State claimed that Johnnie Beck saw his brother being attacked by Watts, knew that Ronnie Beck had closed the door to his car and was thus safe from further attack. They claimed that even with Jeffery Watts attacking both Ronnie and Johnnie with a knife, Johnnie Beck was out of danger once he shot Watts the first time in self-defense and that the second shot was premeditated murder, even though both shots were seconds apart.

Nearly every witness places the two gunshots within one to two seconds apart. The State’s key witness Daniel Norris, said that by the time he ran 30 feet away, Johnnie had fired his second shot, and that after the first shot ,“Jeff didn’t have no time to run”, before getting shot the second time. Another State witness, Jonathan Norris, 23, Daniel’s first cousin from nearby Molly, NC, said that he too ran for cover. He said he “broke camp” when he saw Johnnie Beck pull out the gun used to shoot Watts. Daniel Norris said that by the time he ran 20 – 30 feet Johnnie Beck had fired two shots.

A 2000 study has shown that the world's fastest man can run 12 meters (39.4 feet) in one second. The average man can easily run 26 feet in one and one-half seconds. Witnesses say that Jeff Watts (six feet, two inches tall and 170 pounds) was 6-8 feet from Johnnie when he fired the first shot. Jeff Watts reach, without lunging, is nearly 3 feet. In the time it would take to cock a bullet into a chamber Watts could have very easily lunged at Beck again fatally stabbing him as he did prior slicing off Beck's thumb. see picture of injury to Beck's thumb.

Johnnie Beck was convicted of Second Degree Murder, in February 1997. Beck was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison. His appeals have been rejected, motions for a new trial were also rejected and Governor Mike Easley has refused to intervene. Johnnie Beck is currently in prison at 0-25 just across from the New Hanover International Airport.

This particular case is interesting because of the laws dealing with the use of deadly force to defend yourself from perceived felonious attack. Already we have seen a case involving Dana Davis, a 53-year-old former Durham County Sheriff's Deputy, when he fired at Native American, Charles Alexander Gokee, 39, killing him with a fatal gunshot into the man’s back. A Carolina Beach Detective said that the deadly shot was taken after the man had left the house, striking him from a distance of over 50 feet. The dead man had no weapon. The shooter was not charged with a crime by then District Attorney John Carricker.

Recently two armed robbers, Kinny Bethea Jr., 34, and Cary Scott Sherman, 42, were killed in two separate and unrelated events. Both the dead men were shot numerous times. Neither of the shooters, Richard A. Wilson or Michael Lewis Strickland, were charged with an offense.

Nearly everyday in America someone uses deadly force to defend themselves from attack. The law is quite specific about ones right for self-defense.

Johnnie Beck had his day in court and lost. Notable attorney Joseph Cheshire of Raleigh, wrote upon learning of the Beck case, that he thinks that the Beck case warrants another look. Alan Gell, just released from 7 years on death row for wrongful prosecution, said, upon review of the Beck situation, that he felt that Beck should not have been convicted. Yet, Beck was indeed convicted and because he has only three more years to go on his sentence, The Innocence Project will not take up his case and options and momentum seems to be running out.

But Johnnie Beck’s father is not taking this laying down. He has spent his life savings to try and free his son. He will talk to anyone, at anytime, about the suspicious events surrounding this case. Jury tampering, a last minute switch of Judges just prior to trial, Jeff Watts being related to Senator RC Soles, the Beck family business was broken into and files and photographs related to the case went missing, death threats, witnesses never called by the police, a bungled crime scene, missing evidence, a plea agreement offered by District Attorney Rex Gore prior to trial that would have yielded a 6 month sentence,( that plea was never delivered to Beck by his attorneys), indictments not handed down to the two Norris’s who were, as Mr. Beck puts it, co-conspirators to attempting to murder Ronnie Beck by driving Watts and by accompanying Watts in his attack of Ronnie Beck. There is a lot for Donnie Beck to talk about as he attempts to defend his son. So much so, that Judge William Gore of Whiteville , has asked that Mr. Beck be silent in his protest and accusations.

Many Beck supporters are confident that this Beck case should lay at the same end of the spectrum of the three other cases of self-defense mentioned above and because of that a campaign is beginning to take shape to illustrate that justice is only justice when all are treated fairly and judged by the exact same measures. Justice continues to fail Johnnie Beck. Proof of that can be found in the sand and gravel of a driveway in Carolina Beach, on the floor of Lake Waccamaw’s Hill’s Grocery and at the bottom of some back-porch steps in Tabor City. Three dead attackers, two armed and dangerous and judged by the District Attorney to be justifiable examples of self-defense. Yet a young man sits in the cold yard of North Carolina State Prison 0-25, thinking of a night 9 years ago, thinking he should’ve taken his chances facing a knife wielding attacker bare handed and bare-chested, rather than stand his ground and defend himself with deadly force.

Sometimes justice gets it wrong, we have seen that in the past few months in the Alan Gell’s case, we have seen it recently, in Brunswick County when a child rapist was set free after 20 years and it is entirely possible that justice was not served when Johnnie Beck was charged by a Grand Jury for First Degree Murder. “It may be a lost cause, but it is a cause worth fighting for, this could easily happen to you or one of your kids.” says Johnnie’s father, Donnie Beck. “And the sad thing is, with all these killings, people will get the idea that they can shoot someone and not face serious consequences and that’s not the truth, the truth is that the nightmare is just beginning.” To shoot or not to shoot, it is an important question.

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DIGITAL MOVIES - TESTIMONYOF EVENTS

To view these movies below you will need Quicktime Player. To download your FREE player go here.

Mr. Fairfax was walking into the Burger King on the night of November 25, 1995. He was directly in front of the white Camaro driven by Ronnie Beck when he saw Jeff Watts and the two Norris boys approach the Beck car. He was less that 10 feet away.He saw the knife, he saw Watts stab Ronnie Beck. He also saw Watts hit Jonnie Beck with his knife. He saw both shots. Saw exactly what happened. Mr. Fairfax gave the information immediately after the police arrived to Detective Guyton. Guyton never followed up. Guyton never released the name and statements made to the defense team. Mr. Fairfax gave this deposition after Beck was convicted and sentenced. Fairfax assumed that since he was not called by Guyton, that he was not needed. Fairfax is the only impartial eyewitness to the stabbing and shooting. He may be the only eyewitness who saw and remembers everything that happened. he was literally at the front bumper of both cars involved.

Short segments of the deposition - click on to hear and see statements via QUICKTIME

GEORGE FARIFAX SPEAKS ABOUT THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING

MOVIE ONE: Saw knife up in striking position

MOVIE TWO: In the attack Beck yelled "NO NO NO!"

MOVIE THREE: Knife going down the second time. "POW POW"

MOVIE FOUR: Person with the knife, after he was shot he ran around the back of the truck and around to the front door of Burger King.

MOVIE FIVE: POW POW "no hesitation"

MOVIE SIX: Beck had no choice but to shoot

MOVIE SEVEN: Pulled gun out of truck when he saw the boy coming at him with the knife to attack him

MOVIE EIGHT: Beck was backing up as Watts came at him

MOVIE NINE: Hears Johnnie say "No No No"

MOVIE TEN: Gave name to Detective Guyton

THE FOLLOWING ARE STATEMENTS MADE BY JOHNNIE BECK TO HIS DEFENSE ATTORNEYS, HILL AND HIGH AT THE WHITEVILLE POLICE STATION THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING AT AROUND 2:30 AM.

MOIVE ELEVEN: Norris boys were making their way around the back of the truck when Watts got to Ronnie's car door.

MOVIE TWELVE: Beck said he had no choice, it was either "kill or be killed"

MOVIE THIRTEEN: When asked how many times he shot he said " I believe I shot once"

MOVIE FOURTEEN: Just pulled the gun up and shot from hip, didn't have time to aim

MOVIE FIFTEEN: The knife swinging the second time and the gun going off were instantaneous

MOVIE SIXTEEN: Heard Ronnie say "He stabbed me"

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