"Your honor, the death threat definitely was the trigger. I was actively leaving the aggressive situation, but this person's threats made me concerned to turn my back on him. It took me a moment to register the threat to my life. I knew that the only way to prevent my untimely demise at the hands of this aggressor was to ensure that this person thought twice about following through on his threat to my person. When he made the very clear statement that I would be "6 feet under" it can only be interpretted that there was a clear, present, and persistent threat to my person. His later utterance of the racial slur only pointed to the motive for his threats on my life, of which I can only presume to be hatred and bigotry."