Tylan Barnett

A Bowling Green man charged with murder in a deadly shooting was acting to protect himself and his sister’s apartment when he fired the shots that killed a teenager, according to his attorney, who argues that the criminal case against him should thus be dismissed.

Attorney Matt Baker claims that Tylan Barnett, 23, should have immunity from prosecution on charges of murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Barnett is charged in connection with the death of Jamarco Dye, 16, of Bowling Green, who was fatally shot on Jan. 26 outside Barnett’s sister’s apartment on Audley Avenue.

Baker filed a motion on July 7 to have the case against Barnett dismissed, arguing that Barnett’s actions were protected by Kentucky’s so-called Stand Your Ground Law, which holds that a person has no duty to retreat from a place where they have a right to be and can use deadly force if they believe it is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm to himself or another, or to prevent the commission of a felony involving the use of force.

In this particular circumstance, Barnett was at his sister’s apartment after she called him to report two people had previously tried to break into the residence.

While his sister left to canvass the area for the intruders, Tylan Barnett and his girlfriend reportedly heard someone attempt to enter the apartment through both the front and back doors, leading to the shooting moments later.

“Tylan Barnett was in a place that he had a right to be. Thus, he had no duty to retreat,” Baker said in his motion to dismiss. “At the time he fired the shots, he was at the back door of his sister’s apartment. He was clearly acting in a way that he believed protected himself and third parties from injury at the hands of the two intruders.”

In the motion, Baker said that Barnett had come to the apartment of his sister, Taylor Barnett, on the night of Jan. 26 after getting a phone call from her in which she said that someone was trying to break into her apartment and he needed to get there.

According to the motion, Taylor Barnett reported seeing two males walk past her doorbell camera, with one of them carrying a firearm, before she called her brother.

Taylor Barnett contacted other family members as well as the Bowling Green Police Department, and Tylan Barnett and his girlfriend came to the apartment and stayed after everyone else left.

Witnesses told police that Dye and another person were walking in the area of the apartment.

The person who was with Dye reportedly told Bowling Green Police Department officers that the two had been in the area to break into unoccupied vehicles and denied that they attempted to break into Taylor Barnett’s apartment, court records show.

Baker said in his motion that Dye’s autopsy showed that he had a black mask and gloves in his possession, and that police recovered a box of ammunition and a “professional key electronic tool” from the person with Dye.

At a hearing Monday, Warren Circuit Judge Chris Cohron set a deadline of Aug. 4 for Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kori Beck Bumgarner to file a response to Baker’s motion.

The next court date in the case was set for Aug. 18.

Taylor Barnett reportedly told police she was not at the apartment when the shooting took place, and another witness reported that the siblings were on the phone with one another when the shooting happened.

Taylor Barnett was indicted on a charge of tampering with physical evidence, to which she has pleaded not guilty.