There is a lengthy legal precedent, your honor, going back to 1789, whereby a defendant can claim self-defense against an agent of the government, if that act is deemed a defense against tyranny, a defense of liberty.

Your Honor...

Henry Ward Beecher in Proverbs from the Plymouth Pulpit, 1887 says, and I quote--

1887? This is the 20th century, your honor.

Excuse me. Excuse me.

You're making a mockery of the court here!

I'm afforded the right to speak in my own defense, sir, by the Constitution of the United States. This is the same document that guarantees my liberty.

Hey, don't tell me about the Constitution of the United States.

Now, liberty, in case you've forgotten, is the soul's right to breath. And when it cannot take a long breath, laws are girdered too tight. Without liberty, man is a syncope.

Man is a what?

Ibid, your honor..