Krissy Noble: Justified Shooting, Felony Gun Charge Over Marijuana Conviction

The Krissy Noble case is the 2017–2018 Arkansas prosecution of a pregnant Fort Smith woman who shot and killed a man who forced his way into her apartment, was cleared of the homicide as a justified act of self-defense, and was then charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm because of a recent marijuana conviction. She was convicted on the gun charge and sentenced to six years of supervised probation and a $2,500 fine.¹

The Break-In

On December 7, 2017, a man named Dylan Stancoff came to Noble’s Fort Smith apartment. He knocked, identified himself as “Cameron White,” and asked whether Noble’s husband, Brendon Tran, was home. Noble checked with Tran, who said he didn’t recognize the name. Stancoff left and came back a short time later. According to reporting by the Southwest Times Record, Stancoff’s girlfriend had previously dated Tran and wanted belongings she had left at the apartment; she told investigators she did not know Tran had since married.²

When Stancoff returned, he forced his way inside, tackled Noble, punched her repeatedly in the face, and tried to cover her mouth with a cloth. Noble was 21 and eleven weeks pregnant. After Stancoff’s first visit she had taken her husband’s .40-caliber handgun and set it on a living room stand. She broke free, grabbed the gun, and shot Stancoff three times, then ran to a neighbor’s home for help.³ Stancoff died from the wounds. Officers at the scene reported finding duct tape and a rolled-up duffel bag on him, and determined he had a history of assault.⁴

Why the Killing Wasn’t Prosecuted

The Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office reviewed the shooting and declined to file charges over the death. Prosecutor Daniel Shue said Noble “was justified in her use of force and that this is a justifiable homicide, which does not merit the filing of criminal charges with regard to the homicidal event.”³ A police report said Noble “feared not only for her safety but for the safety of her baby, and felt that she had no other option in this situation.”⁵

The Felony Gun Charge

In late August 2018, the same office charged Noble with being a felon in possession of a firearm, a Class D felony carrying up to six years in prison.⁵ The charge rested on her record. On February 1, 2017, Noble had pleaded guilty to felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and felony possession of drug paraphernalia, charges from a June 2016 traffic stop. She received a five-year suspended sentence that expressly barred her from possessing or using firearms.²

Prosecutors alleged Noble possessed firearms between November 7 and December 7, 2017. The charge reached beyond the handgun she fired. Investigators found several other weapons in a closet she shared with her husband: a shotgun, a .22-caliber pistol, and a bolt-action rifle.² The office also filed a petition to revoke her suspended sentence on the marijuana conviction. Noble turned herself in, was released on $2,500 bond, and by then had delivered her child.⁶ No charges were reported against her husband, whose guns were in the home.

The Marijuana Conviction Behind It

The underlying felony drew its own scrutiny. Noble’s earlier defense attorney had argued that Arkansas law does not make possession of less than four ounces of marijuana a felony, and Noble was found with about one ounce. Prosecutors pursued the Class D felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia instead, and Noble pleaded guilty in exchange for the suspended sentence.⁶ That single plea, from a nonviolent drug offense, was the entire basis for treating her as a prohibited person.

Sentencing

Noble was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Sebastian County Circuit Judge James O. Cox sentenced her to six years of supervised probation and a $2,500 fine, with no prison time.¹ The probation period matched what she was already serving on the marijuana case. The conviction stands, and the firearms prohibition that comes with it stands with it.

The Arkansas Law That Made This Possible

Arkansas Code § 5-73-103 prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from possessing or owning a firearm. The statute contains no exception for self-defense or necessity. Rights can be restored only through a gubernatorial pardon that expressly restores them, an administrative restoration by the governor available only when the underlying offense did not involve a weapon and occurred more than eight years earlier, or expungement of the conviction.⁷ None of those routes was open to Noble, whose marijuana conviction was less than a year old when Stancoff forced his way in.

Because the statute has no necessity carve-out, every official who reviewed the shooting could agree Noble was justified in using deadly force and the act of picking up the gun could still be charged as a separate crime. Federal law imposes a comparable prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Some federal courts have recognized a narrow necessity defense requiring an imminent threat, no alternative, and surrender of the weapon once the emergency ends, but courts read the defense very narrowly.⁸

Reaction

The case drew national coverage and cut across political lines. Noble’s family launched a GoFundMe to cover legal fees, and the story ran everywhere from ABC News to the National Review. A National Review columnist called the prosecution a “farce of our system of justice” and argued that the blanket ban on gun possession by anyone with a felony record sweeps in nonviolent offenders who pose little risk of future violence.⁴ Syndicated columnist Jacob Sullum framed the outcome as an illustration of how “drug and gun laws conspire to deprive people of a fundamental right.”³ Noble kept her freedom. She also left the courthouse with two felonies on her record: one for marijuana, and one for the gun she used to save her own life and the life of her unborn child.

1
Southwest Times Record. Felons Can’t Have Weapons
2
ABC News. Pregnant Woman Who Killed Intruder in Justified Shooting Now Faces Charges
3
Creators Syndicate. Pot Prohibition Makes Self-Defense Illegal
4
National Review. Krissy Noble Self-Defense Miscarriage of Justice
5
National Review. Krissy Noble Justified Shooting Marijuana Conviction
6
Southwest Times Record. Woman Gets Probation on Firearms Charge
7
Justia. Arkansas Code § 5-73-103
8
Duke Center for Firearms Law. Federal Status-Based Gun Prohibitions, Self-Defense, and Necessity