No, I really do understand what the law says. But, to quote Gross Pointe Blank "I have a certain moral flexibility..."
What I would actually do, versus what the consequences of what breaking the law would be, given that my innate sense of "oh shit...those are the consequences?" Heck, there are many things I don't post on forums I moderate because my mind wargames the likely responses, and I find it's not worth the coming troubles....
But back to the topic.
One other part of a self-defense argument is that the person doing the killing/defending must prove they were in fear for their life or great bodily injury. Actually, that's not really true....in most states (and in Arizona again, thank God!), the state has to prove you were not in fear for your life or GBI.
In Arizona, if someone is a documented victim of domestic violence, "the state of mind of a reasonable person under sections 13-404, 13-405 and 13-406 shall be determined from the perspective of a reasonable person who has been a victim of those past acts of domestic violence."
Previously, if self-defense was being used as a justification, the defendant had to essentially admit to the underlying "crime", and they say "but it was justified because...". Now, it's been switched back to "innocent until proven guilty". But I digress.....
Part of my posts come from my proclivity to debate. What the law says about self-defense as a justification is very clear. But two points in this hypothetical situation: If DV can be used to determine how the "reasonable person" would view it, any good lawyer could use (or try at least) that same type of defense for someone who was held prisoner and tortured for 16 years...there's bound to be some element of a "relationship" that can be argued.
There was no "relationship" as defined by our state's statutes (As far as I can tell...don't know about UT or CA), but do you believe a jury ever convict Elizabeth Smart or Jaycee Dugard if they went back and killed their captors? Would it really be all that difficult for either of them to choreograph things to create a situation in which self-defense were "legit"?