Frankly, I don't care what any court says. People have the right to defend themselves when their life is threatened. A court simply does not have any right or the moral authority in this situation.
Yeah, but this guy is likely to be convicted, pay fines, maybe do jail time, lose his right to vote and federal right to own a gun. A reasonable response is to refuse to live in a state that wants to treat you like a child. Only each and every state appears to be creeping down the road to the full nanny-state model of NY/NJ/Mass. Certainly it wasn't *THAT* long ago that California was still relatively free. That's only a memory now.
Retreat is a fine tactic, but it has its limits if victory is your eventual goal.