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Well of course you get thrown in jail and if you can't afford bail lose your apartment and all your possessions and get sneered at by the county prosecutor and after being aquitted turned out to find a homeless shelter. Sad state of affairs. I guess he should have called the cops to come protect him.................oops he did that.
"Lewis’ case appears to fit the scenario envisioned by House File 573, a bill now working its way through the Legislature. It would expand current law to specify that a potential victim in a violent situation has “no duty to retreat” and has the right to “meet force with force.”
The legislation, which Sarcone argued against before a House subcommittee last month, also says a person cannot be prosecuted for using force against someone perceived to pose a threat, even if that perception is later proved incorrect.
What Lewis’ case shows is that current law works, Sarcone said: “I don’t know why people are afraid of jury trials. I’m not.”
Of course your not. You can make bail and are the DA and probably would have never been arrested in the first place.
Well of course you get thrown in jail and if you can't afford bail lose your apartment and all your possessions and get sneered at by the county prosecutor and after being aquitted turned out to find a homeless shelter. Sad state of affairs. I guess he should have called the cops to come protect him.................oops he did that.
"Lewis’ case appears to fit the scenario envisioned by House File 573, a bill now working its way through the Legislature. It would expand current law to specify that a potential victim in a violent situation has “no duty to retreat” and has the right to “meet force with force.”
The legislation, which Sarcone argued against before a House subcommittee last month, also says a person cannot be prosecuted for using force against someone perceived to pose a threat, even if that perception is later proved incorrect.
What Lewis’ case shows is that current law works, Sarcone said: “I don’t know why people are afraid of jury trials. I’m not.”
Of course your not. You can make bail and are the DA and probably would have never been arrested in the first place.
I guess the moral of this story is do not carry firearms if you are a black man and may use said weapons if threatened by more than one person at a time. Maybe that only holds in Iowa but, of course, I don't believe that.
The real moral of this story is do not try to protect yourself from attack by others. The 911 call was there all the time and still the poor guy got royally screwed for defending himself.
He should have just taken his beating then called the cops and they could come and get him an ambulance to take him to the hospital and the two guys who did the beating would now be safe to prey on others. How dare he try and defend himself.
The problem seems to be more an issue of excessive bail than whether or not one is justified in using deadly force. Even with changes in the law, as described a person could find themselves in the same situation if the police and the prosecutor believe that the force used was excessive.
I prefer the trite saying, "Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6."
IMHO - the police and prosecutors should have congratulated the man for successfully defending himself instead of pressing any charges what so ever. That was a miscarriage of justice if I ever heard of one and only serves to put potential victims at greater risk.
I prefer the trite saying, "Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6."
IMHO - the police and prosecutors should have congratulated the man for successfully defending himself instead of pressing any charges what so ever. That was a miscarriage of justice if I ever heard of one and only serves to put potential victims at greater risk.
Your exactly right! The police and those prosectors should be congraulating the man.
Lately sad really, seems there are a lot cases when there is more then a miscarriage of justice going on.
Right, only serves to put potential victims at such a great risk.
Also your life depends on that 911 operator, these days many cases where the operator should of send someone out, the balance of your life is in the hands of that very opeator.
I believe the underlying problem is our police are taught to see EVERY civilian as a potential enemy and an armed one as certain criminal. Our police are not taught to help but to control. They also suffer from the bureaucratic need to have a monopoly on violence.
In the real world (at least my real world) most of the civilians want to help the police and are willing to meet violence with more violence to save themselves and tell the cops what happened. I consider a policeman asking, not ordering, me to holster my weapon until he figures out why I am holding a person at gunpoint or just standing over a body, to be reasonable. I would very likely holster my gun as he arrived without being asked.
I prefer the trite saying, "Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6."
IMHO - the police and prosecutors should have congratulated the man for successfully defending himself instead of pressing any charges what so ever. That was a miscarriage of justice if I ever heard of one and only serves to put potential victims at greater risk.
Lewis, a Kansas native, moved to West Des Moines in fall 2010 to take a job in an Internal Revenue Service call center.
A former security guard and law enforcement officer, Lewis also is a hunter and gun collector and came to Iowa with a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
IIRC, Iowa did not yet have CCW in 2010 and did not acknowledge KS permits (may still not to this day as KS does not recognize IA currently). Was he carrying under the retired LEO federal guidelines for CCW? The article doesn't say.
All in all as the story is presented Lewis appears to have been treated very badly and unfairly. I would hope he has some recourse in the civil courts, possibly with the aid of GOA or the Iowa Firearms Coalition.
Last edited by lifelongMOgal; 02-24-2012 at 01:08 PM..
Reason: typo
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