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I realize the full details may not yet be available, but on the surface it seems like a stand your ground situation. Why is this kid snooping around someones garage at all hours of the morning? I hope we aren't charging homeowners with murder for defending their property now. Don't go on someones property uninvited, period.
I am sick of these types of stories. As a common person with common sense, if you show up at someone's house, screaming, yelling threats, brandishing a firearm, bad things are likely going to happen. You're 6'3" 280 pounds and you bullrush a police officer who is telling you to stop, bad things are going to happen. The shooting may have been bad, but the point is, you put yourself in bad situations, bad things are bound to happen. You don't get to cry "victim" when you do this. This man is not some cold blooded murderer. He was in fear for his own and his family's safety. Did he over react? Maybe, the trial will get to the bottom of that. but what the hell was a clan of crazed people doing at his house?
"They were showing a firearm, so I fired a warning shot, and somebody got hit." - the homeowner
There's no such thing as a warning shot. No one should ever fire a warning shot. This is probably why he's being charged with murder. If he had truly been in fear for his life, he would have shot with intent to kill.
This guy made it pretty clear in his 911 calls that a he was looking to take the law into his own hands and confront the group and "secure my neighborhood." That's not stand your ground. Until they start breaking down your door, you wait for the cops to come handle it.
This guy made it pretty clear in his 911 calls that a he was looking to take the law into his own hands and confront the group and "secure my neighborhood." That's not stand your ground. Until they start breaking down your door, you wait for the cops to come handle it.
Like I said, I'm not saying it was a clean shooting. Police are trained to shoot to kill if they have to shoot. No such things as a warning shot. It's all or nothing. However, a lay person does not have that sort of training usually. He may have very well been in fear for his life when he fired a "warning shot" And lets look at this from another perspective. Murder requires clear intent to kill. If he was truly in fear and firing a warning shot into a group or crowd where they were making threats and had guns, I say manslaughter at the MOST. Not murder. These idiots should not have been there in the first place.
I'm on a jury, it's manslaughter or not chance for a conviction. NONE! That said with the info we have now.
Like I said, I'm not saying it was a clean shooting. Police are trained to shoot to kill if they have to shoot. No such things as a warning shot. It's all or nothing. However, a lay person does not have that sort of training usually. He may have very well been in fear for his life when he fired a "warning shot" And lets look at this from another perspective. Murder requires clear intent to kill. If he was truly in fear and firing a warning shot into a group or crowd where they were making threats and had guns, I say manslaughter at the MOST. Not murder. These idiots should not have been there in the first place.
I'm on a jury, it's manslaughter or not chance for a conviction. NONE! That said with the info we have now.
Police are not trained to shoot to kill. They are trained to shoot to stop the threat.
I believe that, if a person(s) is a participant to, accomplice to, or facilitator of a crime that results in death (intentional or accidental), that person(s) can be charged with murder.
This means anyone who was also trespassing on the property or even disturbing the peace in the area that night could be charged with murder.
This means the other members of the mob should be more at risk for being charged with murder than the homeowner that was lawfully protecting his private property.
The problem with "stand your ground" laws is that vigilantes can and do take it to the extreme.
Once while I was standing on a bridge next to friend's building property back entrance and waiting for said friend to join me for a walk, a woman came to the edge of the property inquiring as to why I was standing there. Now, mind you, I was literally just standing there on the sidewalk of a public bridge while wearing shorts and a tshirt and looking out from the bridge over the water while I waited. I didn't have my phone out, I wasn't carrying anything on me that was suspicious. I am literally a middle aged man who is completely benign, yet she decided to inform me that she was "standing her ground". Of course, I immediately felt threatened because...after all, this is Florida and we know that the craziest stuff goes down here.
There is no silver bullet (pun intended) law that is going to fix everything. The world is not black and white but rather a series of greys. You can neither have a blanket defense for shooting at will on your property nor completely disallow someone to defend oneself when needed. When life is not imminently in danger, one should not have the right to shoot at will. A trial will prove whether or not that's the case and the only way one gets to the trial is to charge the person with a crime.
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