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Self-defense or murder? Pharmacist who shot 16-year-old trying to rob his shop gets life sentence
UK Daily Mail ^ | May 30, 2011 | Daily Mail Reporter

Posted on 05/30/2011 9:20:04 PM PDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears

click here to read article


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To: IamCenny
Again, if he hadn't robbed the establishment, he'd be alive today. I'm inclined to give the victims of a violent crime some leeway in how they defend themselves and pour le encourage les autres.
41 posted on 05/30/2011 9:58:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (How do you starve an Obama supporter? Hide his food stamps under his work boots.)
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To: IamCenny

>>..He defended himself successfully, was no longer in danger, went and got another gun and shot his unconscious assailant 5 times at point blank range killing him.<<

I have had days like that. But it didn’t leave my imagination.


42 posted on 05/30/2011 9:58:59 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Herman Cain 2012)
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To: IamCenny

This is why you should do what that pharmacist did.

Justice for Don Berkebile, Retired Smithsonian Curator Homicide Unresolved
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2726833/posts

Don Berkbile was murdered by his neighbor, a larger and much younger man. Don was attacked and shot the man with a pistol loaded with birdshot, who then pretended to be unconcious. When Don approached him, he attacked Don and beat him to death.

And the police cannot charge him with murder or manslaughter?

The moral of the story is use a Magnum44 and don’t approach the POS you just shot!


43 posted on 05/30/2011 9:59:20 PM PDT by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS OUR PRESIDENT!)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

Okay, I’m still trying to understand where he got the right to execute someone laying unconscious on the floor.


44 posted on 05/30/2011 10:00:39 PM PDT by IamCenny
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To: Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
What most people “learned” or thought they learned about self defense laws from movies and TV is not how the real law operates.

If someone decides to purchase a firearm, they really need to read, study and understand the “use of deadly force laws” in their state or jurisdiction.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and laws governing the use of deadly force and firearms are not about common sense, they are about legal technicalities, judicial precedents, and what a “reasonable man” would do with emotion not clouding his thinking.

The initial shooting of the robber's accomplice was probably an appropriate use of deadly force (but a jury would need to decided that). Going and getting a second firearm and shooting someone who was no longer an active threat or not a danger to the pharmacists life, was not considered an appropriate use of deadly force by the jury.

We will see what the judge does when he decides the sentence.

45 posted on 05/30/2011 10:04:18 PM PDT by Robert357 (D.Rather "Hoist with his own petard!" www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223916/posts)
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To: IamCenny

Ersland maintains that the kid moved his arm that was partially under his body. If the kid moved, I’d have shot him again too. There is no evidence to disprove Ersland’s claim. The jury believed the expert medical testimony. The defense did a poor job.


46 posted on 05/30/2011 10:04:48 PM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. *4192*)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

He should have taken advice from South Park, just yell out, “IT’S COMIN’ RIGHT FOR US!”


47 posted on 05/30/2011 10:06:23 PM PDT by dfwgator
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First degree murder charge was a travesty. This guy did not wake up in the morning planning to kill someone. The robber , on the other hand, planned and carried out an armed robbery. Anyone who has been in a firefight knows that adrelanin takes over. The pharmacist was not a cop, not someone who had trained for this life-altering moment. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. The despicable DA, on the other hand, should be hounded from office.
48 posted on 05/30/2011 10:08:40 PM PDT by Godwin1
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To: dragnet2
How did you, or anyone else determine the robbery suspect was unconscious?

I watched the video with the audio turned off, there is no way anyone can determine the condition of the guy, then I watched it with the audio turned on.... It was the reporter saying the man was unconscious....This is exactly how the media manipulates a story to suit themselves.

49 posted on 05/30/2011 10:10:36 PM PDT by TaxPayer2000 (The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government,)
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To: Godwin1

To me it was no worse than a “Crime of Passion.”


50 posted on 05/30/2011 10:10:53 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears

Unreal.

The governor needs to pardon this man.


51 posted on 05/30/2011 10:15:02 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Probably more like, you can’t empty your gun at him - perhaps we all just need to make sure we have at least one live round left after the shootin’s done.


52 posted on 05/30/2011 10:18:01 PM PDT by Oceander (The phrase "good enough for government work" is not meant as a compliment)
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To: BobL; IamCenny

Dude may have been high on adrenalin.

I don’t blame him for making sure the aggressor couldn’t get back up.

You roll they dice, you take your chances.


53 posted on 05/30/2011 10:18:19 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: I see my hands

That be the ones that think the have the right to commit murder, they are no better than some of the sorry ass cops we have in this country.


54 posted on 05/30/2011 10:18:52 PM PDT by org.whodat
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Comment #55 Removed by Moderator

To: BuckeyeTexan

I would have shot the guy again just like the pharmacist.

And yes, I and my brother have been robbed at knife point and gun point. Luckily I and my brother are still alive.

The second time we were robbed could have ended very badly for the robber.

We had been out shooting that day and had my Step Father’s shotgun a couple of feet from us, loaded. We had forget it was there until the cops asked us why didn’t use it.

We said we didn’t even remember it was there.

They asked if it was loaded and we said “yes”.

My mom took a deep breath and said that guy was lucky.

Cops said “Why?”.

She said “My boys have shooting awards and a guy that close wouldn’t stand a chance”.

Gun went home for some reason, I forget.


56 posted on 05/30/2011 10:25:27 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: BuckeyeTexan

Maybe the kid was trying to pull out a gun but what if it was a grenade? A rocket launcher? A Mr. Potato Head?

Could have ended real badly then.


57 posted on 05/30/2011 10:26:45 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: IamCenny

Dude, you have never been robbed and don’t know what the mind does.

Different things for different people.


58 posted on 05/30/2011 10:27:52 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
If the Pharmacist had killed the kid with one shot, he would have been considered a hero for ridding society of a possible life-long criminal. And likely no jail time.

The Pharmacist still did society a favor by ridding us of a criminal...he just took more shots to do it. And somehow that bumps him from no prison to life?

The Pharmacist may have overreacted, but the only way he should’ve gotten a life sentence was if he got into his car and followed the wounded robber to the hospital and killed him there. Under the described circumstances, the worst he should get would be ten years probation just to make sure he behaves himself.

The events did not make the Pharmacist a murderer.

59 posted on 05/30/2011 10:28:55 PM PDT by Tex-Con-Man
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To: BuckeyeTexan

That’s probably appealable isn’t it?


60 posted on 05/30/2011 10:29:52 PM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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