Posted on 11/28/2012 7:28:26 AM PST by Uncle Chip
Edited on 11/28/2012 7:35:26 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)
(Excerpt) Read more at brainerddispatch.com ...
You’re arguing leniency based on gender, an argument I do not buy into.
People are breaking into a house, the homeowner has no idea about their ages, backgrounds, whether they “really really mean it” or whether they have weapons not immediately visible.
Better to be safe than sorry, and if that means making sure a 17/18 yr old ADULT (not “girl”) is 100% not a threat the moment one turns his back, then they may have to suffer the ultimate consequence for their law-breaking actions.
Ah... Youthful hijinks. The drugs, the burglary... Good times. /sarc
Sorry. Play adult games, pay adult prices.
I’m eligible for the jury pool. It would be, interesting, if I get called to sit on this one.
I thought I read that he shot them Thanksgiving around noon and called the neighbor the next day around 1:00 in the afternoon.
But either way they might be able to tell how long it was between shots and it might be several hours.
So then in that whole big house he didn't have any rope or duck tape to tie up somebody with a bullet in their hip who had just fallen down the steps and couldn't move???
And since when is the death penalty meted out to burglars??? If he was giving them what they deserve then the death penalty was not it. He gave them what they didn't deserve and will now pay for it.
She’s bleeding out. She’s dying. %100 threat? To who ? What do you think..... she’s Jason from Friday the 13nth?
I think there are a lot of sick folks on this thread.
This is cold blooded murder. If you were in the military and did this toa combantant you’d be court marshaled.
And as far as the pay the consequences argument this guy will have a nice cellmate whose not going to be a little girl. In fact Mr Tough guy here should probably prep himself on how to play the little girl role. Prisoners don’t like these kind of cowards.
Not to mention the ultimate adult consequence...When God looks at you and asks...Why?
“Lots of kids do really stupid stuff ...I know I did. A break in?”
So how many old men did you rob to support your drug habit in your youth?
No. But it was more than 24 hours from the beginning of the incident to when the police arrived.
I used two days as an outside limit to how long they had been dead.
In other words, there would be plenty of evidence to go on if it were as long as 48 hours out - less than that would be even better for investigative purposes.
There you go making up stuff again...
“...looks to me like the homeowner is a psycho murderer.”
Isn’t it amazing how many people here keep talking about how sick the old man being robbed is...
But they can’t spare a single word of criticism for the two young, healthy thieves who broke in to support their illegal drug addictions?
Yep, old men who defend themselves and act out of rage at being victimized are psychos.
Pill head girls who break into the homes of the elderly, armed with a pipe, to steal his posessions that at his age he has no chance of regaining...they’re the real victims.
My baby didn’t do nuffin.
“This is cold blooded murder. If you were in the military and did this toa combantant you’d be court marshaled.”
Don’t ever read any history about America’s major wars then.
You’ll be horrified beyond belief at how calous some soldiers can be towards people who are trying to kill them.
And rightfully so.
If you break into someone’s house...I don’t care what they do to you, up to and including telling you to put the lotion on your skin.
Keep your thieving hands to yourself and stop robbing old men...and you won’t get shot by one in his house.
What other crimes do you feel aren’t so bad?
We know from his testimony that at least 26 hours elapsed between his claimed first shots and the arrival of any morgue ambulance on the scene.
Unless the Little Falls police department just happened to have a crack medical forensics team on hand on the Friday after Thanksgiving, it was unlikely that an expert analysis could have been started on the bodies without a delay of several more hours at minimum.
Just using logic.
Once the threat is stopped, you call the police and say, "I am in fear for my life. Arrest that man!" Then you tell the police you want to speak to your lawyer and shut up. Now, the intruder is dead, you know this, and you demand they be arrested, even though you know he is dead.
All of that said, I am conflicted about the killing of these two. I do not think one should prophylactically kill those who might come back. They might be chalked up as idiot young people, but idiot young people can kill homeowners. We know the police do nothing to prevent breaking and entering...most of the time they come in and 'clean up' after the fact. So, we as a society are not constrained from bad behavior by the chains of virtue. We have long since moved to a postChristian era where bad behavior has attained victim status. We are left to defend our homes, lives, and propterty. The rules seem to vacillate very often.
I think the shooter in this case spoke too much. He acted beyond what the law allows. He showed poor judgement on a variety of levels. He says he was also very tired of getting broken into and have his property stolen. This will not play with a jury. Property trumps 2 young lives? This will not fly with most juries judging this white man. O.J.'s jury was another thing.
It is amazing some of the posters here have never heard of Occam’s Razor.
I guess it is more fun to make crap up.
I’m not ignoring the rest of your post or cherrypicking, the rest I agree with entirely.
“He acted beyond what the law allows.”
The people he killed were acting beyond what the law allowed. They didn’t care...why should he?
Seems like it comes up even to me.
As an aside, they actually held a vigil for these two morons. Can you imagine a scenario 150 years ago in which citizens are holding a vigil for two thieves caught in the act...no matter how they died?
“Billy was just stealing that man’s horse and he shot him out of the saddle and then hung him! Billy didn’t deserve that!”
Hang ‘em high.
My mind...it boggles.
No. 26 /= 48. No matter how you twist it.
Coroner would have done an on-site analysis complete with forensic photography before ever moving the bodies.
Here’s the criminal complaint:
http://stmedia.startribune.com/documents/Criminal+Complaint+-+BYRON+SMITH.pdf
According to it they entered his house at 12:00 noon Thanksgiving and the neighbor called the police at 1:00 the next day.
Interesting that the neighbor did not say that Smith asked him to call the police but only that he believed that Smith had killed someone in his house. It’s Smith who later on in the complaint claimed that he told the neighbor to call the police.
“I guess the lesson I take from this, is that instead of reaching for a small caliber handgun, grab the 12 gau. with 00 buckshot and just remove their heads. I guess that would be preferable, in the eyes of the law.”
Just a note - he shot them both first with .223 rifle. And agreed that a more powerful gun is what you want to use the FIRST time (with several quick shots) to stop the threat.
And sorry for making multiple posts to you, I should have put this in my other to you.
“Property trumps 2 young lives?”
Well, let’s see.
What is property? It is usually a physical item that you exchanged something of value for. Probably cash.
How does one get money? By working, generally.
What does to work mean? It means someone pays you for your time.
So truthfully...you’re exchanging time for property. When someone steals “just property” from you, what they really stole is the labor hours it took for you to earn whatever they stole.
That means they’re taking part of your life. Because they’re too lazy to exchange their time for money. They’d rather just take yours...it’s easier, and kind of a rush.
He’s an old man...he doesn’t have much time left. So stealing time from an old man is an even greater crime.
I’m glad they’re dead. I’d bet that in the past they had gloated over other succesful robberies...well sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
And their short lives ended on the floor of a basement, choking in blood after trying and failing to victimize an old man. Their existence was so short and meaningless that they might as well never have lived.
Good.
You are suggesting he do this alone to a physically superior man with a unknown number of additional intruders in the house? He should approach and come within reach of this known criminal, because YOU are certain he couldn't move after the first shot?
Should he ask him to hold his gun while he uses both hands to tie the knot.
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