The trial took place in Camden, the county seat of Camden County. The crime happened elsewhere in the county probably in Collingswood or Merchantville
Camden is a Toilet, their mayor was sent to prison and the state police had to patrol the city, the RINO's in the state tried to use gentrification as an excuse to build an aquarium in Camden only to find that nobody was going down there because it's in a toilet and to further add insult to injury, this aquarium which is already in the RED is actually closed until May 2005 for expansion!! As if that is NOT enough, where the RINOs did NOT learn a lesson, these same idiot loser Republican RINO Legislators had the Battleship NJ docked in Camden too instead of putting it in Bayonne where most of the NYC Metro population has easy accessibility to it. That too is losing money and is in the RED.
In NJ you can own a gun and not use it if someone is robbing your home. As we saw, if the robber is unarmed, a NJ resident will be charged if he shoots the robber. Only in NJ.
Franklin man charged in death
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Resident accused of shooting burglary suspectBy TIM ZATZARINY JR. and GENE VERNACCHIO
Courier-Post Staff
FRANKLIN
Burglars broke into Robert J. Clark Jr.'s home a year ago. So when he saw two men stealing his all-terrain vehicle from his shed Monday night, he grabbed his gun.
When it was all over, Clark, 33, had shot and killed William Hamilton, 39, of Clementon as he and another man broke into the backyard shed at Clark's Grant Avenue home, authorities said.
Prosecutors believe Clark took justice into his own hands and have charged him with murder. He faces the possibility of life in prison, if convicted.
But a neighbor who tried to calm Clark moments after the shooting, said Clark thought he saw the suspects point a gun at him.
Mike Moore, 43, said when Clark saw the two men from a kitchen window, he tried to call 9-1-1 three times but his cordless phone had died the night before. He also tried to trip his home alarm, but it didn't work either.
"He then got his gun, opened up his side door," Moore said. "Slowly, without turning the light on, he shouted `freeze.' The one guy turned and pointed at him. Bobby thought he had a gun and he shot him twice."
From his own front step, Moore said he saw the second suspect, Dwain Jones, who is a neighbor, running across Clark's front yard as Clark fired three shots toward him.
"By that time I'm in the street and Bobby tells me he shot and thinks he might have killed a guy in his back yard," Moore said.
Authorities said the shooting took place shortly after 10 p.m. They provided a similar account to Moore's about the events that night and offered additional details.
Authorities said Clark fired at Hamilton with a 9mm Taurus, a handgun he legally owns, hitting him in the right shoulder. The bullet exited through the left side of Hamilton's chest, killing him.
Authorities said Clark chased Jones, 42, as he fired three shots into the air. Jones, who lives a quarter-mile from Clark, fled to his house, where he was arrested Tuesday morning as the Gloucester County SWAT team surrounded his home.
Clark is charged with murder and second-degree charges of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He was released after posting $50,000 full cash bail. An initial court date had not been set by late Tuesday.
New Jersey law does not allow the use of deadly force to protect personal property. Deadly force can be used only in self-defense, defense of another person or protection of one's home.
"We cannot allow individuals to take the law into their own hands," Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said during a news conference Tuesday. "Mr. Clark had several options available to him instead of shooting Mr. Hamilton."
Dalton said authorities don't believe either suspect had a gun.
Clark's attorney, Michael Pinsky, did not return a phone call for comment.
Dalton said he was unsure of the exact relationship between Hamilton and Jones, but that the two planned in advance to steal Clark's ATV. Hamilton's pickup truck was parked nearby as the two men burglarized the shed, Dalton said. The truck was found in front of Jones' house when he was arrested.
Jones, of 2482 Grant Ave., is charged with third-degree counts of burglary and theft. He was being held in the Gloucester County Jail on $5,000 full cash bail. Jones faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence if convicted.
Hamilton had recently been indicted by a Gloucester County grand jury on a burglary charge out of Woodbury Heights, Dalton said.
He and another man are accused of breaking into the Heritage's Dairy Store on Glassboro Road in December.
An autopsy showed he died from the gunshot wound, according to the Gloucester County Medical Examiner's Office.
Clark, who was home alone Monday night, had been the victim of a burglary about a year ago, but the case has not been solved, said Franklin Police Chief Michael DiGiorgio.
Police arrived moments after Monday's shooting, he said.
Dalton said Clark should have waited for authorities before grabbing his gun.
"The wrong thing to do is to intervene because when you intervene, someone is going to get hurt," Dalton said. "In this case, someone died."
