Posted on 02/18/2011 5:18:12 AM PST by marktwain
WEST COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Officials with the Lexington County Solicitor's Office are talking about the decision not to charge a homeowner who shot and killed a man outside his West Columbia house.
Prosecutors say what happened at the house early Monday morning adds up to a multi-faceted case of self-defense.
Homeowner Richard Williams confronting a man he'd seen breaking into his truck shortly after 3:00am. Williams told police the man temporarily blinded him with a flashlight.
Williams had a gun and fired twice, hitting the intruder at least once. Police say 44-year-old Mark Edward Howard tried to flee on the bicycle he was riding, but collapsed in the street and died.
Deputy Solicitor Dayton Riddle met with police Wednesday. "The question was asked is do you have any evidence whatsoever that this is anything other than self-defense," said Riddle. "And the answer I got was, we have zero evidence that it was anything but self-defense."
His uncle says Howard, originally from Williamsburg, Ohio, was a drifter who had a criminal record including theft. But Howard's family is outraged by the shooting.
"It's uncivilized," said uncle Rod Peck. "And it's sending a wrong message to people that they can just shoot any trespasser on their yard. Worst case scenario, maybe if one of the neighbor children came over in the middle of the night, it could have been one of the neighbor children. And we believe that this is wrongful death. That this is criminal, what this man did."
Riddle says to make a case against the homeowner, court rulings require the state to disprove self-defense. He says there's no evidence that would allow him to make that argument.
"If they collect evidence down the road that says something different, we can always revisit the decision,"s aid Riddle. "But as it stands today, the only evidence that's there indicates that it's self-defense. I have zero evidence to disprove self-defense, which is what I have to do according to the law."
His uncle says Howard's family was surprised he was in south Carolina, and had no idea why. Peck says Howard might have been in and out of trouble with the law, but had no convictions for violent crimes.
The family is looking for a way to pursue a case against Williams, but that will be hard to do. The facts and south Carolina law appear very much on the side of the homeowner.
I would call it great shooting in that it only took 2 shots to take out this creep!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.