Posted on 01/15/2020 8:32:33 AM PST by Theoria
A homeless man is fighting his case by invoking New York’s “castle doctrine,” which gives people the right to defend their dwellings.
Each night, Joseph Matos builds his home on the East Side by placing several cardboard boxes on the ground for cushioning and then linking together a half dozen others so he can fit inside to sleep.
One night in October 2018, he said, he was jolted from his slumber by a thud, followed by another. Startled, he leapt outside and grabbed a knife. A college student, walking by with a friend, had kicked Mr. Matos’s box because he thought it was trash, investigators said.
What happened next could send Mr. Matos, 57, to prison for more than a decade. Mr. Matos faces assault charges for stabbing one of the men and slashing the other, but he is fighting the case with an unusual argument: His lawyers say he was defending his home against attackers.
Under New York’s “castle doctrine,” a person has a right to protect his home with deadly force if he reasonably believes another person is entering without permission and is seeking to commit a crime. The defense hinges partly on whether a collection of cardboard boxes is a home.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Cardboard McMansion
Did he have a mail box?
They probably let him register to vote vote by stating that his address is “cardboard boxes on steps of church”; so I guess they’ll have to allow him the castle doctrine defense.
“...if he reasonably believes another person is entering without permission and is seeking to commit a crime”
Did he have reason to believe that they were entering his box?
From a few pieces of cardboard to three hots and a cot sounds like a step up. Maybe he shouldn’t be fighting it so hard.
Does he have a mortgage?
Can Comey find intent?
My money is on the homeless guy in this fight. Welcome to the Worlds Richest Banana Republic with Nukes!!
If I were prosecutor, I would argue that, if you don’t own it or rent it, then it’s not “yours” to defend.
If I were prosecutor, I would argue that, if you don’t own it or rent it, then it’s not “yours” to defend.
Every dude with a mortgage or a similar loan will be annoyed at that.
Does he pay property tax?
I have no mortgage on my home. I still don’t “own” it.
If I don’t pay the State 3400 bucks a year.... They will own it.
I agree with you. They’ll paint it as, two drunk rich kids asserting their social status over the poor homeless guy.
The only wild card is that both students are from Guatemala (although rich enough to be partying in NYC and going to school in Boston.) Brown from the right area of the world still trumps white guy (even homeless white guy).
We shall see...
The British classic humor magazine Punch, before it went out of business (1841 to 1992 and 1996-2002), had a cartoon of some derelicts below with boxes for homes looking up to the top of a hill where a derelict had put together large size appliance and furniture boxes.
Guy below sneered: “He’s house proud.”
By the way, they say Punch coined the term “cartoon.”
The incident is proof that the man is not homeless. His residence is an assemblage of corrugated structural paper. The man is in fact a squatter on public lands
This legislation should include a rational (reasonable) definition of “dwelling.”
I could see a man killing for that crib . . .
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