Posted on 09/16/2005 11:28:08 AM PDT by JZelle
BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- A lawyer and cattleman charged with first-degree murder testified yesterday that he feared for his life when he shot a neighbor who came at him with a 3-foot stick. "The look on his face was the meanest look on any human being's face I've ever seen in my life," John Ames, 60, said of Perry Brooks, the neighbor with whom he had feuded for 15 years. On April 19, 2004, Mr. Ames confronted Mr. Brooks after the 74-year-old farmer went to the Ames farm to retrieve his wayward bull. Two court orders had banished Mr. Brooks from Mr. Ames' property. Mr. Ames, who had retrieved a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun from his truck, said he turned to go back to the vehicle to get his cell phone to call the sheriff's office and found himself face to face with Mr. Brooks. Mr. Brooks came at him and swung the stick, Mr. Ames testified. Mr. Ames retreated and fired five shots at his neighbor, he testified. "It was totally reaction," Mr. Ames said of the quick, violent encounter. During cross-examination, Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Latney questioned why Mr. Ames continued firing when Mr. Brooks dropped the stick after the second or third shot. Mr. Ames said after Mr. Brooks dropped the stick, he lunged toward him.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Don't carry a stick to a gunfight.
I wonder if things happened exactly as the slimy Mr. Ames says they did.
This shows that the carrot and stick approach doesn't necessarily work all the time.
It would seem to be in keeping with his general character.
I realize I'm posting without reading the whole article, but how do you retrieve a wayward bull without going on the property? Send it a text message on its Blackberry?
We do have only one side of the story, don't we?
Yeah, I was wondering if maybe he lived nearby or something.
"first in the face, then several times in the chest after Mr. Brooks hit the ground."
Love thy neighbor. This guy was just too afraid that he might get his a$$ whupped.
"Mr. Ames bought the 675-acre Holly Hill estate...and built a new fence... Relying on an obscure state law, Mr. Ames billed his neighbors for part of the cost of the fence."
Sleasy cheapskate lawyer finds an obscure statute and uses it to screw his neighbor. Then he impounds the guys bull and charges him $500 to get it back. That's what some folks call being "neighborly". I have little doubt this guy could have retreated from a 74 YO man without shooting him FIVE TIMES.
The shooter is a wealthy plaintiff's attorney (John Edwards type) with a long litigious streak.
He buys this huge property out in rural VA next to the dead guy about 10 or 12 years back.
None of the land around there is fenced off and people's livestock tends to wander around freely.
The shooter discovers an obscure state law which says that anyone who wants to build a fence on their property has the right to make their neighbors shoulder half the cost of the fencing.
So the guy buys expensive, aesthetically pleasing, yet non-cattle-resistant fencing and serves his neighbor with a bill for half the fence afterwards.
They refuse. He sues all of them and the dead guy refused to pay up after the court case went against him. So the shooter has a judgment enforced against the dead guy.
Apparently they had words and the shooter got a restraining order. Then, of course, some time later the dead guy's bull walks through the flimsy fence and the dead guy has to retrieve it and there are further lawsuits and restraining orders.
And now, the resentful neighbor turns up dead, in a "self-defense" shooting that conveniently has no witnesses.
Fishy.
Yup. Check posts 10 and 11.
Of course he could have.
But I'm guessing this was an ambush of a defenseless old man.
That's all you needed to say. Lock him up and throw away the key.
This law isn't 'obscure' where we live. It's common knowledge of all farm owners that they are responsible for the right half(when facing from your land) of a fenceline, and its upkeep. Even if you don't need it or want it. It's one of those outdated laws that was useful when folks made a living off of 80-160 acres. Most farms , when I was young, were partitioned in 10-20 acre fields.
And we hated our neighbors too. But it never came to firearms.
In fact, after the man fell to the ground, he shot him several more times.
Ol' Sparky probably needs warmed up ~ get ready for this bad boy.
Always smart to get a restraining order and make numerous
calls to the police claiming it was violated...
Sets one up with an alibi down the line...
Scumbag lawyer
The solution is to place the fence at least 6" inside the property line (which has to do with a law concerning surveying standards).
You will notice as you drive around Virginia that in many urban areas many lots are separated by two different kinds of fencing!
The way these folks should have dealt with this Ames character is to plan for a STRONGER fence, and then stiffed him with half the bill. Or, alternatively, immediately after construction begun "maintenance" on the fence he placed and simply send him bill after bill after bill.
I do not, in any way, like lawyers....but I also know that we need some of them. This guy sounds like a complete wacko lawyer," gonna' show them country hicks a thing or two," then builds a fence and wants them to pay for their half of the fence. May be a law in some places, but where I live, you do something like that you sure don't need to worry about your cattle being left alone, you best worry about you being left alone!! There are words that describe this kind of lawyer-person, but my upbringing won't allow me to use them where women and children may see them in print!!
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