73-year-old Seeks 'Stand Your Ground' Protection

AP Via Yahoo ^ | May 28, 2015 | Scott Sonner

[lbryce]

A 73-year-old man has been charged with murder in a recent shooting that killed a man and wounded a woman who had done meth and entered his vacant duplex without permission in suburban Reno.

The defendant, Wayne Burgarello, acknowledged the Feb. 13 shooting at a property he owns in Sparks but says he was acting in self-defense under Nevada's "stand your ground" law, according to court records.

[mrsmith]

“If the guy can prove that his life was in danger ...”

If the state can’t prove he should have known his life was not in danger, you mean.
Apparently they think they can.

[Hot Tabasco]

If the state can’t prove he should have known his life was not in danger, you mean.

Yea, unfortunately there's no ability for editing after you hit the post button........I read that and said to myself "Whaaaat???"

[redreno]

If this guy was an LEO, the city would have given him a months paid vacation. Plus a medal & promotion.

[Popman]

-——Devine was shot five times, including once in the head, an autopsy determined.———

Seems a bit of an overkill..../ S

Sort of gives the “Stand your ground” defense a bit of a problem....

SYG is a law for defending yourself not a license to shoot five rounds into someone and three into another person...

[Stentor]

If I’m on the jury the burden of proof would be that they were NOT a threat with the underlying assumption being that individuals who are squatting are automatically stealing from the property owner.

Yep.

[Secret Agent Man]

unpredictable is the term i’d use. the nicest term.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Congratulations. In a thread full of inane statements, yours is the most inane so far. The number of shots is irrelevant. If you are threatened to the point where deadly force is necessary, then you shoot until the threat is stopped. Period. If that takes one shot or ten, it makes no legal difference. One shot can be too many if the shot is into a sleeping man, and ten can be perfectly fine if the meth-head is still moving towards you after the first nine.

If you are going to adjudicate this shooting based on how the number of shots makes you “feel,” please recuse yourself from ever serving on a jury, as you are not qualified...

[dgbrown]

Sleeping after shooting meth? Sounds reasonable to me.

[Popman]

If you think a prosecutor isn’t going to use the number of times the dopers were shot and why both of them needed to be shot, your naive...

I said that fact will make the case problematic for the defense...

You really think if GZ shoot Trayvon Martin five times he would be a free man?

I certainly don’t ....

[taxcontrol]

And thus the need for “Make my day” laws. If you are on my property without my permission, unless you are a peace officer with a warrant, you AUTOMATICALLY are a threat. Further, I should not have to wait until you display some action that the perp means harm.

[mlo]

"Some might argue that the "stand your ground" rule might not apply here and that the guy went a bit too far."

"Stand your ground" is not a synonym for "self defense". Self defense is self defense. "Stand your ground" refers to only one portion of self defense law, whether there is a duty to retreat in public. It does not apply in your home where the Castle Doctrine already removes such a duty.

It's getting a little tiresome for every alleged self defense case to be labeled as "Stand your ground".

[itsahoot]

If I'm on the jury and you can't prove to me that the squatters were a threat to the shooter, then I'm voting guilty..........

Democratic underground is over here.

[BobL]

Sounds like the Stand Your Ground is working, meaning you don’t get a free pass to off people that get in your way. I don’t know the details here, but if that’s the case, then the liberals have nothing to whine about.

[mlo]

Again, this case has nothing to do with Stand Your Ground.