[Movemout]

Another good reason not to live in New York.

[TomGuy]

"I cannot send out a message to the community that this is acceptable behavior," Judge Martin Marcus said before sentencing Vicenty. "Indeed, the message I must send out is the opposite."

The opposite message? That being, that good citizens who have no criminal record should succumb and allow crackheads, excons, and the like to rummage, steal, destroy, take over their possessions, etc.

Judge Marcus, where does it end? Where do the rights of the good citizens start, then? Just maybe, Your Honor, had you and others like you given tougher, longer sentences to those "ex"cons, they wouldn't be out on the streets committing additional crimes. Your Honor, the "system's" rehabilitation program sure hasn't worked. Now, you prohibit allowing the free citizens to defend their lives and property, and you protect the "ex"cons so they can continue to pillage, steal, rummage against the good citizens with no criminal records. Your Honor, your priorities have been skewed.

[Carbonsteel]

Of course, if the crack had been the one that had killed someone, he would have probably gotten probation.

Our entire criminal justice system favors the scumbag.

[sourcery]

Cops can shoot an innocent man in the face and walk, but this victim must serve nine years? Wake up, folks: unless you're a cop, you're a second-class citizen subject.

[chance33_98]

Had my car broken into once, but they caught the perp. Have often thought about sitting outside out of view and waiting on some scum to break into and surprise them. Maybe a shot in the leg or something to start with :) I think though I would rather videotape it, push hard for the prosecution, and while they are in jail send them letters daily about how nice life is outside, and that I might swing by their house while they are in prison, etc and so on. Psychological torture would bring me much more pleasure :)

[fporretto]

The clear tendency of rulings such as this is to destroy property rights and, by extension, all rights.

A right is something one may legitimately defend with force when invaded or infringed. If the use of force is denied to the defender, so is the right.

Now, as others have already noted, the judge would not have faulted a policeman for firing on this perpetrator, even if the perpetrator had merely tried to flee the scene. That makes police officers an elevated category, who possess special privileges to wield force that non-policemen do not.

You have just witnessed the creation of an American nobility. Isn't it grand to be present at a millennial event?

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

[Boonie Rat]

"I cannot send out a message to the community that this is acceptable behavior," Judge Martin Marcus said before sentencing Vicenty. "Indeed, the message I must send out is the opposite."

Thieves should be coddled, not shot! They need help, call a shrink.

Boonie Rat

MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66

[neutrino]

said he shot the 43-year-old crook five times because he caught the ex-con rummaging through his 1998 Toyota Corolla.

Tut, tut. Hunting over a baited field. Not sporting at all...

[packrat35]

Here in Memphis, this isn't a crime. Killing car thieves is a normal thing.

[GBA]

""I cannot send out a message to the community that this is acceptable behavior," Judge Martin Marcus said before sentencing Vicenty. "Indeed, the message I must send out is the opposite.""

The judge should be sentenced to live in this guy's neighborhood for the entire time he's in prison. What was the guy's real crime? Having an "unliscensed" gun?

[cgbg]

It is time for an experiment in the Bronx.

Continue current policy for one year. Count vehicle B & E's and thefts.

A year later try the new policy of total amnesty for anyone who can shoot car thieves or B & E perps in the act. (Of course publicize the policy widely.)

Gee, I wonder what would happen in this experiment...

[bimbo]

"I cannot send out a message to the community that this is acceptable behavior," Judge Martin Marcus said before sentencing Vicenty.

Straighten up, Judge! What you are saying then is that the burglary is acceptable!!!

[MissAmericanPie]

I hope everyone remembers this is you ever find yourself on a jury in a case like this. You have to find the man totally innocent of all charges and not allow the judge to get a crack at him.

As a citizen I refuse to play by their rules and instructions of guilt or innocence when their rules are unjust. Evidently alot of other people feel the same way, thus the attempt to over rule and do away with jury trials.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

Another"BLACK ROBED THIEF"issues a wrong ruling!A criminal gets shot,WHO CARES!This agenda driven judge didn't want to send the wrong message to the community but he did,"COMMIT A CRIME AND THE VICTIM GOES TO JAIL"!

[waterstraat]

The New York police let Paul Kersey go free for killing many criminals.

[sinclair]

"The opposite message? That being, that good citizens who have no criminal record should succumb and allow crackheads, excons, and the like to rummage, steal, destroy, take over their possessions, etc."

Of course that's the liberal jurists message. That is what keeps those judges employed and in power.

[Don Myers]

I wish that the legal system was that tough on rapists and other idiots. We have a legal system that has completely broken down. They won't protect the citizens, and they won't let the citizens protect themselves. They protect the guilty, and punish the innocent. There is a contract involved here that "they" have broken.

[Hugin]

Victor Vicenty, 54, whose car had been burglarized at least four times in the past, shot and killed Kevin Bethea in May 2001 in the hand, chest, shoulder and buttocks with an unlicensed .22-caliber rifle near the Soundview Houses.

A couple of points. First killing someone because they stole your property is illegal everywhere. The only legal reason to shoot someone is because your life or someone elses in in danger. Theft does not justify murder. Anyone who owns a gun has a responsibilty to understand that.

Second, I blame the fact that he did so partly on NYC's asinine gun laws. In any normal place a person in this position could have aprehended the perp and called the cops. In NYC they would have arrested the not only the thief but the owner for having an "illegal" gun. Probably the thief would have been in a lot less trouble than the gunowner too. That makes aprehension a non-option which ecourages people to be either passive victims or vigilanties.

[Jhoffa_]

I vote to give him probation and a license for his rifle.

[El Gato]

unlicensed .22-caliber rifle

One of the more obscene phrases one would hope not to have to read. You can't license the exercise of a right.