Posted on 08/27/2002 3:22:58 PM PDT by Shermy
New Orleans Police arrested and charged a man for the shooting death of a teenager who was allegedly trying to steal his car.
Sean Minor, 29, was charged with manslaughter in the shooting, because officers say he wasnt in danger at the time of the incident.
Police say that Minor shot the alleged burglar from his balcony while observing the victim and another man trying to break in to his car.
In the New Orleans East neighborhood where the incident occurred, some residents say what Minor did was justified.
"I feel he was justified, said one unidentified resident. Because that was someone elses property and he was only protecting what was his.
Meanwhile, at the coroners office, the victims family said they were pleased that Minor had been arrested.
He didn't have no right to kill him, said Wanda Munoz, the victims mother. If he was doing what they said he was doing, he should have just called the police and reported it. Why kill him."
But local defense attorneys said that even if Minor were taken to trial in the shooting, it would be hard to get a jury to convict.
The problem comes in cause many citizens will tell you that you have a right to protect your property and if they get to a jury they'll say they would do the same thing," said Robert Jenkins, a local defense attorney.
The NOPD will continue to gather evidence in the case and turn over the findings to the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office. That office will make the ultimate determination on whether Minor is brought to trial.
Oh, probably because the police would have shown up 10 minutes late, his car would have been destroyed and the perps wouldn't have been caught.
Well, I must say that Robert Jenkins and I do not see eye to eye as lawyers. What he calls a "problem," I call common sense. The right to defend one's property is very basic to most Americans. The idea that one's property is somehow in a different class from one's life, shows a misconception. One's property reflects a segment of one's life, or the life of one's ancestor. Property does not grow on trees. It reflects the labor and ingenuity of one who secured by labor and ingenuity the means to acquire it. When you steal a man's property, you steal a segment of his life. No man should have to submit to that.
Hopefully, the local Prosecutor will decline this Prosecution. Let the thieves of the world, beware!
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Well Wanda, if your little degenerate wasn't doing what they said he was doing, it wouldn't be an issue, now would it??
So, can't shoot the SOB, you'll goto jail. Can't prevent 'em from driving away with well palced shots, that's willfull destruction (and probably still get's you in jail for discharging your weapon and endangering the life of the poor misguided perp). Watch them take your earned property (and if they wreck it), your penalized with higher rates..
I wonder how much I can get a silencer for? That would give me the crucial time needed to just drive away myself with the perp in the backseat...dump their asses somewhere else.
Well actually, Robert, that is not technically a problem. That's JUSTICE.
Good, then we are in agreement.
Maybe. But he may get the same jurors who would let him off in a criminal case.
In Texas, we're justified in protecting our property, at night, with lethal force.
Jurors are not stupid. It is not hard to grasp that this sort of citizen protection of property, makes every other property owner just a tad safer. Now if we had a shooting like this every day, there would soon be a very noticeable fall in car thefts!
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
I am not sure whether that was on the statute books, or just the practical result. It does seem fair, though, doesn't it! The idea that a thief has the right to strand an honest man is not tolerable.
William Flax
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