Car Owner Fatally Shoots Teen During Alleged Robbery Attempt (New Orleans)

WWL-TV ^ | August 27, 2002

[toddst]

here comes the lawsuit.

Of course, every act is now subject to a lawsuit. We can take no action that will not result in a lawsuit. Get yourself an umbrella personal liability policy for just such a situation. There is no right answer here other than taking no action whatever, apparently. Something wrong with this IMO.

[Dacus943]

"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."

Dang Right!!! I live here in New Orleans. The week before New Years - my 94 Dodge (white, with running boards, and luggage rack) Caravan was stolen. 2 weeks later it was found wrecked and abandoned. Inside the van was one mess of BLUNTS, Cocaine, and New Year Party (complete with lip stick smuges) favors.

The replacement van has Talking Alarm System that went off after some joker broke the windows a couple of week after I bought it.

If I were on the JURY - I'd pin a metal on the Sean Minor!

[Dimensio]

If I were on the JURY - I'd pin a metal on the Sean Minor!

You mean medal. It's safe to say that Sean Minor already pinned a metal on the perp trying to vandalize his car.

[Michael Barnes]

re: 14

Like the way ya think...

[old school]

You're quite right. It's a matter of what value you place on a human life over property. I wonder if some these people would be saying the same thing if the dead kid were their own son? The shooter's got to live with that. That's ultimately going to be something to resolve between him and God!

[the bottle let me down]

And New Orleans is not Texas. Even if the dead guy is not the most sympathetic case, if there is a child or other dependant who can sue for wrongful death, a big-city jury filled with Dems is likely to give the survivors something. Even if the jury decides in his favor, the gun owner will have the expense, hassle, and emotional toll of the trial--and that's if he isn't convicted of (or plea to) negligent discharge, reckless endangerment, or some other lesser change so thatthe DA can say that he didn't get a free pass. If that happens, the civil suit is largely over, except for the amount of damages awarded.

Of course, I'm not from Louisiana. Maybe I'm misreading the jury pool. But I don't think so.

[Cold Heat]

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.

LOL! I am laughing at the "even if" part.

[Ohioan]

No one is arguing that this was self defense, in the sense of defense of one's person. It was defense of property; and it was necessary action to prevent the commission of a felony. Would you suggest that a citizen should just stand-by and watch, while someone victimizes him in this manner?

Or let us take it a step further. What if a Policeman saw what this property owner saw, and called upon the thief to desist--and the thief continued. Would the Policeman be justified in shooting?

It is not a coincidence that there has been an increase in crimes against property, since law enforcement became so much more concerned over the safety of criminals. In most earlier times, it was understood that a thief assumed the risk of just this sort of intervention. Why have we changed in our attitudes--I don't mean all of us, but Society in general? This shooting sends a beneficial message to would be criminals. And that is the point, which most of us are focusing on.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Dimensio]

It's a matter of what value you place on a human life over property.

My car is trash, but I value it more than I would some punk attempting to vandalize it.

[Shermy]

Two words: warning shot.

[GodsLittleOne]

“He didn't have no right to kill him,” said Wanda Munoz,

First of all, learn to speak proper english. Second of all...I'm so angry at your stupidity that I can't even think of a "second of all"

[Bogey78O]

I noticed that as well. You think the mother would be ashamed of her poor skills at raising a kid that he got himself killed in the commission of a crime.

[dtel]

If it were my son, it would still be his own damn fault he got himself killed.
You don't steal. Period.

[Bogey78O]

If I had a son who was a car thief he'd have more to worry about than a guy with a gun. Wait a minute.....Why would I even let my son get to the point where he'd steal cars?

[Publius6961]

He's still facing one heckuva wrongful death civil suit.>

And the same pool of juror/victims :)

[Ohioan]

I don't have the citation before me, but the case that is usually cited to the effect of the opinion you have just offered is not that clear; it merely suggests that the Police should not get an automatic pass on the use of deadly force. Local departments in response to the doubt cast have since simply adopted policies that have seriously undermined their own credibility.

Thus you have the absurd spectacle of 40 year old cops playing foot tag with eighteen year old punks.

But it used to be horn book law that you could use whatever force was necessary to prevent the commission of a felony.

As I suggested above, crimes against property are in their effect crimes against the owners of that property, as truly as are crimes against their persons. You are not going to end the rash of crimes born in contempt for private property until Society returns to a harsher standard against the thieves among us. It is not acceptable to let a punk steal the fruits of your labor. That is stealing a part of you that being mortal, with limited time on this earth, you may never be able to reclaim.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Publius6961]

As a lawyer and a gun owner who believes in self-defense, I'm amazed at the strange ideas people have on this subject.

As a regular human being with just a brain, I am amazed that a lawyer would not know that it is a jury not I and not he who would ultimately decide.

[spodefly]

Standing off at a safe distance and shooting a thief who poses no immediate threat to your person or to anyone else is NOT justifiable homicide. I'm a gun owner and a great believer in self-defense, but this ain't it.

My previous post aside, I actually agree with you. (couldn't resist the double-negative.)

Speaking from a personal standpoint, and as a CCW holder who is rarely without a gun, I would not shoot someone trying to steal my car.

I will only use a gun in a circumstance where my life, or the life of a loved one, is in immediate peril. This is my choice, however. The law in many areas does allow for the protection of property. And as the DA mentioned, jury's are sympathetic to the property owner, so he may well be acquitted for it.

As I said, I am rarely without a gun, but I don't ever want to have to use it. I would like to make it thru my life without having to kill anyone. I walk away from any altercation when I carry. I avoid the road-ragers. I will do anything I can to avoid a situation where I have to draw the weapon. This, to me, is the responsibility of any armed citizen.

Someone stealing my beat-up old jeep isn't going to affect me for the rest of my life. Killing them for trying to steal it most probably will.

[Dacus943]

"You mean medal. It's safe to say that Sean Minor already pinned a metal on the perp trying to vandalize his car."

ROTFLMAO!!! Thanks, in my defense, I'm a product of the New Orleans Public School System.