Posted on 08/27/2014 10:57:55 AM PDT by george76
District Judge Ed McLean has denied a motion to change the trial venue for Markus Kaarma, the Missoula man accused of fatally shooting a German exchange student in his garage last April.
In a 208-page motion to move the trial, Kaarma’s attorneys argued that local media reports have tainted Missoula’s jury pool by painting Kaarma as a “cold-blooded killer.”
Katie Lacny, who filed the motion, argued her 30-year-old client has been held captive in his Grant Creek home and received death threats as the media “aroused sympathies and created a community outcry against” him.
“The pretrial publicity has stirred up pervasive and strong passions of anger, hatred, indignation, revulsion and upset in such a manner that jurors chosen from Missoula County could not determine Markus’ guilt or innocence in a fair and unbiased manner. The coverage has been inflammatory,” she wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at helenair.com ...
Local media exposure has no influece. . .soooo. . .how about a local Ferguson MO jury for the police officer. . .fair?
German victim—ridiculous. The man was a TURKISH CRIMINAL and had robbed that house repeatedly.
The bullet-craving muzzie was buried in Turkey, NICE SHOOTING...!
Murdering for ANY reason is wrong. Self-defense is NOT murder, neither is defending someone else. But you know that.
Must be a SLOW-NEWS-DAY for Ms. Haake. Nothing like stirring up the racial coals for news. /Sarc.
Kaarma huh?
Odd coincidence of a last name...
The Turk , Diren Dede , entered Kaarma’s garage to do some garage shopping.
Diren Dede , exchange student of Turkish descent , was committing a felony, if not for that he might be alive today.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3152949/posts
Look forward to this idiot’s homicide conviction.
===========================================
JUSTIFIABLE homicide.
NEEEEXT.
Hindus was say it was his fate.
Movie Muslims would say: It was written.
I say: you do the crime; you do the time.
On one hand, it sounds like the homeowner was subjected to repeated burglaries and fed up. I totally understand and can't say that I wouldn't eventually snap under similar circumstances.
On the other hand, he was indiscriminately firing into a dark garage. Yeah, he should have shouted "Come out with your hands up!" Yeah, he might have considered that course, but didn't know how many perps were in the garage or whether they were armed.
If the prosecution goes for something more than a third degree manslaughter conviction, I'd probably vote to acquit. Otherwise, I'm not so sure.
Basically, I'm willing to cut the homeowner a little slack due to the repeated burglaries just as some juries cut defendants a little slack who are products of bad environments.
In my garage/house all bets are off. I shoot.
“But prosecutors claim the incident was premeditated. In a 19-page affidavit, prosecutors say Kaarma and his wife, Janelle Pflager, left the garage door open intentionally and left a purse inside the garage to bait intruders, who had burglarized their home in the weeks prior to the shooting.”
Based on this, Kaarma should get a ticket for “hunting in a baited field.”
Jury nullification is a good answer.
While I would not want to shoot a burglar who presented no immediate danger, I completely understand the sentiment and would not ruin a man’s life over shooting a criminal who was stealing his property. The homeowner exchanged substantial amounts of his time (in the form of paid work) for the property that was taken in prior thefts and the property that would have been taken that day. Stealing his property is stealing a portion of his life. The criminal played a stupid game, and he finally lost. Good riddance.
The prosecution has a heavy burden of proof here. OTOH, so does the defense. I hope the homeowner has been ably coached by his attorneys.
Remember the guy in Minnesota who offed both of his housebreakers execution style and then bragged about it? It didn't end well for him.
This Missoula man has to at least pretend to be genuinely shocked and remorseful, but scared for his life at the time he fired into his dark open garage.
>>Based on this, Kaarma should get a ticket for “hunting in a baited field.”<<
Was the burglar an animal? No, so he should have obeyed the rule - Thou shalt not steal.
The couple also set up a video monitor and motion sensors inside and outside of the garage.
When Dede entered the garage shortly after midnight, they were alerted to his presence by the video monitor. Kaarma allegedly grabbed a gun and exited the home through the front door.
After all that, you call the cops. You don't go outside with a gun and shoot the intruder. No reason to think the homeowner or family was in danger.
:o)
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