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Self Defense in the news Part 13
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Wounded man admits role in attacking shooter
Tuesday, June 04, 2002
By PAULO LIMA
Staff Writer
Daniel Winston took a bullet to the chest and saw his friend shot to death in front of him during a botched vigilante assault on a Saddle Brook man in 1997.
Six months ago, a jury agreed that the shooter, Arthur Hall, fired in legitimate self-defense while warding off Winston and four friends. On Monday, Winston pleaded guilty to simple assault for his role in provoking Hall.
Superior Court Judge Donald R. Venezia accepted the guilty plea and immediately sentenced Winston to one year of probation, accompanied by anger management counseling.
"You will bear the scars of this all your life, but the memory will not disappear,'' Venezia told Winston. "I would hope that memory will guide you the rest of your life.''
Winston, 26, had been scheduled to stand trial this month on charges of aggravated assault and burglary. The second-degree aggravated assault charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Both sides were eager to work out a deal and avoid a trial, however.
Last month, Winston turned down a deal that called for him to plead guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for probation. Prosecutors made a more attractive plea offer on Monday, with Winston having to admit only simple assault, which is a disorderly persons offense.
Going to trial would have placed prosecutors in the awkward position of calling Hall as a witness just months after they tried to convict him of manslaughter. Hall's lawyer, Vincent Basile, said his client was willing to testify if called but was not pressing for a harsh prosecution.
"Mr. Hall just wanted me to convey to the state that whatever disposition the state wanted to offer was fine with him,'' Basile said. "He just wanted to put this behind him.''
Hall, now 51, shot and killed Maikes Sanchez and wounded Winston and Julio Melendez as the men drove away following a midnight raid on Hall's apartment on Finnegan Avenue on Dec. 24, 1997. The men were accompanied by two other youths, Hector Hernandez and Osvaldo "Alex'' Acevedo, neither of whom was injured.
The five went to Hall's apartment to confront him because they thought he had raped Acevedo's girlfriend, whose mother was dating Hall at the time, authorities said. The girl later said the allegations were false.
The assailants pushed their way into Hall's apartment and began beating him.
Hall was an ATM repairman at the time and was licensed to carry a gun. He grabbed his 9mm pistol and chased the youths about 100 yards down the street, firing several times into their car as they drove away.
Winston, who was driving, barely escaped a fatal wound.
"It missed his heart by less than an inch,'' said Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor John Higgins.
Hall was charged with manslaughter and four counts of attempted manslaughter, but a jury acquitted him in December.
Winston's attorney, Brian Neary, said his client suffered physical and emotional wounds from the incident. He said Winston was receiving counseling and wanted to "close the chapter on this sordid event.''
Paulo Lima's e-mail address is lima@northjersey.com
3809228
http://www.bergen.com/page.php?level_3_id=7&page=3809228
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Tuesday, June 04, 2002
By PAULO LIMA
Staff Writer
Daniel Winston took a bullet to the chest and saw his friend shot to death in front of him during a botched vigilante assault on a Saddle Brook man in 1997.
Six months ago, a jury agreed that the shooter, Arthur Hall, fired in legitimate self-defense while warding off Winston and four friends. On Monday, Winston pleaded guilty to simple assault for his role in provoking Hall.
Superior Court Judge Donald R. Venezia accepted the guilty plea and immediately sentenced Winston to one year of probation, accompanied by anger management counseling.
"You will bear the scars of this all your life, but the memory will not disappear,'' Venezia told Winston. "I would hope that memory will guide you the rest of your life.''
Winston, 26, had been scheduled to stand trial this month on charges of aggravated assault and burglary. The second-degree aggravated assault charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Both sides were eager to work out a deal and avoid a trial, however.
Last month, Winston turned down a deal that called for him to plead guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for probation. Prosecutors made a more attractive plea offer on Monday, with Winston having to admit only simple assault, which is a disorderly persons offense.
Going to trial would have placed prosecutors in the awkward position of calling Hall as a witness just months after they tried to convict him of manslaughter. Hall's lawyer, Vincent Basile, said his client was willing to testify if called but was not pressing for a harsh prosecution.
"Mr. Hall just wanted me to convey to the state that whatever disposition the state wanted to offer was fine with him,'' Basile said. "He just wanted to put this behind him.''
Hall, now 51, shot and killed Maikes Sanchez and wounded Winston and Julio Melendez as the men drove away following a midnight raid on Hall's apartment on Finnegan Avenue on Dec. 24, 1997. The men were accompanied by two other youths, Hector Hernandez and Osvaldo "Alex'' Acevedo, neither of whom was injured.
The five went to Hall's apartment to confront him because they thought he had raped Acevedo's girlfriend, whose mother was dating Hall at the time, authorities said. The girl later said the allegations were false.
The assailants pushed their way into Hall's apartment and began beating him.
Hall was an ATM repairman at the time and was licensed to carry a gun. He grabbed his 9mm pistol and chased the youths about 100 yards down the street, firing several times into their car as they drove away.
Winston, who was driving, barely escaped a fatal wound.
"It missed his heart by less than an inch,'' said Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor John Higgins.
Hall was charged with manslaughter and four counts of attempted manslaughter, but a jury acquitted him in December.
Winston's attorney, Brian Neary, said his client suffered physical and emotional wounds from the incident. He said Winston was receiving counseling and wanted to "close the chapter on this sordid event.''
Paulo Lima's e-mail address is lima@northjersey.com
3809228
http://www.bergen.com/page.php?level_3_id=7&page=3809228
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
June 6, 2002, 5:13 PM EDT
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A Superior Court judge Thursday dismissed a gun charge against a Bridgeport cab driver who fatally shot a rider who tried to rob him.
John Lutters, 43, of Seymour had been charged with carrying a pistol without a permit.
Lutters' lawyer successfully argued that state law provides exemptions for guns found in people's homes and businesses.
Lutters, a former Metro Taxi driver, shot Travis Hazelwood, 38, in June of last year after Hazelwood placed a pair of scissors against the driver's neck and started to cut him.
Investigators said the killing was justified, but Lutters was still charged with carrying a pistol without a permit.
State prosecutors said they would appeal.
Copyright c 2002, The Associated Press http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct-brf--taxishooting0606jun06.story
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Defense may argue that Palmero man acted in self-defense
By Associated Press, 6/5/2002 02:16
BELFAST, Maine (AP) A Palermo man charged with killing his neighbor during a domestic dispute may argue that he acted in self-defense or in the defense of a third person, his lawyer said.
Donald ''Larry'' Mooney, 36, is charged with manslaughter for fatally shooting Daniel Walsh, 40, in his mobile home on Memorial Day.
Mooney did not enter a plea during his Tuesday appearance in Belfast District Court. Mooney, who stands about 5 feet tall and who lost his left forearm in a woodchipper accident, appeared in a bright orange prison jumpsuit and leg chains. He occasionally dabbed his eyes.
Mooney admitted to shooting Walsh several times after Walsh's family came to him for help, according to a state police affidavit.
Walter McKee, Mooney's lawyer, said his client had intervened about a dozen other times.
''The first time (Mooney) saw the victim, the victim was running across my client's lawn with a hammer chasing a kid,'' McKee said.
Erin Walsh told police her 13-year-old son went to Mooney's home to ask for help after an intoxicated Daniel Walsh hit the boy and screamed at her and her children to leave.
Mooney said he was able to convince Walsh to leave the home, but Walsh returned a short time later. Mooney ten retrieved a .22-caliber revolver from his home and returned just as Erin Walsh was leaving with her children, he told police.
A physical confrontation broke out after Mooney ordered Walsh out at gunpoint. The gun fell to the floor, Mooney recovered it and then told Walsh to stay back, Mooney told investigators.
Mooney said he fired a warning shot, followed by up to three subsequent shots, when Walsh came toward him.
Judge John Nivison continued bail for Mooney at $5,000 cash, saying that the manslaughter charge carries a penalty of up to 40 years in prison and that Mooney has children out of state.
Nivison scheduled a probable cause hearing for July 8.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/156/region/Defense_may_argue_that_Palmero:.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
06/06/2002
KING5.com
MILTON, Wash. - Police in Pierce County are searching for three home invasion robbers, who fled after the home's owner opened fire with his own gun.
Police said the intruders broke through a sliding glass door around midnight and forced a woman to the floor. Then a man with an AK-47 rifle came in and fired three shots into the ceiling, causing the intruders to flee.
No one was hurt.
The incident occurred at 70th Avenue East in the town of Milton, just north of Tacoma.
Police consider the men armed and very dangerous. The residents said the men all wore bulletproof vests, and that this isn't the first time the home has been invaded.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_060602WABhomeinvasion.ee002a5.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Thursday, June 6, 2002
By Bryn Mickle
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Flint - A 16-year-old boy was justified when he shot and killed his father Tuesday after the man burst through the front door at 3 a.m. holding a knife and a baseball bat, Genesee County Prosecutor Arthur A. Busch says.
The man's estranged wife had obtained a court order to keep him away from the family's home on Hastings Street near Tuscola Avenue in Flint after a May 14 incident in which he allegedly broke into the home and choked her, before being stopped by the boy.
"The system was not capable of protecting this family," Busch said.
Police said Owen Q. Sharpe, 52, made several phone calls to the house about 2 a.m. Tuesday, then tried to break in through the front door about an hour later.
The teen heard the commotion then saw a white-gloved fist break through the door, Busch said.
The teen, armed with a .22-caliber rifle, fired a warning shot at the door casing, but Sharpe unlocked the door and came in carrying a baseball bat and a folding buck knife.
Busch said the teen backed up, then shot his father once in the chest. Sharpe died at Hurley Medical Center.
The shooting was self-defense, said Busch, adding that Sharpe had a long history of mental illness, substance abuse and domestic violence.
Sharpe's estranged wife, Dolores, told a judge last month that Owen Sharpe choked her May 14 because he did not think she would punish her son for driving her car without a driver's license. Owen Sharpe allegedly grabbed a knife in the incident, but was stopped by the boy.
Busch said the family had done everything right in obtaining a personal protection order and filing police reports against Sharpe.
Bryn Mickle is the afternoon police reporter. He can be reached at (810) 766-6383 or bmickle@flintjournal.com.
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-3/1023378624149360.xml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Posted: June 5, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
c 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
Violation of property rights by government hardly raises objections. If it did, the appropriate reaction to the banning by John Magaw of firearms in the cockpit would be: "Whose property is it anyway?"
U.S. airlines are, ostensibly, privately owned. Why, then, is the transportation secretary's minion not allowing rightful owners to defend their property? The dangers for commercial aviation of such a prohibition, arguably, have a lot to do with turning ownership ? in this case airline ownership ? into conditional tenure.
If things were as they ought to be, we wouldn't chafe about whether pilots should carry guns or not. Any tension would revolve around passengers choosing the airline that optimizes their peace of mind. Passenger X's reasons for taking airline A to his destination might be because the carrier's pilots are armed. Mrs. Y's overriding priority is to ensure her young daughters are not subjected to the mandatory pat downs ? she chooses airline B, because its security personnel profile passengers.
In a word, true competition would arise, and the consumer would be in a position to shape the delivery of security through his buying or his abstention from buying. This indeed would be possible if airlines were not merely nominally private, as they are now, but instead were in a position to freely fine-tune their responses to consumer demand without interference from Congress and the regulators. It stands to reason that the stronger the proprietor's rights in his property, the better he is able to respond to the consumer.
Since regulation replaces consumer preferences with bureaucratic decision-making, it invariably instates the wrong standards or, simply, settles on lower standards than those of the consumer. While business will pay a steep price in the free market for misreading the consumer, a government-granted reprieve is always on hand in a regulated industry, especially one that is considered an essential part of the national infrastructure, as civil aviation is. On the heels of 9-11, government handed the airline industry a multi-billion-dollar bailout, as well as immunity from lawsuits. Thus were the airlines released from responsibility for the security of their passengers.
Government-run airports were ? and still are ? responsible for further vitiating passenger safety. As explained by economist Robert Murphy in an article entitled "The Source of Air-Travel Insecurity":
?the federal government had established minimum security guidelines and then forced the airlines to chip in their share to pay for them. Whatever their airline, passengers were funneled through a common security checkpoint, staffed by a third-party company. In such an environment, it would have been silly for an individual airline to spend millions of dollars to exceed the government's minimum standards by providing expert security personnel.
Because of the setup of [government-run] airports, every other airline would have benefited too from this arrangement, so it is doubtful that such an expenditure would have been rewarded by increased consumer patronage. Further, because the public naively believes the government when it "guarantees" air safety, even if an individual airline could have realistically offered better security measures than its competitors, consumers would still have felt that rival carriers were "safe."
Only when an airline can undertake "curb-to-curb" handling of its passengers will it stand to both reap the benefits that arise from providing superior service, as well as incur full liability for forsaking passenger safety. This is possible only in a privatized airport, where freedom of association and freedom of contract aren't overridden or blurred by government, and where responsibility isn't collectivized.
Alas, the recent federalizing of airport security has removed even the tenuous involvement the airlines had in the protection of their passengers. Civil servants-*-political appointees continue to oversee the industry, leaving no doubts about the political commitment of this administration to full socialization of airline security.
Granting airlines the right to arm employees ? and the freedom to privately contract with on-board security providers ? rather than be compelled to stand in line for a federal marshal, will obviate somewhat the inevitable security pitfalls of a nationalized airport.
Closer to home ? and equally ominous ? is the manner in which the Fair Housing Act erodes property rights, and, with them, the right to safeguard our homes.
According to the Act, a property owner cannot "discriminate" against any person ? in the sale or rental of a dwelling ? because of race, color, religion ? or national origin."
An essential attribute of ownership is the right to exclude, a right that could come in very handy considering that apartment building owners have been warned by the FBI (for what it's worth) about the possibility that al-Qaida operatives may rent suites and plant explosives in them.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27846
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- An 89-year-old woman was shot to death by an intruder while calling 911 for help, police say.
Durham County sheriff's investigators were trying to piece together the events behind the death of Lois Joyner Cannady, who had called 911 reporting a home invasion in progress at 11:22 p.m. Wednesday, Capt. Ricky Buchanan said.
The murder followed two incidents earlier Wednesday night in which Cannady had reported that a man sprayed her with pepper spray at her door, then later that her car had been stolen, according to sheriff's reports.
A tape of the home-invasion 911 call contains the sound of a gunshot, said Maj. Lucy Zastrow. But when deputies arrived minutes after the call was placed, no suspects could be found.
Cannady died from a single gunshot wound. Nothing was stolen except her car, authorities said.
Buchanan said investigators found signs of forced entry at the rear door of her home.
Residents of the tree-lined neighborhood were reeling from the slaying.
"I didn't sleep a wink last night, because it ain't something that happens here," said Rob Wells, one of Cannady's neighbors.
Cannady told authorities that a man knocked on her door around 6:05 p.m. and threw "some type of liquid" onto her chest, according to a report. She told the man her son was a police officer and that his cruiser was parked outside, but the man laughed at her and walked away.
At 6:37 p.m., Cannady called police again and said her 1990 Chevrolet Corsica had been stolen from her driveway, according to the report. A witness told deputies he was driving past the home and had seen two men in the driveway and a third on the front porch of the home.
The man stopped because he said the men, whom he described as three black males, appeared suspicious. It is unclear if those events are related to the homicide, but Buchanan said a deputy recovered Cannady's car abandoned behind a Durham auto parts store on Thursday.
Neighbor Johnny Hearn said he spoke with Cannady after the suspect had attacked her with pepper spray and gave her his telephone number.
"It's a quiet, nice, easy neighborhood, then all of this happened," he said. "A lady gets maced and gets killed all in one night." http://24hour.newsobserver.com/nc24hour/ncnews/story/1442625p-1474650c.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By JOHN COMO, Gazette Staff Writer June 07, 2002
Gazette photo by Jim Wakefield
Man chased victim to Black Lick, police say
Thomas A. Mock Jr. of Burrell Township was escorted Thursday from the state police station in White Township by Troopers Kevin Foley, center, and Timothy Lipniskis to an arraignment on attempted-murder and other charges.
BLACK LICK - A man accused of firing shots into a car Thursday afternoon, shooting a passenger in the head, while chasing the car about four miles on Burrell and Blacklick township roads, was arrested and charged with four counts of attempted murder.
The chase on Falling Run and Campbell's Mill roads ended in the parking lot at the Sheetz store in Black Lick, where police said the man, Thomas Arthur Mock Jr., rammed the car with his pickup truck as they pulled into the parking lot off Main Street.
Joanne Marie Lowman, 16, of Black Lick, a passenger in the front seat of the car, was struck in the back of the head with one of the bullets, according to state police. She was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown. This morning, a nursing supervisor at the hospital said no information was being provided on Lowman's condition.
In a brief statement at Sheetz, Sgt. Bernard Petrovsky, a criminal investigator in the Indiana state police station, said Lowman walked from the car into the store and was described as coherent and alert. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Her husband, Josh, 20, the driver of the car, and the other passengers, John Michael Smith and Chad Calabrese, both teen-agers from Blairsville, were not injured, police said. Police released no ages or other information on Smith and Calabrese because they are minors.
In documents filed at District Justice Susanne Steffee's office in Homer City, police said the incident began at about 1:20 p.m. when Mock, driving east on Falling Run Road, fired six shots at a Blue Pontiac Sunfire he was following. One shot struck Joanne Lowman in the back of the head.
Mock then rammed the back of the car as it entered the Sheetz lot, according to the documents. Police said they do not believe any shots were fired in the parking lot.
Witnesses at Sheetz said that Mock got out of the truck briefly and then got back in and drove south on Route 119.
Mock, 42, of 772 Falling Run Road in Burrell Township, was arrested at about 3:30 p.m. at a house of an unidentified acquaintance in Brenizer, south of Blairsville, after leaving his truck near Lamantia Produce in Blairsville, according to the affidavit. Petrovsky said Mock was arrested without incident.
According to the affidavit, Anthony Saverio Grillo Jr., a stepson of Mock, said Mock had told him that the teen-agers had been at his house the night before. Petrovsky said Mock apparently had a history of mental illness and had told police that the people in the car were "out to get his job."
Two neighbors of Mock's heard the shots and identified Mock as the driver of the pickup truck, according to the affidavit police filed at Steffee's office.
Police interviewed Grillo at Sal's Pizza, according to the affidavit. He said that Mock had called him and asked for help.
Police also recovered a .357 Magnum handgun from a freezer in Sal's Pizza after Grillo told them Mock had put it there.
Mock sat quietly at his arraignment Thursday evening, nodding his head as Steffee explained the charges, four counts each of attempted murder, aggravated assault and crimes committed with firearms.
Each of the four attempted-murder charges could result in a jail term of 40 years, Steffee said, and each of the other charges could carry a jail term of 20 years. She said he could also be fined $50,000 on each attempted-homicide count and $25,000 on each of the other charges.
"Because of the seriousness of the crimes you are charged with, I am ordering you to be taken to the Indiana County Jail and setting bail at $500,000 in cash," Steffee told Mock. He did not respond and was led from the hearing room by a state trooper.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 17 at 2 p.m. in Steffee's office.
The store was closed during the investigation, with yellow tape cordoning off Main Street, the gasoline pumps and parking lot. A sheet of yellow plastic covered the roof of the car.
Police and firefighters from the Black Lick Volunteer Fire Company kept people from moving into the taped-off area.
Gloria Bell of Blairsville said she had pulled into the Sheetz store shortly after the incident and saw ambulance personnel bringing the girl out the store.
"I didn't see anything else, but I think it is such a waste, because the girl appeared very young," Bell said.
Domer Sleasman and his wife Melanie, who live two houses away from the store, said they were shocked that such a thing would happen so close to their home.
"Our children make three or four trips to Sheetz every day, and it is scary to think something like that could happen there," Domer Sleasman said. "I didn't see or hear anything. I just happened to look out the window and see everyone gathering at the store."
"You don't expect anything like this to happen in a small town," said Jean Glass, who lives about two blocks from Sheetz along Main Street. "
http://zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4371144&BRD=1078&PAG=461&dept_id=151025
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878