Tuesday morning feel good story
AW1, USN (Ret) sends us our first feel good story this morning, this time it’s from California and it’s a little bit different than our regular stories. In this one, a thief foils his own robbery;
One man was wielding a rifle and the other toting a machete.
As they attempted to rob the store, the man with the firearm got into a struggle with someone inside.
The robber’s rifle accidentally went off, firing a single bullet into his accomplice’s upper body. He died at the scene.
[…]
“We chased after the suspect, who shot at his accomplice, and me and my husband grabbed him, and talked him into coming back into the store,” a woman who asked not to be identified told CBS2/KCAL9?s Brittney Hopper. “We weren’t going to let him go. I told him, ‘It’s better to just turn yourself in.’”
The robber allegedly told the woman it was his friend’s idea to rob the store and that he didn’t want to do it alone.
Chief Tango sends more stories, the first from Florida;
Upon deputies arriving on scene, contact was made with the 15-year-old victim who stated that he was home alone when he heard banging coming from the back of the residence.
The teen investigated the noise and saw the suspect attempting to open the back door.
At this point, the teen feared for his safety, so he armed himself with a shotgun.
The 15-year-old then fired a warning shot into an interior door which caused the suspect to flee the scene.
The next story is from Texas;
The homeowner’s motion detector was activated and he stepped out to check on it. He saw the man and the man charged the homeowner. The homeowner fired one shot and struck the man somewhere in the lower chest area. The man ran away after the shooting.
Officers quickly set up a perimeter and followed a trail of blood down several city blocks. A K-9 was called and tracked for a lengthy period of time but couldn’t find the man.
Category: Feel Good Stories
As I was watching the video, I wondered,
“Are ANY of those individuals in this Country legally?”
At least the reportrix didn’t call it an “assault rifle”.
I’m thinking that the clueless perp from CA is about to get well acquainted with the term “felony murder”. And I’m also thinking he won’t exactly like the experience.
Maybe. The trick in cases like this is “transferred intent”…if he intended to fire the shot (and it was aimed to murder), and he hits the wrong man, it’s murder…but if he can sell the idea that the weapon went off accidentally (as the story said), he’s still doing time, but not for murder.
Depends on the wording of the CA statute, but intent may not matter. Felony murder usually requires only that the perp be committing a felony and that someone else is killed during the commission of that felony. The perp need not even fire a shot. I’ve seen perps get charged with felony murder when their co-perp is justifiably killed by a victim or by the police.
That was my understanding as well, MrBill – in most jurisdictions, anyway. But you are correct that the CA statute’s wording (and past CA court cases regarding the area) will be definitive.
I was curious, so I looked it up. It even has its own Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule_(California)
California’s law appears to be narrower than some. I’ve read the article, and the statutue itself, and I’m just not sure that an accidental killing such as the one in this case would qualify. If any prosecutors or criminal defense lawyers are reading this, I’d be interested in hearing you ropinion.
Don’t forget, Folks – – – ,
Today is Tuesday, and Tuesday is “SOYLENT GREEN” day!
Per Robert Heinlein, “Stupidity is a capital crime and its sentence is executed without mercy throughout the universe.”