Green Beret “not guilty” in CO home defense
Fox31 reports that a jury found Michael Galvin, 35, an Army special forces soldier not guilty in the negligent homicide death of Robert Carrigan who Galvin found stealing his stuff in a building not attached to his home back in 2015.
The prosecutors tried to narrowly define the “stand your ground” or “Make My Day” law to apply only to a home and because the garage was not part of Galvin’s home, they contended that he had no right to shoot Carrigan in self-defense.
Prosecutors argued the Make My Day law did not apply because Carrigan did not enter Galvin’s home.
Defense attorneys argued Carrigan lunged for Galvin’s gun before the shooting.
“I think the jury sent a clear message today that if someone is coming onto your property and is stealing things, you have the right to shoot them,” defense attorney Jeremy Loew told KRDO.
“You have the right to defend yourself or your family, and your property.”
“We’re disappointed,” District Attorney Dan May said.
From the Colorado Springs Gazette;
During trial, Galvin’s attorneys highlighted Galvin’s military training in arguing that he knew how to identify a deadly threat. They argued that evidence showed Carrigan “lunged” for Galvin’s pistol in the dark, forcing the homeowner to defend himself. They also accused the prosecution of mischaracterizing autopsy findings to support their theory that Carrigan was shot in the back.
The encounter happened in a garage set back 25 feet from Galvin’s house after he saw his bicycle lying in the backyard and went back to investigate.
The negligent homicide count alleged that he was guilty of a “gross deviation” from what a reasonable person would do in his place. Prosecutors said he should have waited in his house and called police, or else used his pistol to hold the intruder at bay.
A former member of the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson who now serves in the Colorado Army National Guard, Galvin could have faced up to three years in prison if convicted.
Category: Veterans in the news
One bastion of our freedoms, the jury, has defended another bastion of our freedoms, a soldier.
Good job, citizens.
Never complain about jury duty. You may need a jury some day.
^^^^Think of this case the next time you are tempted to excuse your way out of the jury pool when called.
The only way to reign in out of control justice is a jury of your peers. Next time this could be you
And -always- remember, not matter how much you are told otherwise, you absolutely -do- have the ancient right ass a Jurist to ponder the law itself.
“Not guilty, because this law is -bullshit-“.
It is called Jury Nullification.
Just do not -say- you are doing so. “I just do -not- believe the State has proven its case. I have significant doubt. Not guilty.”
Just one man’s personal opinion, typo and all…..
I am not sure, but suspect we need a major campaign to terminate ALL liberal/communist lawyers….said this man did NOT have the right to defend his home and family and property? Coloradans need to go after that asshole D.A. with a vengence..get his worthless ass out of that office!!!
Good thing this was the Springs, in Boulder they would argue he should sit in a corner and suck his thumb after calling the cops, maybe make a crayon sketch. Colorado is infested with Californians nowadays who are bringing their strange values and beliefs to what was once a nice state.
Thus my theory that liberals are not unlike a parasitic infection.
It’s amazing how they can screw up one place, migrate to a nice place that is free of loony beliefs, and not put it all together, thus ruining the second place. Parasites, indeed.
Yep, that’s exactly what I’ve seen over the years here. I’m surprised the prosecutors in C-Springs would take such a case, that’s more what i’d expect in Aurora or Denver…But at least the jury saw through the BS
IMHO liberals are like lampreys, they suck the life out of one location by rendering it unlivable and then migrate to infest other locales like a lamprey latches onto a fish and then goes off to seek another host one the prey is dead.
Only difference I see from that API is a lamprey knows it’s killing it’s host.. the leftist idiots seem honestly clueless that it’s the horrible policies they push that destroy the places they live..
Another comparison is that liberals infest like rodents and move on after rendering a location unlivable.
Yep
Salt Lake City is going much the same way. Ditto Boise.
Taos and Santa Fe are lost causes.
I just hope the liberals confine themselves to Jackson Hole if/when I retire to Wyoming.
…or a cancer.
Cancer can be cured, for the most part. Speaking as a cancer survivor
Californians like me are glad to be rid of those ex-Californians. Although we’re also sorry about the mess they make wherever they go.
Now, let’s put DA May in the exact same situation, see how HE behaves, and how loud he squeals.
Well he would say “safe space” you can’t cross my bobble
BHWHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!
BZ!
..but it never should have gone to court
Substantial legal fees & two years of anguish sweating his fate for taking out the trash. The tax payers were saved the burden.
Boom!
That’s why I left Colorado and moved to Florida, it was full of Californicates, they ruined what was a beautiful state, now in Florida I am stuck with all of these stolen valor fuckers! Oh what to do now?
Move to Wyoming, come over to see me and we’ll get the ball rolling on having your brother locked up.
My sister in law is the county VA rep here and hates posers.
Thanks Claw, I spent a half hour on the phone with the VA yesterday! I pleaded with them to get back with me and give me status on his case? We will see if they keep their word! My cousin lives in Wyoming as well, I love it there, a great place to live!! I hope to have a cold beer with you some day?
Take care,
Bill
I’ve lived in Gillette and Green River, as well as across the border in the Bear Lake Valley.
But I think I want to look into Cody or that area.
If nothing else I’d get to have a front row seat if the caldera blows.
I guarantee you that this Carrigan asshole wouldn’t have gotten shot if he had decided not to trespass on someone else’s property, break in, steal their shit, and assault them when discovered. Total fucks given for the dead douchebag and the prosecutor’s chickenshit: zero.
Who says my detached garage/shop can’t be my “home”? It’s where I keep all my good toys from prying eyes and nosy neighbors.
As many times as I’ve been banished from the house after “getting the look”, it’s my second home away from home./sarc
Good on the jury in the Springs. Perhaps a small island of intelligence in a sea of stupidity is breaking the surface.
Just goes to show that surviving the gunfight is just the very beginning of the ordeal.
So Dan May is disappointed that he cannot jail an American hero who was defending his property because a jury didn’t accept the idea that a detached garage wasn’t sufficiently his? May sounds like a deserving recipient of some tar, some feathers and a rail.
“I think the jury sent a clear message today that if someone is coming onto your property and is stealing things, you have the right to shoot them,” defense attorney Jeremy Loew told KRDO.”
This seems like a dumb line and concept to me by the *defense* attorney.
The defendant didn’t shoot the criminal because he was stealing his stuff, the defendant shot him because he lunged for him-it’s perfectly moral to investigate your property and defend yourself accordingly if attacked.
The state seems to want to mandate that people not be able to investigate their own property but if they do so, they should not have the ability to defend themselves.
I was a kind of silly thing to say. If he’s in a state that doesn’t allow deadly force to defend property he also just made his client look like he broke the law.
Here in NC you can’t use deadly force to defend property, in TX you can. It all depends on the state laws.
“Lunged for his gun”…I don’t believe it but I sure would if I was in the jury box…
I am guessing thief was trying to light out of the place and made the terminally stupid decision to try to run past the shooter on the way to the door. Probably figured homeowner would not shoot him over the B&E.
No way the shooter (or any of us) could have known what dead thief was really thinking.
It’s a shame Galvin had to waster all that money on a trial.
Come on here to Texas Mr. Galvin. Texas Penal Code 9.42 would have you covered just fine.
But then there is the summer heat to deal with…
But Texas is pretty veteran-friendly, despite the heat.
And the heat ain’t like Iraq, I’ve been told by those who’ve been here and there.
Yes sir. Every year as I get older it feels hotter, but when the evening sets in after a hot day it sure is nice outside.
I have a close neighbor buddy who is an Iraq veteran and he would agree with what you’ve been told.
Texas is likely the most vet friendly place in the US. And, no income tax, so no retirement pay tax. They close the gap on the GI Bill for those who never finished school and ran out of money too.
My plan if Das Hildebeast won the election was to move to Texas and emigrate as soon as it seceded!
You should see our Warrior’s Weekend event and Field of Honor in Victoria Texas!
God Bless the jury, I’m glad they did the right thing for once! I love to go on jury duty, I volunteer for it every chance I get! I always get picked no matter what I say? I guess I just have an honest face??
“I think the jury sent a clear message today that if someone is coming onto your property and is stealing things, you have the right to shoot them,” defense attorney Jeremy Loew told KRDO
Yep, that sounds good to me.
Asshole prosecutor. I bet he gives deals to hardcore criminals all the time. Fucking scumbag.
I wouldn’t doubt that one damned bit, some asswipe Prosecutor who thought it would be fun to play “Fuck the Veteran “.
Wow, they actually said it was not reasonable for a person to go look in their garage when they saw the bike on the lawn and door open? that a “gross deviation” from what a reasonable person would do in his place. Prosecutors said he should have waited in his house and called police?
So every time my kids forget to put away their bike, the wife forgets to close the door, or I think I see something, I should call the police rather than go see if it is my fault or someone else?
our police, fire and EMS are over whelmed with the volume of 911 calls now (Our EMS is swamped and getting worse because of the work load). I am sure that a call that “someone might be in the garage because I see a bicycle in my yard i’m pretty sure I put away” is going to get put at a lower priority than the drunk driver who ran over someones flower, the two teens fighting and the five different OD’s in fast food bathrooms.
LARS!
Go ahead, conjure the goblin and see what moronic drivel he excretes!
What a bullshit prosecution! Wasting taxpayer dollars prosecuting a man who risks his life to protect our people and our Constitution, and who was simply protecting hearth and home.
~~~
Well said Greybeard.
“Never complain about jury duty. You may need a jury some day.”
That’s Graybeard’s comment I meant to reference.
I worked for Texas Law Shield for a while and although I don’t work for them anymore, I still have the program.
it’s $20.00 a month and they handle all the gun related consequences provided it was a legal shoot.
By that I mean that you don’t run after some guy for evading a cop car and shoot them in the forehead like some moron I read about the other day…
Unlike other gun law insurance programs, Texas Law Shield handles gun law and only gun law, they are very good at it.
They also have US Law Shield which works in the same fashion and have legal practice gun law attorneys all over the US with 50 state coverage.
For $20 bucks a month you just can’t go wrong with it…
if you carry a firearm, it is well worth it to become familiar with this program or other programs like it. I just think this one is the best, they were the first and have never lost a case in over 20 years.