http://gr.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000731gmlshoot3104802.frm
Prosecutor to decide if store clerk will be charged in shooting
By Doug Guthrie
The Grand Rapids Press
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The average American's gut reaction to use of deadly force for protection of life and property is, "Well, of course we have that right," says William Baum, Grand Valley State University professor of political science and constitutional law.
But Baum warns there is no clear answer. The laws surrounding the use of deadly force are "a jungle," he says.
Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth is cutting his way through that jungle now to decide whether a West Side party store clerk should face charges for shooting a man who allegedly grabbed money from the store's cash register.
A Grand Rapids minister, the family of alleged robber Jeffrey Williams, 25, and his family's lawyer have announced a news conference Wednesday to ask Forsyth to consider "the excessive brutality" of the incident and issue a warrant to criminally charge store clerk Timothy Hern, 28.
Forsyth, who has opted against filing charges in several recent deadly force cases, has said he expects to announce his decision sometime this week. Among the factors he must consider: Whether Williams had committed a felony and whether the use of deadly force was necessary to catch him.
"There's a lot of gray area in the law as it relates to this," Forsyth said. "Each decision has to be fact-based. That's why I've set this aside for consideration. I've got to compile and review all the reports. Everything depends on the facts."
Hern said he is anxious to hear whether or not he will be charged.
"I just want it all to be over," he said. "From what I've heard, it could take a year for all this to pan out. I just want to get back on with my life again...I know it's a situation that I'm never going to be able to forget."
Hern has decided not to return to his job. These days he spends most of his time at home, waiting for a call from police.
He said he can't believe that "if someone commits a crime...when you try to deter it, you turn into a criminal. I don't feel that I was in the wrong. I definitely don't feel that I should be charged with anything. I was just trying to protect the store and my life."
Grand Rapids police will present the facts as contained in police reports and detectives' notes. The reports contain details collected at the scene of the incident as well as interviews with the shopkeeper and witnesses.
Williams is alleged to have entered the West Side Party Store, 900 Walker Ave. NW, about 6:45 p.m. July 21. Hern told police he pulled a loaded 9-mm handgun from beneath the store's counter when Williams made a grab for the cash.
Hern said a customer slowed Williams' flight and the two struggled at the front door and onto the sidewalk. Williams fell, then continued to flee after a single shot struck him behind the left ear. Police arrested him a short time later after finding him hiding in a garage. Police then took Williams to Spectrum Health Downtown.
Hern said he thought Williams was attempting to pull a weapon out of his waistband. Williams' family said he was unarmed.
In a statement released Friday, Williams' lawyer, John Beason, said his client remains hospitalized in a coma from the wound he claims Hern inflicted "without just cause." Police have described Williams' injury as non-life threatening. The hospital is honoring a family request to release no information about Williams' condition.
Beason has scheduled a press conference Wednesday to discuss "the violent nature of the shooting," and to ask Forsyth to "charge the clerk with the appropriate offense."
Beason said the conference will be attended by Williams' family and the Rev. David May, coordinator of the Racial Justice Institute of the Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism (GRACE) and pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist Worship Center.
Considering the conflicting claims and intricacies of the laws governing the use of deadly force, Baum said he agrees with Forsyth's cautious approach.
"Anyone sensitive to the trials and tribulations of being a cop realize the facts of the case make all the difference, who was doing what and when and what was seen by whom," Baum said. "An immediate judgment has to be made in these situations. It's true for cops on the job, and here we are talking about a store clerk where there is probably even less established law."
Baum said the legality of deadly force is complicated because it has been defined in an evolutionary way, state-by-state, through the years by individual rulings rather than sweeping interpretation by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I strongly suspect there is a fear among the justices that if we give too bright a green light to people, even in their own homes, things that are intolerable might start to happen. It is safest to leave this to individual review," Baum said.
Forsyth's most recent rulings have been on the side of merchants who fire in self defense, though the robbers in those cases were clearly armed with guns.
In January, the prosecutor declined to bring charges against a store owner who chased a gun-carrying robber from Boston Square Lock and Key, at 1254 Kalamazoo Ave. SE. One bullet from Rick DeHaan's 9-mm handgun struck the robber in the arm. The alleged robber, Michael Holman, awaits trial for armed robbery and assault with intent to murder in Kent County Circuit Court.
In September, Forsyth also decided against charging the owner of a Southeast Side cellular telephone store who exchanged gunshots with a would-be robber. Stan Schley fired two shots at a man who he said pulled a gun on him inside his store at 2024 Eastern Avenue SE. The bandit fled, apparently unscathed.
Defense lawyer Larry Willey handled two separate cases a decade ago, where charges were filed, but later dismissed against men who fired at, and struck, fleeing felons.
Norris Sprague was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm for shots he fired into the side of a car being used by four teen-agers to flee after they broke into his West Side General Store on Camp Lake. Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas tossed out the charges, citing Sprague's right to use deadly force to halt fleeing felons.
A Montcalm County judge arrived at the same conclusion, throwing out charges of assault with a deadly weapon against Malcom Brigham, who wrestled a shotgun from a masked intruder, then shot the man in the back after a brief foot chase across frozen Stanton Lake.
"Charges got dismissed in both cases," Willey said. "I think you have a right to use deadly force. But, I also can understand a prosecutor not wanting to promote flying bullets."
Another local defense lawyer, Charles Clapp, said his efforts to evoke justified use of deadly force failed to save his client from an 8- to 15-year prison sentence. Michael DeShown Jones was convicted in 1996 of assault with intent to murder.
The man Jones killed, Tony Hardges, 21, had been in a crowd of nearly a dozen angry people who threw a bicycle through the front window of Jones' home at 812 Kalamazoo Avenue SE -- committing a felony crime of destruction of property with a value of more than $100.
Jones knew the bicycle was meant as symbolic retaliation for a gang-related slaying committed just hours earlier by people close to him. Jones said he opened fire because he feared for his life.
Clapp said Michigan law requires three points to justify deadly force:
-- A felony crime was committed.
-- The person shot committed the felony.
-- Use of deadly force was necessary to apprehend the fleeing felon.
"In this case, Michael knew who he (Hardges) was and where he lived. Deadly force was not necessary for apprehension," Clapp said.
Press reporter Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood contributed to this report.
Copyright 2000 Michigan Live Inc.
Prosecutor to decide if store clerk will be charged in shooting
By Doug Guthrie
The Grand Rapids Press
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The average American's gut reaction to use of deadly force for protection of life and property is, "Well, of course we have that right," says William Baum, Grand Valley State University professor of political science and constitutional law.
But Baum warns there is no clear answer. The laws surrounding the use of deadly force are "a jungle," he says.
Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth is cutting his way through that jungle now to decide whether a West Side party store clerk should face charges for shooting a man who allegedly grabbed money from the store's cash register.
A Grand Rapids minister, the family of alleged robber Jeffrey Williams, 25, and his family's lawyer have announced a news conference Wednesday to ask Forsyth to consider "the excessive brutality" of the incident and issue a warrant to criminally charge store clerk Timothy Hern, 28.
Forsyth, who has opted against filing charges in several recent deadly force cases, has said he expects to announce his decision sometime this week. Among the factors he must consider: Whether Williams had committed a felony and whether the use of deadly force was necessary to catch him.
"There's a lot of gray area in the law as it relates to this," Forsyth said. "Each decision has to be fact-based. That's why I've set this aside for consideration. I've got to compile and review all the reports. Everything depends on the facts."
Hern said he is anxious to hear whether or not he will be charged.
"I just want it all to be over," he said. "From what I've heard, it could take a year for all this to pan out. I just want to get back on with my life again...I know it's a situation that I'm never going to be able to forget."
Hern has decided not to return to his job. These days he spends most of his time at home, waiting for a call from police.
He said he can't believe that "if someone commits a crime...when you try to deter it, you turn into a criminal. I don't feel that I was in the wrong. I definitely don't feel that I should be charged with anything. I was just trying to protect the store and my life."
Grand Rapids police will present the facts as contained in police reports and detectives' notes. The reports contain details collected at the scene of the incident as well as interviews with the shopkeeper and witnesses.
Williams is alleged to have entered the West Side Party Store, 900 Walker Ave. NW, about 6:45 p.m. July 21. Hern told police he pulled a loaded 9-mm handgun from beneath the store's counter when Williams made a grab for the cash.
Hern said a customer slowed Williams' flight and the two struggled at the front door and onto the sidewalk. Williams fell, then continued to flee after a single shot struck him behind the left ear. Police arrested him a short time later after finding him hiding in a garage. Police then took Williams to Spectrum Health Downtown.
Hern said he thought Williams was attempting to pull a weapon out of his waistband. Williams' family said he was unarmed.
In a statement released Friday, Williams' lawyer, John Beason, said his client remains hospitalized in a coma from the wound he claims Hern inflicted "without just cause." Police have described Williams' injury as non-life threatening. The hospital is honoring a family request to release no information about Williams' condition.
Beason has scheduled a press conference Wednesday to discuss "the violent nature of the shooting," and to ask Forsyth to "charge the clerk with the appropriate offense."
Beason said the conference will be attended by Williams' family and the Rev. David May, coordinator of the Racial Justice Institute of the Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism (GRACE) and pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist Worship Center.
Considering the conflicting claims and intricacies of the laws governing the use of deadly force, Baum said he agrees with Forsyth's cautious approach.
"Anyone sensitive to the trials and tribulations of being a cop realize the facts of the case make all the difference, who was doing what and when and what was seen by whom," Baum said. "An immediate judgment has to be made in these situations. It's true for cops on the job, and here we are talking about a store clerk where there is probably even less established law."
Baum said the legality of deadly force is complicated because it has been defined in an evolutionary way, state-by-state, through the years by individual rulings rather than sweeping interpretation by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I strongly suspect there is a fear among the justices that if we give too bright a green light to people, even in their own homes, things that are intolerable might start to happen. It is safest to leave this to individual review," Baum said.
Forsyth's most recent rulings have been on the side of merchants who fire in self defense, though the robbers in those cases were clearly armed with guns.
In January, the prosecutor declined to bring charges against a store owner who chased a gun-carrying robber from Boston Square Lock and Key, at 1254 Kalamazoo Ave. SE. One bullet from Rick DeHaan's 9-mm handgun struck the robber in the arm. The alleged robber, Michael Holman, awaits trial for armed robbery and assault with intent to murder in Kent County Circuit Court.
In September, Forsyth also decided against charging the owner of a Southeast Side cellular telephone store who exchanged gunshots with a would-be robber. Stan Schley fired two shots at a man who he said pulled a gun on him inside his store at 2024 Eastern Avenue SE. The bandit fled, apparently unscathed.
Defense lawyer Larry Willey handled two separate cases a decade ago, where charges were filed, but later dismissed against men who fired at, and struck, fleeing felons.
Norris Sprague was charged with reckless discharge of a firearm for shots he fired into the side of a car being used by four teen-agers to flee after they broke into his West Side General Store on Camp Lake. Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas tossed out the charges, citing Sprague's right to use deadly force to halt fleeing felons.
A Montcalm County judge arrived at the same conclusion, throwing out charges of assault with a deadly weapon against Malcom Brigham, who wrestled a shotgun from a masked intruder, then shot the man in the back after a brief foot chase across frozen Stanton Lake.
"Charges got dismissed in both cases," Willey said. "I think you have a right to use deadly force. But, I also can understand a prosecutor not wanting to promote flying bullets."
Another local defense lawyer, Charles Clapp, said his efforts to evoke justified use of deadly force failed to save his client from an 8- to 15-year prison sentence. Michael DeShown Jones was convicted in 1996 of assault with intent to murder.
The man Jones killed, Tony Hardges, 21, had been in a crowd of nearly a dozen angry people who threw a bicycle through the front window of Jones' home at 812 Kalamazoo Avenue SE -- committing a felony crime of destruction of property with a value of more than $100.
Jones knew the bicycle was meant as symbolic retaliation for a gang-related slaying committed just hours earlier by people close to him. Jones said he opened fire because he feared for his life.
Clapp said Michigan law requires three points to justify deadly force:
-- A felony crime was committed.
-- The person shot committed the felony.
-- Use of deadly force was necessary to apprehend the fleeing felon.
"In this case, Michael knew who he (Hardges) was and where he lived. Deadly force was not necessary for apprehension," Clapp said.
Press reporter Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood contributed to this report.
Copyright 2000 Michigan Live Inc.
ulse@gr-press.com