Scrap yard owner sentenced to 12 years

[Doug11606]

This is a rebuttal to some of the people who posted sympathetically for a criminal who broke into a business after hours. An earlier thread described a man sentenced to 12 years and victim's rights compensation for killing a 16 year old thug.

Have your home broke into one time as I did and you will find the way you look at life will never be the same. Don't think for a moment a 16 year old does not know the potential lethal situation he is placing himself in entering a business after hours. I think it is pathetic Mr. Helton has to pay for the burial. He should be buried in the same manner any other indigent criminal would. If his family wants to cry over a casket and tell the world what a good boy he was and how he was turning his life around let them pay for it.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/130664433.html

 

[Frank Ettin]

I see no expressions of sympathy in this thread for the 16 year old burglar that Mr. Helton shot. It's not about the kid he shot; it's about Mr. Helton's lousy choice.

The point is that Mr. Helton used lethal force in circumstances in which its use was not legally justified. Mr. Helton thus violated the law and will be paying the price. In our legal system, going back to the early days of the Common Law upon which our current law is based, the bad character of the criminal shot does not excuse the misuse of lethal force when it is otherwise not legally justified.

The lesson that each of us who keeps a gun for self defense needs to learn from this is that if one uses lethal force when not justified, no matter how evil the person he used that force against might be, he will face criminal (and probably civil) liability. We need to know and understand the law regarding the use of lethal force in self defense and make sure that we act accordingly. If we do not, we will very likely be very unhappy with the outcome.

You may not like that, but it's the way it is in real life.

 

[Carry_24/7]

Gun owners that act on personal opinion and passion rather than the law.... In the Navy we called such folks "sea lawyers." Prisons are full of the type, and real lawyers love them, especially the type hired by the families of the kids who broke into the scrapyard.

Good luck with that.

 

[44 AMP]

I suppose discussing a shooting is firearms related enought to qualify for the forum, but everything beyond that is not.

It doesn't matter if the 16yr old was a "good boy" who made a bad choice or a hard boiled thug. Our personal opinions, about right and wrong also don't matter.

The court decided that the shooting was not legally justified, and the property owner who shot is going to pay the price. And it doesn't matter if the property owner was a good guy who made a bad choice, or a scumbag, either. The law is clear, and the decision was made.

Opening a thread with a rant about how the trespasser should be buried is never a good start, and I don't see this going anywhere but down hill from there.

Closed.