Self defense cases

[Conan The Librarian]

When I was a kid there were several cases where someone defended themselves in their home against a burglar or other criminal. And the home owner was sent to jail for it. The law wasmthat they were supposed to run and hide.


When they did run and hide and got chased by the crook, then killed the crook, they lost the case because they should have tried harder to run farther and hide better.


That seemed stupid to me then. Is that what all this castle doctrine and stand your ground stuff is about?

[Him]

Yes.


Very well put.

[Graybeard]

Yup dat's perzackly what it's all about.

Many many moons ago when I was a wee lad way too young to even remember it some how dad became aware of a prowler. It was a black guy who stopped at either my grand dad's blacksmith shop or the work house (never did figure out which) and got an ax. The then proceeded onto the back porch to break in thru the door with axe in hand.

Dad pulled the trigger thru an open window but for whatever reason the gun just snapped. That was all the intruder needed to hear and he ran away as fast as he could. Dad shot and I grew up seeing that hole in the kitchen screen. I was told the story when I was old enough to ask about the hole in the screen. I dunno if he was aiming to hit or just scare him along a bit.

Years later some prowler began to peep in windows all over the neighborhood. It always happen when dad was gone and often when I was as well. If either of us were there tho we headed out to shoot a few rounds into the bushes to give them he idea. After I left home dad had installed a big floodlight on the roof covering the back yard.

One night dad was gone and somehow my younger brother became aware of a prowler. Never did understand just how. He had a friend over and they both ran out after turning on the flood light and lighting up the back yard. They saw five men running away. They could not have been up to any good.

My brother had one watch him in the kitchen doing home work one night I was there. Someone was there it was his imagination as I saw wet footprints on the porch when I unlocked the door from the dew on the grass. Once he heard a noise in the kitchen and left the living room to see if it was me coming home. He met a man in the hallway who ran out.

That night my brother went out to the blacksmith shop cuz he thought one had gone inside. He's a lefty and the door was on the extreme left side of the shop. He was bent down opening the door with his right hand when he heard someone returning to the yard. They had fired a bunch of shots as the men ran away. He saw the man and shot him in the shoulder but he ran away. That was the last time a prowler visited our house.

Once dunno if before or after the above a drunk black man was trying to break down the door of the house across the street. The oldest son about 12 at most at the time couldn't figure how to load the military rifle that was all they had. His mom sent him out the back door to get dad and my brother for help. On the way past their front porch the man was about to get thru the door and just then he managed to get a round in the old rifle. He shot and the man fell dead with a mauser (dunno caliber) round to the head.

In none of these instances was anything done to the shooters. Back then in Alabama it might have  been even better for home owners who shot than today with the castle law and stand your ground clause. The cops never considered any action and back then no one had anything so if ya even knew about lawyers and lawsuits they couldn't have gotten anything. I doubt they'd have found a judge to take such a case long ago.

Many more such incidents were a part of my growing up in West End also known as the toughest part of the Anniston/Calhoun County area in the '40s thru the '60s. Kinda like the girl named Sue ya had to get tough or die.

Most every boy in that neighborhood older than me wound up in jail and most for murder. It was a tough place to grow up. I was sure glad to leave it behind.

Many years later after mom died dad asked me to move in since none of my siblings would. We did but within a year we left to buy a house of our own. One night while I was on TDY someone broke the back window trying to get in. My oldest son took a rifle to the same kitchen my dad had all those years ago and ran the guy off. We left shortly after that incident.

I reckon some neighborhoods don't really change.

[rockbilly]

Twenty-five years ago my wife sat on the jury that HAD to convict an old black woman for murder; she didn’t like the idea, but followed the law at the time.

Texas has always shown a lot of mercy to someone that kills another person in defense of themselves or their property, but in this case they said she didn’t have to shoot the individual.

As the story goes, the black woman was in her home when her ex-husband (?) showed up drunk and started to beat on her.  Police records showed he has a history of beating her, several times with-in inches of her life.

This time she did not run, she went to her bedroom and pulled a “mid-night special” .22 revolver, turned and shot one time hitting the husband in the right eye, he fell to the floor and was dead almost instantly.

The DA at the time was trying to build a name for himself and pushed the issue that she could have left the house since there was an exit door in the bedroom. The law was weird.

Today I don’t think that could happen.  Unless it was a seventeen year old black punk I could shoot any intruder without fear of being prosecuted.   

[Cuts Crooked]

Twenty-five years ago my wife sat on the jury that HAD to convict an old black woman for murder; she didn’t like the idea, but followed the law at the time.

Not quite true, any jury can return a not guilty verdict if they do not like the way the law is applied, or if they believe law is a bad one. It's called "jury nullification".