He was a good grandson and was trying to get his life back on track

[SteveS]

In this day and age, I would bet one of the first places police look is social media sites, and if they can find them, public posting anywhere on the net.

bob

You would win that bet.  Social media and internet postings are a huge source of materials used in criminal and civil cases.  IIRC, there was a study done by some family law journal a few years back that said social media was the #1 source of discovery materials in divorce cases. 

IMO, internet ramblings and rantings aren't going to turn a good shoot into a bad shoot.  What they will do, is be used if it is an iffy shoo or a bad shoot.  In those cases, expect all that stuff to be dragged out in front of the jury to paint the defendant as some kind of vigilante or nut job.

As for hanging horse thieves, in the past, all felonies were punishable by death.  I am not sure we want to bring that back. 

[MillCreek]

^^^ I mentioned before that back when I was doing the medmal defense cases, I would routinely search for the plaintiffs making postings about their case, and at deposition, I would ask them what forums they went to and their user names, so I could search for postings.  It was amazing how often I could find something germane to the case.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/mar/28/community-divided-on-shooting-of-car-thief/  This morning's article in the Spokane paper has some interesting comments.

[MechAg94]

As for hanging horse thieves, in the past, all felonies were punishable by death.  I am not sure we want to bring that back. 

Certainly not with ALL felonies.  We have too many these days.  Just pointing out there is a precedent for harsh punishment of thieves. 

[Jamisjockey]

Outside of what I think my rights should be...I'm well aware of and intent on staying within Texas laws.

[BobR]

Back from the dead. Gerlach was found not guilty. Also found justified, which means the state is now on the hook for his legal bills. Jury was 11 women and one male. It went to jury at 9am and verdict was back at 2pm. I think the jury just wanted to get one more free lunch out of the city.

Bob

[AmbulanceDriver]

Back from the dead. Gerlach was found not guilty. Also found justified, which means the state is now on the hook for his legal bills. Jury was 11 womem and one male. It went to jury at 9am and verdict was back at 2pm. I think the jury just wanted to get one more free lunch out of the city.

Bob

Sounds like that's about the best outcome for Gerlach we could have hoped for.   I know Oregon doesn't, but does WA have any provisions preventing scumbags family from coming back and suing Gerlach?

[Boomhauer]

Back from the dead. Gerlach was found not guilty. Also found justified, which means the state is now on the hook for his legal bills. Jury was 11 womem and one male. It went to jury at 9am and verdict was back at 2pm. I think the jury just wanted to get one more free lunch out of the city.

Bob

Excellent news.


The only good thief is a dead thief.

[AJ Dual]

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[MillCreek]

I have to say that I am amazed at the verdict.  People in Seattle have been convicted for various forms of manslaughter on pretty much this exact same fact pattern.  Spokane is more conservative than Seattle, and that may be a key factor.

[Jocassee]

The whole "he was a good boy, just turning his life around." ALWAYS from a mother or Grandmother or aunt. ALWAYS. Never from a male figure.

It was mildy, darkly amusing the first time I heard it.

But we literally hear it Every. Single. Time. Does the Black community not realize we can see right through their bullshit?

[BobR]

Sounds like that's about the best outcome for Gerlach we could have hoped for.   I know Oregon doesn't, but does WA have any provisions preventing scumbags family from coming back and suing Gerlach?

 I am not 100% positive, but I believe that they cannot sue him. The criminal part of the trial was the manslaughter charges, once found not guilty the jury goes back in to decide whether or not it was justified which is a civil action. For the not guilty it took all 12 jurors, for the justified it only took 10 of the 12 because it was civil.

Several years ago a guy stopped a road rage incident and possible beat down here with the judicious use of a 9mm projectile. The police have never released his name because they didn't want the family of the beater to be able to sue the shooter.

bob

[Boomhauer]

The whole "he was a good boy, just turning his life around." ALWAYS from a mother or Grandmother or aunt. ALWAYS. Never from a male figure.

It was mildy, darkly amusing the first time I heard it.

But we literally hear it Every. Single. Time. Does the Black community not realize we can see right through their bullshit?

Shut up whitey!

Truth is, they don't care that their BS is so obvious. There are people that buy it, and that's all that matters.

Whenever a thug gets sent to where they belong it's a chance for the family to gain something. 15 minutes of fame on the evening news crying about their innocent sweet angel, a chance to get the local community organizers up in arms, maybe a chance to sue and get money, etc.

[AmbulanceDriver]

The whole "he was a good boy, just turning his life around." ALWAYS from a mother or Grandmother or aunt. ALWAYS. Never from a male figure.

It was mildy, darkly amusing the first time I heard it.

But we literally hear it Every. Single. Time. Does the Black community not realize we can see right through their bullshit?

Ummm.....   In this instance I believe both the shooter and the lead transplant recipient were both white.

[Perd Hapley]

Shut up whitey!

Truth is, they don't care that their BS is so obvious. There are people that buy it, and that's all that matters.

Whenever a thug gets sent to where they belong it's a chance for the family to gain something. 15 minutes of fame on the evening news crying about their innocent sweet angel, a chance to get the local community organizers up in arms, maybe a chance to sue and get money, etc.

This. I don't know who "we" is, Jocassee, but I don't think "they" care what hard-hearted folk like us (of any color) are going to think.

(And by "they," I mean relatives of criminals, who defend the fam, regardless.)

[Pharmacology]

Ummm.....   In this instance I believe both the shooter and the lead transplant recipient were both white.

Shhh...  don't get in the way of their circle jerk

[grampster]

I know of a fella in the Michigan UP who confronted some locals who had been turfing his property.  They tried to run him over and he managed to jump out of the way.  He fired a round at them as they sped off.  He was arrested and charged with assault less than murder and was convicted and sent to prison.

[MechAg94]

I know of a fella in the Michigan UP who confronted some locals who had been turfing his property.  They tried to run him over and he managed to jump out of the way.  He fired a round at them as they sped off.  He was arrested and charged with assault less than murder and was convicted and sent to prison.

I am surprised he couldn't argue it was defense against assault.  Sounds like either that state's laws hurt him or he didn't have a great lawyer.

Andy it really really sucks that any lawyer was needed at all, much less a good one.

[tokugawa]

As for hanging horse thieves, in the past, all felonies were punishable by death.  I am not sure we want to bring that back. 

 In the past, felonies were murder, rape, arson, maiming, etc- grave offenses that threatened life and limb.
  Leaving a man without his horse in remote country, could easily result in his death.

 Today we have a jillion "felonies", many of which are nothing more than paperwork errors.

[lupinus]

I am surprised he couldn't argue it was defense against assault.  Sounds like either that state's laws hurt him or he didn't have a great lawyer.

Andy it really really sucks that any lawyer was needed at all, much less a good one.

I'm not surprised at all.

Key wording there, "as they sped off".

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[Phantom Warrior]

I know of a fella in the Michigan UP who confronted some locals who had been turfing his property.  They tried to run him over and he managed to jump out of the way.  He fired a round at them as they sped off.  He was arrested and charged with assault less than murder and was convicted and sent to prison.

I'm not surprised at all.

Key wording there, "as they sped off".

Yeah.  Ironically, the "US States" section of the Wikipedia page on Stand Your Ground Law specifically cites Michigan statue as an example.  There is no duty to retreat in Michigan.  But there has to be a "reasonable" belief that the use of force is necessary to prevent "imminent [bad stuff]".  Reasonable is an objective assessment, not subjective. 

A lunatic might believe an old lady across the street shaking her cane at him is a threat.  But he can't pull his gun and shoot her because no _reasonable person_ would think that.  Most reasonable people are not going to consider a car of people driving away from the scene still an imminent threat unless they are shooting out the window or something.  Even if they did just try to run the person over.

[brimic]

What Jamis, AJ, Viking, Tallpine, and probably a few others that I missed said...