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In reply to the discussion: So killing in self defense is not about saving your own life anymore. [View all]The Magistrate
(96,043 posts)Is that any onlooker would have seen a punk who gunned one man down fleeing his crime, and my hat is off to a man who, with no more than a skateboard to hand, attempts to apprehend a fleeing felon who brandishes a firearm. That is a sense of civic duty, and a degree of personal courage, I hope I could display in such a circumstance.
The belief the punk was a murderous felon was quite reasonable for any person in the crowd who heard the shots and saw a body on the ground.
It may well be that the relevant law in that state is so poorly constructed that it required a jury to acquit, but that does alter the fact, which is that a punk with dreams of killing a man journeyed to a place he hoped would provide him some excuse, and found what he was looking for.
The verdict was a hideous injustice, for all that it may be a lawful one.