Home owner acquitted for killing fleeing intruder

[KC]

December 15, 2005 - COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado -- A man accused of fatally shooting someone in a car has been acquitted of first-degree murder under a state law that provides legal protection to homeowners who defend themselves.

But a legislator says the 1985 law -- known as the "Make My Day" law -- may have been misinterpreted by the jury.

Gary Lee Hill, 24, faced charges in the 2004 killing of 19-year-old John David Knott, who along with three others had assaulted Hill in his home.

Hill was accused of firing a shot into a car that Knott was driving. Knott crashed into a house and died from a single gunshot wound to the back, authorities said.

"It's a miscarriage of justice," said Sen. Jim Brandon, who helped craft the law. The law meant a home's door to be a threshold for an illegal entry, not down the street, he said.

Prosecutor Lisa Kirkman said the law says deadly force can be used "if the shooter reasonably believes the other person might use physical force against the home dweller."

According to testimony, Knott and the others showed up at Hill's house after an argument over a missing purse.

"Gary went through this horrible and traumatic event," said defense attorney Ted McClintock. "They promised they were going to come back in. They had already come back once."

[KC]

kc said:

But a legislator says the 1985 law -- known as the Make My Day; law -- may have been misinterpreted by the jury.

Then again maybe that's just the power of a "jury" to make such a decision. Maybe the legislator needs to write laws not only where the common people are able to read and understand it, as well as the legislators themselves.

kc said:

"It's a miscarriage of justice," said Sen. Jim Brandon, who helped craft the law. The law meant a home's door to be a threshold for an illegal entry, not down the street, he said.

One has to wonder if the legislators thought about actually writing that wording into the law? As crooked as those guys probably once were as lawyers, now being in the legislator writing laws for the state, you would think they would have better sense on how to word the law correctly.

[watching Leno]

Anyone evil enough to break into another's house, should be shot, whether they're trying to get away or not. Same goes for car thiefs and so on. Our founding father's were influenced by the philosophes or the Enlightenment who believed in rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. The philosophes and the founding fathers believed that these rights were to be protected to the death. So, anyone who infringes on these rights shouldn't be shocked or expect pity if they pay as heavy a price as possible for trying to take away the life, property, or happiness of their fellow humans. I have no sympathy, respect, or tolerance for rapists, child molestors, car thieves, crooked judges and prosecutors and politicians, burglars, car jackers, serial killers, terrorists, liars, adulterers and adulterous, cheaters, hypocrites, libelers, slanders, etc. The world has no need for scumbags!

[WaTcHeR]

Well you might like this story. It's an example of how prosecutors and cops work together with other low life criminal thugs.

A classic snitch story: the home burglar is cut loose in exchange for promised testimony and continues to commit crimes, while prosecutors apparently consider his word sufficiently credible to justify a death penalty case.

01/10/2006 - ST. LOUIS - Prosecutors who planned to seek death sentences against Vester C. Herrod in two rape-murders from the early 1990s have reluctantly let him walk free, saying the unrelated killing of a key witness ruined their cases.

DNA evidence that showed Herrod had sex with both women was not in itself evidence of murder. Another man's DNA was found in one victim; the sister of the other claimed she saw someone else choke her.

Prosecutors planned to drive their cases home with testimony from Daniel L. Ferguson, who they said told them Herrod had made incriminating statements when both were in jail. But Ferguson was stabbed to death while committing a burglary, police said.

So Herrod, 44, walked out of the St. Louis Justice Center on Jan. 5, free of charges after awaiting trial for two years.

"The nature and manner of these charges, when filed, speak volumes as to the potential danger to society," said Assistant Circuit Attorney Rachel Smith. While she said ethics prevent her from offering opinions about Herrod, she added, "No prosecutor can file murder charges unless they believe in those charges."

His public defenders, however, said Tuesday the case was weak from the start, and that police and prosecutors should have dug deeper.

"I think they have just convinced themselves he's a killer," said Sharon Turlington, one of his lawyers. "I am personally convinced he did not kill anyone."

The dismissal does not preclude the refiling of charges if new evidence against him were found, Smith said.

Herrod was arrested in late 2003 as he left prison on parole after convictions for carrying a concealed knife and misdemeanor domestic assault. Routine DNA tests of prison inmates showed he had sex with two women found strangled in different neighborhoods, each near her home, about a year apart.

On Sept. 20, 1992, Donna Lott, 30, was found in the rear yard of a vacant building in the 2200 block of Shenandoah Avenue. On Oct. 25, 1993, Jacquelyn M. Mitchell, 29, was found behind a building in the 5100 block of Cates Avenue.

Herrod's name had never come up in the investigation of Lott's murder, police said, but he was initially questioned about Mitchell's. He had lived next door to Mitchell's mother and was seen with Mitchell a short time before her body was found.

Semen from another man was also found on Mitchell's body. Police said they tracked him down and discounted him as a suspect. Turlington and defense counsel Cindy Dryden said there also was a partial DNA profile of someone else, who could not be identified.

A sister steadfastly maintained that she saw a man other than Herrod choking Lott during a brawl the night before the body was found. Police said they found and discounted him, too, although as recently as a hearing in October the sister reaffirmed her account.

Officials put a lot of stock in what Ferguson, the cellmate, said Herrod told him.

"He (Herrod) knew details only the killer would know," said Smith, the prosecutor. She said Ferguson's testimony "would have been so valuable."

Defense lawyers claimed Ferguson just wanted a lighter sentence, as he got after "snitching' in another case in the early 1990s, and gave details he could have obtained by reading the Post-Dispatch.

Ferguson had been arrested in April 2003 on charges of burglary, stealing over $500, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest. A judge sentenced Ferguson - a persistent offender with at least nine prior convictions for burglary and five for stealing - to 10 years in prison but agreed to suspend the terms if Ferguson completed five years of probation, paid $1,000 in restitution, got treatment and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution of Herrod.

Last August, Ferguson was interrupted while burglarizing a house in the 7000 block of Morganford Road. The occupant chased him outside and stabbed him numerous times, until three construction workers, not realizing the circumstances, struck the occupant with a shovel. Ferguson fled in a truck but lost consciousness, hit a building and died.

Herrod has past arrests on charges of drunken driving, stealing, tampering with an auto and domestic assault. In 1982, he was acquitted by a jury in St. Louis of charges of rape, sodomy and kidnapping. In 1998, he was sentenced to five years in prison for a drug sale.

Police called him "laid back" and "calm" and said he denied the killings.

Herrod could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Turlington said he was living in the St. Louis area and will probably return to working in construction and day labor jobs with his stepfather. Reached Tuesday evening, the stepfather said Herrod was living in a halfway house.

Defense lawyers described Herrod as mentally limited, and said he was "very happy" to be released.