An elderly man shoots a home intruder in Ocean County, New Jersey. You can tell that New Jersey isn’t Arizona or Texas by this:
The gun used in the shooting was registered to the homeowner, Mohel said.
The New Jersey statute outlining when it is justifiable to use deadly force within a private dwelling is extremely nuanced and built on a long history of case law, said Ronald F. DeLigney, first assistant Ocean County prosecutor…
… As the investigation continues, the homeowner could be charged in the shooting, authorities said. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to present a case against him to a grand jury will be made by the Prosecutor’s Office.
I would imagine that even in New Jersey, you’d be hard pressed to find a Grand Jury who would be willing to sign off on a bill of indictment against an elderly man who shoots a home invader. Let’s hope that the Ocean County prosecutor does the right thing and charges the people who are at fault; the burglars.
Only in a state like New Jersey could the legal justification for defending yourself within your own home be “extremely nuanced”. In other states where the liberals don’t have such a stranglehold upon government, a case like this would be a no-brainer already.
This homeowner ought to retain Evan Nappen as his legal counsel if he has not already.
New Jersey is a test case if you think about it. It is a test case to see what happens when you apply the same type of idiocy that happens in Britain. What happens? Their citizens leave in droves! Jersey is a joke; the political leadership is useless and the people there might as well be serfs on an estate.
Hey Jersey gun owners either stand up for your rights or put on collars for your lords to attach leashes to.
If it were up to me I’d have a lien on the estate of the intruder for the lawyer costs, cleanup costs of the home, my time involved, compensation for the mental anguish, deprivation of the use of the gun (which I presume the police have in their possession) and the ammo used to shoot the guy.
But it’s not up to me. If it were they wouldn’t be where they are now because I would have sold varmint hunting licenses with unlimited bag limits for the politicians years ago.
Well, I wouldnt poopoo NJ yet.
Even in Texas, a straight off self defense shooting will usually be brought to a grand jury, but it’ll almost always be no-billed.
Even Joe Horn’s case went to the grand jury.
Pennsylvania actually doesn’t use grand juries, so it’s entirely up to the County DA as to whether to bring charges. In Pennsylvania, most DA’s wouldn’t take a case like this to trial, because they can be pretty much guaranteed to lose. Even in Philadelphia, the powers that be might look down on guns, but if an elderly homeowner shot someone who was in their home illegally, I would be surprised to see them bring charges.
If the NJ law of self defense in the home is so nuanced that it takes a prosecutor days to determine if charges will be brought how in everything that’s holy can a law abiding citizen know when it is safe to defend himself from an intruder in his home?
Maybe that’s the point! Make self defense so ify the innocent simply give up lay down and die.
Geez … I grew up in NewJersey. As a teen it was ok to stand your rifle or shotgun by the coat rack in the drug store whilst wolfin down a burger and vanilla coke.
I kinda moved on in 1964 … what the hell happened there?
semp
From my neck of the woods:
LINCOLNTON, N.C. — A burglar in Lincoln County got a surprise Monday when a homeowner fired a shot at him during a break-in.
Troy Howard said he woke up to the sound of breaking glass at about 2:50 a.m. Monday.
“My wife heard it when he knocked that glass. I was sleep. She woke me up,” Howard said.
The burglar busted a window to get in. He also broke a picture near the bedroom door.
Howard’s wife of nearly 50 years was able to get up and quickly lock the door. She then hid in the closet.
Howard said he saw a beam of light shining under the bedroom door. He grabbed his double-barreled shotgun and waited for the intruder.
“He got it open and I mean he’s coming,” said Howard, who is a former Marine. “I was sitting there and I jammed and fired at the same time. I figure if I shoot right along there I about had to hit him.”
Investigators said they do not know how many burglars were inside the home, but at least one person was hit.
Deputies found a trail of blood out of Howard’s home, down the driveway and on Catawba Burris Road.
Investigators have not yet located the burglar.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Spartanburg County deputies said two home invasion robbers were shot early Tuesday morning by the homeowner they tried to burglarize.
Deputies said that the men forced their way into the home on Harley Court about 4 a.m.
Lamont Dawkins, the homeowner, said that he heard glass break and someone kicking at his back door.
Dawkins told WYFF News 4 that the men were shouting that they were from the “Spartanburg County Police.”
Spartanburg County does not have a police force. Dawkins said that he grabbed a pistol gun and hid behind his refrigerator.
When the men came into the home, Dawkins fired what he says was about five rounds. There was a bullet hole in the fence outside the home.
The men ran away.
“I was scared at first, but now I feel good, I just didn’t want nothing to happen to me,” Dawkins told WYFF News 4’s Mike McCormick.
Investigators said that Lashawn D. Miller, 22, and Haldane D. Oden, 21, were located a short time later in the emergency room at Mary Black Hospital. Both men had gunshot wounds.
The sheriff’s office said that Miller and Oden will be charged with first-degree burglary.
Miller was treated for a gunshot wound to his right arm and was arrested as soon as he was released. He is being held at the Spartanburg County Detention Center.
Oden was still hospitalized Tuesday afternoon with a gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators said that he will be taken into custody as soon as he is released.
Dawkins will face no charges because he sued the weapon to rightfully defend himself.
Master Deputy Tony Ivey said, “(A) homeowner — someone inside a residence — can use any type force they feel necessary to protect themselves, up to and including deadly force.”
Wow. This story hits VERY close to home. First, I’ve lived and worked in Lakewood, NJ. I worked a few blocks away from where this happened and it’s quite possible that I knew the elderly man. The other reason this hit’s so close to home is I was involved in a somewhat similar situation while living in NJ, only I was fairly young and I knew the people who broke in. I for one would not be at all surprised if they went ahead and indicted the old guy. They’ll pass the buck, so to speak and let a jury sort it out.