I mentioned this case a couple days ago and asked for comments. No one responded. However, it seems to have some bearing in this situation...
Quote:
Trevor Dooley's attorney portrayed him Wednesday as a 69-year-old man with fused discs in his neck who feared for his life when set upon by his 41-year-old neighbor, six inches taller and 70 pounds heavier.
Dooley is protected by Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, his attorney argued, firing in self-defense when the most mundane of neighbor disputes turned violent.
.
.
.
Arthur, now 15, said he was visiting friends in the Twin Lakes neighborhood. He took his skateboard to the park and asked permission to practice trick moves from James, who was shooting hoops with his daughter. The only others in the park were a couple playing tennis.
But the boy then heard a voice from across the street. It was Dooley, outside his garage, shouting that he should get off the court, that there was a no-skateboarding sign. The boy stopped.
He heard James call out to Dooley, "Show me the sign."
Michael Scott Whitt, practicing tennis serves nearby with his wife, Michelle, stopped to watch.
They testified that Dooley briefly went into his garage, then started across the street with a dark object sticking out of his waistband. They said James threw his hands up and said, "Oh, come on."
Dooley and James argued over letting the boy skate until Dooley lifted his shirt and said, "F--- you," the Whitts testified.
They said Dooley turned and started home, but James caught up with him. "Mr. James said, 'Don't flash a weapon,' something like that," Michelle Whitt testified.
Then, she said, Dooley pulled out the gun and James grabbed his hand. The men struggled, they fell to the ground, and James ended up on his knees as Dooley lay on his side. They still wrestled for the gun.
The gun fired.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/witnesses-dispute-trevor-dooleys-stand-your-ground-claim-in-valrico/1206308
In that case, similarly to the Zimmerman case, the police did not make an arrest at first, because of the Stand Your Ground law. But, there was a local outcry and charges were eventually made. In this case, there apparently had been several arguments about the skateboarding issue between these two guys previously.
So, a fairly similar situation. A local busybody with a gun gets involved in a trivial, non-criminal non-threatening situation and shoots someone to death. In a civil trial ( I think it's the civil trial, it's kind of confusing), the victim's daughter testified that her father was, in fact, on top of Dooley, holding him down. Be interesting to see the verdict.
What do you guys think the verdict should be in this case? I think something like criminally negligent homicide would be suitable.
-----signature-----
“Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it.†– Richard Feynman
