I know its a robber not a rapist and a knife not a gun but its still the same.
Posted on 08/30/2008 9:31:04 AM PDT by neverdem
A city transit worker who was initially deemed to have been acting in self-defense when he fatally stabbed a man this year — a man who was apparently trying to help him fend off an attack — has been indicted on a murder charge, the police said on Friday.
The worker, Maurice Parks, 40, appeared briefly in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday, but his arraignment was postponed because he had not yet retained a lawyer. He was being held without bail.
Mr. Parks had just finished his late-night shift as a subway motorman on Jan. 10 and was walking home to his Harlem apartment when a group of men intending to rob him attacked him from behind, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. Mr. Parks...
--snip--
The Harlem attack was not the first time that Mr. Parks had defended himself with force. Early on Aug. 2, 1994, Mr. Parks shot and wounded a gunman, Marcus Meyers, who tried to rob him in Queens, officials have said.
Mr. Parks was charged with attempted murder, officials said, and Mr. Meyers was charged with attempted robbery. No indictments were issued, however, and the cases were sealed. So many details of the incident, like how the gun went off, remain unknown to the public.
Shortly after the robbery in January, Mr. Browne said Mr. Parks had taken the written examination to become a police officer three times: in 1992, 1993 and 1999. He was disqualified each time, Mr. Browne said, though he would not disclose the reasons.
State Senator Eric L. Adams, a former New York City police officer, visited Mr. Parks days after the incident. The senator said Mr. Parks told him that he had been removed from consideration for the Police Department because of the 1994 shooting...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He apparently stabbed Mr. Byas while Mr. Byas was trying to flee, Mr. Browne said; the stabbing occurred on the same block as the attack, 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. Mr. Byas, who received a summons moments before the attack for being in St. Nicholas Park after hours, could be heard on 911 tapes saying he was just trying to help, Mr. Browne said.
The police originally filed homicide charges against Mr. Parks, but then ruled the killing an act of self-defense and dropped the charges. But the Manhattan district attorney’s office presented the case to a grand jury, which voted to indict Mr. Parks this week. He was arrested on Thursday afternoon.
The indictment, which has not been unsealed, accuses Mr. Parks of second-degree murder, the police said.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment on why prosecutors pursued a murder charge as opposed to a lesser charge, like manslaughter.
Richard Landes, a lawyer representing one of the men charged in connection with the robbery of Mr. Parks, said, “I’m surprised that the grand jury reached this decision.”
Unbelievable. They're siding against the victim. Im not surprised. The Democrats just want us to hand over our hard earned money be raped and die by these animals and if we so much as fight back, were in big trouble.
“...the cases were sealed. So many details of the incident, like how the gun went off, remain unknown to the public”
mmkay...I’ll guess...
Someone pulled the trigger.
There...case solved.
Investigation closed.
I know its a robber not a rapist and a knife not a gun but its still the same.
This is what the left wants. Innocent people should quietly accept their fate, not defend themselves, and be killed like good sheeple (thanks to neverdem for the quote), while criminals should get free lawyers that we pay for.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
The original mutts should have been charged. Why did they make him a ham sandwich? Was it because of the earlier incident when he used a firearm? This is a waste of taxes. Hello, what jury will convict him? You couldn't even call it jury nullification. Even the Slimes is calling him a victim.
Did you even read what you posted? It appears that here were two innocent victims. One of them (Parks) killed the other (Byas). It is not unreasonable that Parks face charges for this. Perhaps he can argue mitigating circumstances, confusion in the situation, etc. But that should be decided in court.
No... The jury is sympathetic to the criminal. The fact that this man fought back is considered abominable in their sick minds. I should know.
If the facts as reported are accurate — this is the New York Times after all, so who knows? — chasing a fleeing person and then fatally stabbing them might be straying beyond the bounds of self defense. I’d want to know a lot more about the exact circumstances before I made up my mind on whether Parks acted outside acceptable bounds in what he did.
The report is confusing to me. Why would Park attack Byas? Did he think that Byas was part of the attacking group? Did the confusion of the situation contribute to this stabbing?
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment on why prosecutors pursued a murder charge as opposed to a lesser charge, like manslaughter.
That's the story. Parks didn't go looking for trouble. It was the heat of the moment. I can't imagine this guy getting convicted.
Mr. Browne is a spokesman for the police department. Why would he interject that Parks wanted to become a police officer if he were not trying to make a case of vigilantism?
Thanks for the ping!
Uh, somebody pulled the trigger?
Who are the morons who write this stuff?
But perhaps he will be sued within an inch of his life by the other man’s family for killing a man who was apparently trying to help him.
**Forget self defense. Why don’t you just die like good sheeple?**
Self Defense, NY Style ... Helping the Burglar Carry out YOUR TV set.
He's a subway motorman who felt he was fighting for his life, not O.J. Simpson. They'll need a slip and fall lawyer who's ready to waste time for modest gains if they get the wrong jury.
Moving back does not feel good.
Why should a guy be tried for murder for defending another person’s life?
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!
Perhaps we should just reverse the decisions of all juries.
Changing the topic, I notice that you are from Maine and consider it to be an extremely leftist state. Recently someone on FR posted some maps similar to the one below which shows the results of the 1936 presidential election. I was very curious as to why Maine was one of the only states voting against FDR. In fact they voted against FDR all four times. Why were they more Republican than every other state (except for maybe Vermont) and what has changed?
You're mixed up. The guy who was trying to defend another person's life was killed by the guy he was trying to defend.
Even if you’re fighting in fear of your life. If you kill a totally innocent person in the process, you will have to pay a price. Anything else is an injustice to the person who was killed. If the guy isn’t sorry enough about taking an innocent person’s life to accept this penalty, he deserves to have it imposed upon him anyway.
A whole lot has changed. The old guard either died or took off to greener pastures. The new generation has been brainwashed by public schools and university professors to embrace socialism. Arizona, New Mexico Colorado and Wyoming are also going that direction. They were once republican now they're turning blue, although that has mostly to do with immigration.
The criminals who attacked the subway motorman started the incident. They should be tried for second degree homicide. At most, the motorman could be tried for manslaughter, i.e. killing some accidentally. If the facts in the story are true, then the initial dismissal was correct. He didn't go looking for trouble, the criminals who attacked him did. They were the ones who acted with malice. True self defense may be lethal, but it is not malicious.
If the guy isn’t sorry enough about taking an innocent person’s life to accept this penalty, he deserves to have it imposed upon him anyway.
Only a sociopath would have no remorse, but it has nothing to do with guilt or innocence.
***You’re mixed up. The guy who was trying to defend another person’s life was killed by the guy he was trying to defend.***
Oh
From what I understand, the Anglo Republicans had political dominance through the 1940s. Thanks to high birthrates, however, they were overtaken by Catholic French Canadians and Irish Catholics, who turned the state left.
Really? The Irish and french Canadians? I never thought of these people as swinging left. I know the dems back in the day loved to court them but most Irish I know are about as leftist as Ian Paisley. In Northern New Hampshire there are a lot of French Canadians who are conservative but they are old and most of their youths are liberals and just go move south. OTOH in Vermont and elsewhere they are way to the left.
Remember, there are alot of blue collar folks in the northeast who "sound" conservative (at least on issues like patriotism) but vote Dem Socialist anyway, especially if they are somehow connected to the local machines. That what basically keeps my county solidly blue (to say nothing of Princetonians and state employees of all stripes).
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