Posted on 07/20/2016 8:10:44 AM PDT by PROCON
A Massachusettes man was charged with murder after he shot and killed a 15-year-old boy who was trying to force his way inside the man’s Chicopee, Massachusetts, home Saturday afternoon.
Jeffery Lovell, 42, called the police to report what he believed was a break-in in progress just before 1 p.m. According to reports from the Chicopee Police Department, three teens went to Lovell’s home and began banging on the front door repeatedly. Lovell said he attempted to communicate with the youths through the door, but was unsuccessful.
As the banging continued, Lovell believed the teens were trying to break in, so he called the police and retrieved a firearm. But before the responding officers arrived on the scene, one of the teens struck the door with enough force that it broke a window pane within the door. At that point, more convinced the teens were trying to force their way into his home, Lovell fired a single shot, striking one of the youths.
When police arrived a short time later, they found the injured teen lying on the ground outside of the home. He was suffering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen and was transported to a local hospital, where he died. He was later identified as 15-year-old Dylan Francisco.
Investigators later learned that Francisco and the other teens had been drinking at a friend’s home nearby and began walking through the neighborhood when they mistook Lovell’s home for someone else’s.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni called the incident “unfortunate,” but nonetheless determined Lovell’s actions warranted a murder charge.
“This was a tragic and avoidable incident that resulted in a young man losing his life,” Gulluni said in a statement.
Although there is no duty to retreat in the state of Massachusetts, the law clearly states that in order for deadly force to be deemed justifiable, the suspect must be inside the dwelling and the occupant of the home must have a “reasonable belief that the person unlawfully in said dwelling was about to inflict great bodily injury or death.”
Lovell is currently being held without bail.
Poor guy, will a Massachusetts jury convict him?
I’d invoke the Joe Biden defense, “just fire a shot through the door”.
Seems crazy doesn’t it?
So if someone is breaking in, you have to let them break all the way in, and put yourself in harms way, in order to defend yourself?
The perps had the wrong house? Really?? Do they routinely break into someone’s house? Do they routinely break windows in a house of someone they know, in order to get inside?? Something doesn’t add up here.
In Colorado, ya do gotta wait until they’re inside before they’re fair game. Shoot inside: OK; Shoot outside: not OK.
Texas, I love you! Poor man, hope the jury is reasonable.
I wonder what is considered “inside”?
If you have a deck or porch and a screen running all around, is that “inside”?
Mistook it for the home of someone who was unarmed?
Not if I were sitting on it.
American prosecutors are nothing but criminal thugs.
I lived in Mass once. Springfield. NEVER AGAIN.
A drunk 15 year old breaks into a house and the owner is charegd with murder because he shot the kid. WTH?
Are you frickin' kidding me?
Actually had jury duty where the thief broke into a pool screen enclosure, but did not go in the house. The charge could not be burglary on a dwelling since he did not go into a roofed building.
So you have to let them break all the way in before ventilation?
What if one of them had a gun?
He also tried to communicate with them to no avail. He did everything right from what I can see.
The DA has an agenda.
I was thinking about that law when I saw the headline. If the perp wasn’t inside the house then unfortunately it will fall on the homeowner.
I remember as a teenager a friend’s dad (who was a sheriff) told me that if you want to shoot a home burglar, make sure of three things before you shoot. Otherwise you can be sued or face charges:
1) They need to be inside of your home
2) They need to be facing you when you shoot
3) You need to shoot to kill
Remind me again. What’s the reason for living in Massachusetts if you are a productive, law-abiding person who wants to protect his home?
>In Colorado, ya do gotta wait until they’re inside before they’re fair game. Shoot inside: OK; Shoot outside: not OK.
What if the perp is shooting at you from outside into your house at you?
In Texas, shooting and killing someone though your door would also get you a murder charge.
It seems to me that if found guilty the defendant might appeal on the grounds that the law is unconstitutional by denying the right to self defense, just in the case you describe.
“What if the perp is shooting at you from outside into your house at you?”
If someone is shooting at you, then it’s almost always justifiable to defend yourself with deadly force, doesn’t matter whether it is in your home, outside your home, wherever. At that point, you have left the realm of “reasonable fear of imminent harm” and entered the realm of actual harm being directed at you, so the rules are different.
It may be different if you live in a “duty to retreat” state where they expect you to run away if you can, but in most states, once the bullets start flying in your direction, you don’t need to worry about justification anymore.
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