Posted on 03/21/2006 3:03:05 PM PST by xzins
Police: Man Killed Teen for Walking on Lawn By LISA CORNWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) -
0321dv-lawn-shooting A man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn was charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin called 911 on Sunday afternoon, saying calmly: "I just killed a kid."
Police, who released the call's contents, said Martin also told the dispatcher: "I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up."
Larry Mugrage, whose family lived next door, was shot in the chest with a shotgun. The high school freshman was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Martin, 66, allegedly told police he had several times had problems with neighbors walking on his lawn. He remained jailed without bond Monday. His jailers said no attorney was listed for him.
Neighbors said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting in front of his one-story home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and Navy flags flying.
Joanne Ritchie, 46, said Mugrage was known as "a good kid," but she always also considered Martin to be friendly.
Union Township is near Batavia, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati.
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Associated Press Writer Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.
1. in Louisiana, what this nutter did would be perfectly within the law.
2. folks should stay off other folks' property unless invited... and *definitely* stay off if they've been ordered off the property before (as this kid had been by the nutter not 4 hours previously)
3. that said... a warning shot or a load of rock salt would have been a better option.
4. THAT said, holding the kid at gunpoint and calling the cops (in order to give the kid and his parents a serious heads-up) would have been an even better option.
5. THAT said, forcing the kid at gunpoint into restraints and then taking a few stripes off his back would have been an even better option.
You know, I was keeping tabs on the Crespi case to see how it's prosecuted and just in the past few days, there was an article saying that David Crespi had just changed his anti-depressant two weeks before the murders, from the Paxil he had been taking, to Prozac. He said the Paxil made him gain weight.
A law against bad behavior does not stop bad behavior.
It's already against the law to trespass and to kill someone.
Passing additional laws for whatever the reason will cause
more contempt for the law and less compliance. It instills
a "just try and stop me attitude" in more and more citizens.
I suppose it is possible but I sure wouldn't take the murderer's word for it.
We only have the man's word for it that he was harrassed for years, and we also do not have HIS definition of the word, "harrassed". I'm sure there are more facts that will be reported in the near future, but until then, I personally wouldn't be jumping to conclusions regarding the cold-blooded murder of his neighbor.
If he tagged my son in the chest with a couple of .410 slugs
after laying in wait, I'd want the DoC to fry him with a few
hundred amps at about 30 Hertz AC so he would go out
with the same jerky-jig as at the end of a noose and be
aware of it to the last moment.
Sad. Just very sad. I heard the audio of the 9/11 tape several times today. I think the man finally snapped. It's not just about the damn lawn, because I've occasionally had neighbors from hell. The parents might be asked some hard questions about why they allowed their son(and themselves) to harass a neighbor until it came to this.
Keep in mind we don't have all the facts to this case. However I do believe there is more to this - The guy has that resigned "there is no point in living" look on his face. Of course shooting a kid is ridiculous, but having said that, some kids can just be horrible. Everyone talks about how "good" they are, but in fact, they can be monsters. We had a boy like this is our old neighborhood, and he was downright nasty, cruel, and loved to tear stuff up. His parents of course thought him to be an angel, and his mother routinely threatened to sue the school if they disciplined him or he got low grades. It's was always the school's fault, don't you know.
This kid at the age of 12 went into some guy's house while he was on vacation and vandalized the heck out of it, smashing windows and tearing up stuff. All the kids said he did it, but you never heard another word.
This kid might have done the same to this old guy, and he just took it until he snapped (he probably wasn't very level to begin with).
It's just a sad fact of life that a lot of kids don't seem to learn. If you push the wrong person, they might push back.
LOL...
Great point!
He'll be much happier now as he won't have to worry about a lawn.
We only have the man's word for it that he was harrassed for years, and we also do not have HIS definition of the word, "harrassed". I'm sure there are more facts that will be reported in the near future, but until then, I personally wouldn't be jumping to conclusions regarding the cold-blooded murder of his neighbor.
According to our evening news, records show the man had been complaining to the authorities about the kid back to 2002 or 2003. He probably put up with it for a while before he went to them. They also said he'd gone to the kid's dad for help. Apparently it did no good.
*Oh, THE HUMANITY*
The kid stepped on the CORNER of his lawn.
I would be happy to pull the switch on this disgusting vermin.
The fact that you think that it is fine that he hunted the kid down in the middle of the street is just unbelievable.
There might be questions about the harrassment.
However, anyone who knows to buy slug rounds for a shotgun knows that he's shooting to kill.
This guy intended to kill that kid. Unless they find him insane, they'll have to find it premeditated, imo.
It has been since 1937 :-)
anyone that was a teen in the 70s will get that joke
And I am not one of them.
But I am quite aware of the fact that there are few consequences for misbehavior on the part of teens these days. Those consequences have to come from a child's parents because the law treats as a criminal anyone else who would attempt to discipline the child.
It would not surprise me a bit to find out that the child was a bully who would mistreat anyone if he could get away with it. The crime of the shooter certainly overshadows the character of the child and so we will probably never hear about it.
Think of the many times you have heard the grieving mother of an armed-robber tell of just how wonderful her boy was, before being slain in the act of threatening to kill people if they did not surrender their property.
I'm East Bay myself---born as a Richmond brat, raised in the El Sobrante hills.
Any place that didn't have a fence...well, we had a name (or two) for (ahem!) "THOSE PEOPLE".
Now, I have over 4 miles of fence, and need more.
Don't mislead. In rural areas we have fences. In subdivisions,
you want a fence, you put it up yourself unless there are cookie
cutter covenants that prohibit them. Almost no Southerner would
fence his front lawn because it's unsightly and he can trust his
neighbor to be a good neighbor.
Not the damned four-legged ones!
At least it wasn't a postal employee this time.
Your comments insinuating that the kid is probably a bully are not only in incredibly poor taste, but utterly ignorant. You have no idea what this kid was like, but he's dead now so you take the opportunity to attack him.
Coward.
A terrible story to say the least.
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