Jury Acquits Iraq War Veteran Of Shooting Into Crowd

Associated Press ^ | June 29, 2006

[Boston Blackie]

SALEM, Mass. -- A jury deliberated just two hours Thursday before finding an Iraq war veteran acted in self-defense when he fired a shotgun into a group of club-goers outside his Lawrence home, injuring two people.

The Salem Superior Court jury acquitted Marine Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir, a 34-year-old reservist named last year's "Marine of the Year," of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the shooting last August.

[Boston Blackie]

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

He was protecting his family.


Defense attorney Robert Lewin asked jurors to put themselves in Cotnoir's shoes, noting a bottle was thrown through Cotnoir's bedroom window at about 3 a.m. while his children slept upstairs.

Lewin also pointed to a prior incident during which someone fired a gun at Cotnoir's house.

[battlegearboat]

Rest In Peace

[Common Tator]

Now take the SOB that had him indicted and throw some bottles threw his window at night just to see how he likes it.

[Arthalion]

Sorry folks, I gotta take the dissenting view here. Had I been there, this man would be in a box because I'd have shot him dead (he had a shotgun, I pack something a bit more accurate). I'm sorry he got his window busted, but he fired into a crowd that may or may not have been involved in throwing the bottle, and in the process shot a 15 year old girl who by all accounts had NOTHING to do with the window. The fact that you "feel threatened" does not give you the right to fire into a crowd, and his military service earns him no free rides.

Men like Daniel Cotnoir are the reason I'm a gun owner. I fire back.

[AdamSelene235]

The article reports the firearms as: a rifle, a shotgun and reports the projectile as a "shell".

Just damn.

[Stone Mountain]

I agree with you. What happened to him was messed up, but that doesn't justify shooting into a crowd and injuring an innocent person. He still may be liable for civil charges from the victims...

[stinkerpot65]

Some prosecutors are thugs.

[Boston Blackie]

His neighbors rallied to support him...The nightclubs have been nothing but trouble and police stopped responding to calls every morning at 2AM. The article states revelers cranked their music and were singing and dancing...and firing bullets and throwing bottles through his window. I would call them rioters.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

What!!!??Nobody died.

[tinacart]

15 year old out in a "gang" of drunkards at 3:00 a.m.?

Innocent?

Ongoing problem in that area?

Come on, not all 15 year olds are like they were in the good ol' days! Murdering, maiming, prostituting, dealing... This is now, that was then.

[tinacart]

N - I - F - O - N - G ...

[Boston Blackie]

What!!!??Nobody died.

I'm glad to hear that...I thought he was talking about me.

[fr_freak]

He said he was in fear of his family's safety when he grabbed a rifle and fired a shot into what he said was a clear area.

According to him, he fired did not fire into the crowd. He fired into an open area, and the ricochet/fragments are what hit the two people. Apparently the jury agreed with him. If you are someone who would be out in the streets at 3:00am, throwing bottles athrough people's windows while fully armed, you are a problem.

[freema]

Ping

[freema]

Accused troops' supporters busy fundraising - Hamdaniya / 'Pendleton 8' defense funds ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1654104/

Some of the familes and supporters of the 7 Hamdaniya Marines & a Navy Corpsman, now charged with multiple criminal offenses, have setup web sites for use in accepting donations for legal defense funds or sending notes of encouragement and support to the detainees and their families.

Cpl. Robert Pennington
http://www.defendrob.com

PFC John Jodka
http://www.innocentmarine.com

Cpl. Trent Thomas
http://www.defensefundformyhero.com

Cpl. Jerry Shumate
http://friendsofjerry.blogspot.com/

BBQ fundraiser July 8th up Matlock, WA way..

http://friendsofjerry.blogspot.com/


If your financial situation permits, please help as you can to defer legal representation costs.

Thanks!

[skr]

He said he was in fear of his family's safety when he grabbed a rifle and fired a shot into what he said was a clear area.

The shell struck a curb and shattered into fragments, striking Kevin Castillo, 21, and Lissette Cumba, 15, both of Lowell.

Apparently the jury followed the evidence.

[Ben Chad]

You must be a liberal.

[concretebob]

The shell struck a curb and shattered into fragments, striking Kevin Castillo, 21, and Lissette Cumba, 15, both of Lowell.

FM, thanks for the PING.
My first thought after reading this article was "What the heck was a 15 year old doing out at 2AM?"
Then I remembered where I was.

Justice has been served.

[Arthalion]

The jury sympathized with a war hero who by his own admission is suffering PTSD issues because of the war (completely understandable, given his job there).

You are missing a couple of very important points here.

1) It's not illegal to be outside at 3AM. My wife and I attend concerts and on occasion visit clubs and bars with friends, and have had been out that late plenty of times. If someone decided to shoot at me for it, I wouldn't hesitate to put them in a box (when the decision is them or me, I win).

2) There is no evidence that this group threw any bottles at his home. Somebody obviously did, but there's no way to know who. This guy was in bed asleep, was awoken by the broken window, had to get his gun and get to the window. These people were across the street, but it could have just as easily been teenage pranksters. This guy made a very dangerous assumption that the crowd MUST have done it. And even if one of them did, how do the actions of one drunk ass justify shooting at a crowd of bystanders?

3) Where he fired is irrelevant. He fired a weapon when his life wasn't in danger, and he fired it in a direction where fragments could ricochet and hit innocent bystanders. That is poor weapon handling by ANY measure, and is unacceptable for someone with his firearms experience. By all accounts the slug hit a curb, which means he wasn't firing into an "open area" but into a STREET. If he wanted to scare them off, he could have fired into the air.