[MrEdd]

I can't think of anything in my post that led you to the conclusion that you had to question whether or not I'm nuts. Of course it's not up to the homeowner to determine the mindset of someone breaking in. And I reread my post and saw nothing to the contrary.

How about your assertion that the inebriation of the person breaking in somehow justified examining the residents right to defend themselves in the home invasion?

Sometimes, things are really murky. If this kid had been sober and intent on home invasion, we’d not be having this conversation.

When someone breaks in you don't determine if they are drunk. and their breaking in over rules any assertion they might be making that they mean no harm. I stand by my assessment of your post. There never should have been any assertion by anyone that the residents did anything wrong.

[driftdiver]

Is there any difference between a drunk person or a sober person robbing you and raping your wife?

That he was drunk matters nothing.

[umgud]

Let me apologize in advance for not being very good at typing what my mind is thinking. Let me reconstruct my original reply more in tune with my actual thoughts.

Ah, the fickle of fate. [refering to the kid going to the wrong house] Sometimes, things are really murky.[refering to the debate, not the act] If this kid had been sober and intent on home invasion, we’d not be having this conversation.[this was directed at those folks defending the kid when the story first came out] Of course, the homeowner probably couldn’t have known either way.[not his responsibility to know]

MrEdd,

While I apologise for poor wordsmithing, I think you went over the line with your question as to whether I was nuts. Seems a little kneejerk to me. Even given you disagreed with my reply, there was nothing in it offensive to you or anybody else.

[muawiyah]

Why not? So far it looks like the kid wasn't guilty of any crime that calls for the death penalty, and we don't know whether the glass was broken from the inside (as they shot him outside), or from the outside (presumably by him trying to break in).

Now, let's say the kid knocked on the back door and they shot him through the glass. There he is bleeding to death, but they delay trying to figure out how to explain this.

We don't have enough information yet to know that these people didn't lie in some shallow attempt to cover up what really happened.

It's fair to investigate the situation and to hypothesize scenarios here. Failure to do so would be a crime in itself.