The judge is a Democrat activist, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry is a radical pro-abort leftist. What could go wrong?
Posted on 07/05/2010 8:40:40 PM PDT by Angelus
Imagine for a moment that you are at work minding your own business and doing your job and two criminals with ski masks barge in threatening you and start waving a gun around and start making demands on you and if you don’t follow them you will be killed. What action would you take? Is there a right action to take? How far is too far?
Oklahoma City Pharmacist Jerome Ersland faced this situation on May 19, 2009. He was 57 years old (now 58) retired military. Two female friends/co-workers were in the store as well and were horrified by the robbers who burst in wearing ski masks. Ersland had a gun he fired one bullet which hit one robber in the head then proceeded to chase the other one out of the store. On returning back into the Pharmacy Ersland believed that the downed robber was moving and trying to get back up while reaching for something behind his back. Ersland believed that the robber had a gun and fired 5 more shots into the robber. The entire incident lasted 46 seconds.
The Robbers names were Jevontai Ingram (who was armed with the gun) and Antwun Parker aka “speedy” (who was shot) two teenagers and both of whom had criminal records.
To me this is a pretty cut and dried case of self defense but it was not viewed that way by Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater (a Democrat) who had Ersland Arrested a few days later on a First Degree Murder charge! Prater is seeking Life in Prison for Ersland and not the death penalty. It is simply astounding that this D.A. has charged First Degree Murder which is the unlawful killing of a human being with a premeditated design. Does anyone really think that Jerome Ersland woke up on the Morning of May 19, 2009 intending to kill someone? The D.A. has obviously seemed not to care about what Ersland was going through having a gun pointed in his face and robbed. 46 seconds is a very short amount of time especially with a life and death moment. I wonder if Democrat David Prater thinks 58 year old Jerome Ersland knew how many shots he fired? Or knew that Parker was no longer a threat to him and the two other employees.
It is very disturbing that D.A. Prater is determined to prosecute Ersland and has even taken plea deals with the Surviving Robber Ingram (who has plead guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery) to not charge him as an adult and instead have him tried in Juvenile court and to seek rehabilitation in return for testimony against Ersland!
The case is set for trial on September 13, 2010. If Ersland is Convicted it will set a dangerous precedent for the Country as a whole. Lets say someone breaks into your home or your place of work and attacks you - If You fire at them you may be accused by a press obsessed sheriff or prosecutor for using “excessive force” and be charged with premeditated first degree murder. I wonder what qualifies as excessive? One shot, Two shots, Three shots??? When your terrified out of your mind you may not even know how many you even fired. Also If there is more then one robber the surviving robber (or both robbers) may get to testify against you in court as is the situation with this case with Mr. Ersland. Imagine that! a law abiding citizen getting railroaded by the public officials who are supposed to protect him and then be testified against by the scum who attacked him! What a wonderful Precedent D.A. Prater is setting for everyone!
Don’t kid yourself this case has far and wide implications for everyone and I truly feel sorry for all those who live in Oklahoma County as the citizens of that county do not have a District Attorney with their best interest in mind and seems to want to put the rights of criminals above those of law abiding citizens.
What do you Think???
Sources
http://www.jeromeersland.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8532432
http://newsok.com/mental-evaluation-refused/article/3456475
http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=11940222
http://www.newsok.com/pharmacists-attorney-balks-at-leaked-report/article/3429718?custom_click=pod_lead_crime
Other than that, petty good essay.
“You also forgot to mention that Mr. Ersland was taking fairly massive doses of prescription pain relievers for his painful disability.”
Do you view this a aggrevating or mitigation circumstance? If the latter, does that imply someone with a disability that requires pain management has lost their right to self defense?
The other part of what you posted if true would be troubling to me.
The guy calmly stepped over the unconscious, never armed, 16 year old robber, got another gun out of a drawer and then standing over the robber, he pumped 5 bullets into the kid, that is why they charged him with murder.
After he killed the kid, he bandaged his arm and claimed that he was wounded in a complicated shootout, this coming from a guy that also falsely claimed to be a big time combat vet who was injured in Desert Storm (he was never in combat).
He is a fake war “hero”.
“Hours after the robbery, Ersland told police he suffers PTSD “from being in the Gulf War,” a detective reported.
“He said, ‘I killed a lot of people there, but I had to do it. I dream about it every night.’ Ersland said he got hurt there (Gulf War) and that was why he was wearing the medical back and front brace,” the detective reported.
The detective quoted Ersland as saying, “So, I have killed a number of people with a .50-caliber” and “I was a platoon leader from Fort Bragg.” The detective reported Ersland said he was in the Army until he got hurt and then the Air Force let him join because there was a high demand for pharmacists.
Ersland left the Army in February 1989, well before the Gulf War, records show. His first assignment after joining the Air Force was the Altus Air Force Base hospital.”
“Instead, Jerome Jay Ers-land spent the war in 1991 as the pharmacy chief at the military hospital at Altus Air Force Base in southwestern Oklahoma, records show.”
The truth is that the robbers had one gun and never fired a shot, he was never in the war, etc, etc. ALMOST EVERYTHING THE GUY SAYS BELOW ARE LIES.
Here are some of his earlier claims, people forget that he claimed to have been wounded in a desperate shootout and was wearing a bandage over the wound until the police made clear that he was the only one that had fired a gun. When you watch the video you realize that the guy is totally fantasizing and making it up up and lying.
Throw these claims in with his phony war hero stuff and you have a real nutcase.
>The robbers began shooting at him, with one bullet grazing him on the arm, he said he heard another round whiz past his ear.
Ersland recalled: “All of a sudden, they started shooting. They were attempting to kill me, but they didn’t know I had a gun. They said, ‘You’re gonna die.’ That’s when one of them shot at me, and that’s when he got my hand.”
Ersland grabbed the semi-automatic Kel-Tec .380 in his pocket.
“And that’s when I started defending myself,” he said. “The first shot got him in the head, and that slowed him down so I could get my other gun.”
Ersland also kept a much larger pistol in a nearby drawer, which he was able to retrieve, a Taurus Judge revolver. At that point, the second robber took off. However, the other robber was now getting up off of the floor, despite the head wound.
Ersland emptied his clip into the chest of the wounded robber, who turned out to be 16-year-old Antwun Parker.
“I went after the other guy, but he was real fast and I’m crippled,” said Ersland. Once outside, he saw a third black male sitting in a car with what appeared to be a shotgun.
Ersland said: “I pulled out my ‘Judge’ and pointed it right between his eyes and he floored it.”
>””All of a sudden, they started shooting,” he said. “They were attempting to kill me, but they didn’t know I had a gun. They said, ‘You’re gonna die.’ That’s when one of them shot at me, and that’s when he got my hand.”
Ersland said he was thrown against a wall, but managed to go for the semiautomatic in his pocket.
“And that’s when I started defending myself,” he said. “The first shot got him in the head, and that slowed him down so I could get my other gun.”
But as one robber hit the floor, Ersland said, a bullet from the other robber whizzed past his ear.
The pharmacist said he then got his second gun from a nearby drawer, a Taurus “Judge.”
After he had the big gun, Ersland said, the second robber ran.
But as he started to chase after the second robber, Ersland said, he looked back to see the 16-year-old he had shot in the head getting up again. Ersland said he then emptied the Kel-Tec .380 into the boy’s chest as he kept going after the second robber.
“I went after the other guy, but he was real fast and I’m crippled,” Ersland said.
Outside the pharmacy, he said he saw what he thought was a third black male in a car with the engine running and reaching for what appeared to be a shotgun.
“I pulled out my ‘Judge’ and pointed it right between his eyes and he floored it,” Ersland said.
I am aware that this man is eccentric and has made many stupid statements however look at the situation he was in and do you really believe first degree murder was the right charge?
Eccentric? A phony war vet and a cold blooded murderer, putting on a fake bandage and describing a running gun battle when the robber with the gun never fired a shot?
The man is a full fledged nut case, watch that video that I linked to, the robbery attempt video starts at about the 2:40 mark.
Watch the video of the murder, they had to charge him as they did.
I do not want to be condemned here for defending this guy its just that there are a lot of implications and precedents in this case which could effect law abiding people in this country. I am aware of the nutty statements this man has made I am simply trying to point out the circumstances he was in.
Frankly, I would think his meds would be a mitigating circumstance. Full disclosure: I frequently resort to prescription meds and am under the care of a pain-management Physician for a disability similar to Mr. Ersland's.
does that imply someone with a disability that requires pain management has lost their right to self defense?
Absolutely not! I am a CCW permit holder, and frequently carry a weapon. My home always has a weapon available should one be needed. However, the individual using pain relieving medicine, just like the person who takes the occasional tipple of alcohol simply must be acutely aware of the possible degredation of judgement and act accordingly.
As to the druggist retrieving a second weapon and shooting the robber point blank, that was captured by the pharmacy security camera. Way over the line, IMO.
Not condemning anyone. Simply trying to make sure the readers are aware of what actually happened. *** Thank you, ansel12 for your input. There is way more info known to the investigators than ever gets mentioned in most of these threads. *** If you would care to, Angelus, check the original threads when this shooting occurred. I was personally vilified by numerous posters on this board for defending the DA for charging the pharmacist. "Coward" was one of the lesser insults thrown my way.
IMO, a civilized society is fully justified in executing an individual for crimes committed. But the victim in this case made himself the Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Way outside civilized bounds!
I am not trying to argue or be hostile but I have seen the video and
I do not believe that Ersland Knew the robber was a 16 year old kid after all he was in a ski mask.
I do not believe Ersland knew Parker was unconscious. In a situation like that I would imagine a lot is going through his mind.
Calling the police and reporting everything is not the typical act of someone who has committed first degree murder.
There are such charges as Voluntary and involuntary manslaughter I cannot understand why the DA could not have charged him with that.
The DA should have known he was going to cause a storm of debates when charging this man with First Degree Murder.
Given Ersland’s physical disability and medication I personally feel that he was not in full mental capacity to have known that the actions he took would be considered excessive.
He may have gone too far, although as taxpayer from Oklahoma, I thank him for saving the expense of the trial, room and board and the future crimes this filth would have commited after leaving jail.
Watch Erslands total indifference to the unconscious kid as he walks by him without a glance, fetches another pistol, then calmly comes back to him and executes him, that is murder. The guy is a wanna be hero psycho that is as crazy as his two ex wives claim that he is.
We gun people don’t need to try and defend him, it is good that he was caught, he seems to be worse than the two robbers.
As one Okie to another, Amen Brother!
Thanks for the reply. I heard about this when it happened but I have not followed it.
If that is on video, I would guess a robbery victim rage defense would be mounted and might well be successful at least to some degree.
Temporary insanity, maybe. It’ll need to be hammered out in the courtroom.
Bingo!
NOBODY should be tried for shooting an armed robber.....or the robber’s acomplice. (How was he to know the accomplice was not armed?)
That is a very bad precedent.....yet many here seem fine with it!
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