Reminds me of the Ossian Sweet case of nearly a century ago. Something similar also happened on Long Island a few years ago. The level of hate on the LI newsgroups at the time was disgusting.
I now see that this was the White case I had alluded to. It’s amazing how “tribal” lower middle class whites on LI can get when one of THEIR own is taken out, in this case quite legitimately. NY and LI/NYC are police states when it comes to defending one’s property.
I think this might be the Long Island case to which you refer.
Sweet was defended by Clarence Darrow and was acquitted. Sadly, Sweet committed suicide years later.