Posted on 04/27/2014 12:37:05 PM PDT by FBD
A lawyer on Reeves' defense team filed the petition this week asking the 2nd District Court of Appeal to allow Reeves to be released until trial on second-degree murder and aggravated battery charges.
"Because (Reeves) has wrongfully been denied pretrial release, he is being illegally detained," attorney Frances Martinez wrote.Reeves, 71, has been in the Pasco County jail since Jan. 13, when authorities say he shot fellow theater patron Chad Oulson, 43, of Land O'Lakes at the Grove Cobb Theatre in Wesley Chapel.The bullet hit Oulson in the chest and grazed the left ring finger of his wife, Nicole.
Authorities say the shooting happened after Reeves became irritated over Oulson's refusal to stop texting his 2-year-old daughter's caregiver during movie previews. Reeves left briefly to complain to management, then returned. Moments later, witnesses said they saw popcorn fly and heard a shot. They gave varying accounts at Reeves' bail hearing in February.
Because of those conflicting stories, prosecutors did not meet their legal burden to keep Reeves in jail, his attorneys argued. They also argue that prosecutors had to refute Reeves' claim he acted in self-defense, which is also required to deny bail.Curtis Reeves Jr., the retired Tampa police captain arrested in a fatal movie theater shooting during an argument over texting, is asking an appeals court to overturn a judge's ruling denying bail and free him from jail.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
Some suspects are held in jail, if they’re believed to be a danger to society, yes? There’s no argument that Reeves shot two people in a movie theater, and afterwards reportedly said: “That will teach you to throw popcorn at me.”
-that’s not someone who should probably be running around free, until after he gets a trial. That’s what the judge thinks, anyway? But I suspect he won’t be free, after his trial.
I’m not sure what different take you are getting. Or is it this?
“In an interview with a Pasco sheriff’s detective after the shooting, Reeves said he was scared for his life after Oulson came over the seat and punched him in the face, setting up a possible self-defense claim.”
If so, cops know the magic words to say to save their butts.
“Reeves’ attorney Dino Michaels told reporters after the hearing that Reeves is holding up “the best he can” in jail.”
My heart bleeds for him. By a show of hands, or flames, how many are more concerned with how the widow and child are holding up, than they are by this animal.
“For a 71-year-old guy who’s never been in trouble before, (and has) always been a pillar of his community, he’s not in the best of health,” Michaels said. “He has strong faith.””
Who decided he is a pillar of the community? Until this, I’d never even heard of him. And I live in the area. And people worked with him after he left LE have a different view of his character. Some apparently aren’t surprised.
“He has strong faith.”
Faith, if true, is nice. Try the other fruits of the Spirit. One of them is labeled self control. It would have kept him out of trouble.
-great observation.
http://uthmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Curtis-Reeves-arrested.jpg
I didn’t know you were a local.
Please keep me posted when this trial starts.
According to witnesses, both men were exchanging words with each other. People have heated arguments in public all the time, without it escalating to shooting. I think it’s pretty disingenuous of Reeves to say that he feared for his life, just because of an argument.
“But hey, he’s a LEO and he gets to make up the law as he sees fit.../ S”
- you can see that same attitude in his supporters, as well.
I’ll try, but I’m not all that up on local news. Most of my news comes from websites like this and some on radio. I’m a bit more interested in the bigger picture, where news is concerned.
part of the issue with so much going on, is a person can only pay attention to so much. Something the worst in government count upon.
Excellent point. People are so inundated with fresh government abuse everyday, it’s impossible to track it all. The gubmint counts on this.
If he’s now saying he was punched, that’s a new made up story, because he wasn’t saying that right after he murdered that guy.
I heard his attorneys say that in the bail hearing coverage. This article reports that as well.
I agree and have thought the same thing. I think him saying that at that instant was “instinctive cop training” surfacing at a critical instant meaning he knew that at is trial “self defense” would likely be his only cover and he wanted to get that out there.
I know based on available information including a poor quality security video, his defense of "stand your ground" is completely baseless...
I'm a cranky old cop who thinks he's above the law is a much sounder defense...
See! Some pigs really are more equal than others!
“Shooting an unarmed guy whos holding a box of popcorn”
The dead guy brought popcorn to the gun fight.
” I think its pretty disingenuous of Reeves to say that he feared for his life, just because of an argument.”
When you get shoved around and popcorn thrown at you in a dark theater setting, reasonably you feel threatened for your and your family’s well being. You have to take necessary action to deflate the situation. In this case, he was armed so used it. Now he is on trial for using his firearms to protect himself and his wife.
Thanks for the ping.
I don’t have sympathy for either side, actually. But my Granny was right; good manners saves lives.
good comments, I feel sorry for the old man and the deceased and both families. They (the shooter and the deceased) were both soooooooo wrong letting their male egos, in effect, destroy them. One should have sat down and shut up because a fatal bullet cannot be undone.
I have a business partner x chief who is 67. He and I both totally agree on this one. People are gonna be people and males, every now and then, are just going to be males, and that is about all there is to it.
By another middle aged dork with his wife in the movie theater??? C’mon, it’s not like either of them were a couple of fight hunting Cletus’ down at the local bar...
I’m all for stand your ground but not over a popcorn thrower. If I’m carrying and you throw popcorn on me I promise I’m not going to kill you. I may and most certainly will throw the some profanity your way but not a bullet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.