Posted on 08/06/2014 1:08:22 AM PDT by nickcarraway
In November 2013, 54-year-old Theodore Wafer was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, and possession of a firearm for fatally shooting 19-year-old Renisha McBride on the front porch of his suburban Detroit home. McBride, who had been drinking heavily and smoking pot that night, wound up at Wafer's door after wandering away from the scene of a late-night car accident several hours before. (Witnesses said she appeared "disoriented.") Prosecutors and McBride's family say she was clearly looking for help. Wafer said that he acted in self-defense, having taken the noise McBride was making outside for a sign that someone was trying to break into his house. Wafer, who said that he'd purchased his 12-gauge shotgun for protection from neighborhood criminals, is white. McBride was unarmed and black, and her death quickly attracted comparisons to that of Trayvon Martin (especially since Wafer wasn't charged until two weeks after she died). Unlike George Zimmerman, Wafer has been testifying at his own trial, which is now in its tenth day.
Michigan's self-defense law permits a person to use deadly force when they "honestly and reasonably believe" that they are in immediate danger of being killed or badly hurt. Like most states, Michigan also has a "castle doctrine," which means that a person isn't required to "retreat" from a threat when they're in their home. As with Florida's similar, much-discussed "stand-your-ground" law, critics of castle doctrines say that they can encourage people to act more aggressively than they might if they didn't think that the law was on their side.
Over the last two days, Wafer has described how he was awoken at around 5 a.m. by loud banging. "I’ve never heard anything like it," he said. "I still can't wrap my mind around it that a woman can make those sounds." He also claimed that he was unable to find his cell phone to call 911, so he crawled around in the dark until he reached the closet where he kept his gun. "I needed to find out what was going on. I was not going to cower. I didn't want to be a victim in my own house," he said.
The New York Times reports that, on cross-examination, prosecutor Athina Siringas "questioned [Wafer's] account, pointing out that he had told the police that his phone is regularly kept in his jeans pocket." From the Times:
“You didn’t call the police because you were mad and you wanted to handle this thing yourself, right?” she said.
“I was upset,” Mr. Wafer said. “I had a lot of emotions. I was scared. I had fear. I was panicking.”
Wafer eventually opened his interior steel door and, without opening the screen door behind it, shot McBride in the face. During his testimony, he claimed that he didn't get a look at the five-foot-four, 184-pound teenager until after she was dead, repeatedly saying that he "just reacted" to a "figure." "I shot in fear," he said. Later, Siringas pointed out that, on the night of the shooting, Wafer didn't tell the police that he had felt afraid until they prompted him to. "I guess in front of a cop I didn't want to come across as less of a man," he explained.
The problem has been the focus on irrelevant arguments – some of which are actually unsupported by the evidence.
1. ‘George Zimmerman (GZ) racially profiled Trayvon Martin (TM)’ There is no evidence of this.
2. ‘GZ disobeyed an order by the police’ * The civilian dispatcher, Sean Noffke, testified that he did not give GZ an order and, in fact, he, like his fellow dispatchers, are trained not make comments that sound like commands. * Noffke also testified under cross that, as a result of his asking GZ which way TM was going, GZ could have reasonably interpreted this as being asked to follow Martin. * It is also not a crime in Florida to disregard a comment made by a civilian dispatcher.
3. ‘GZ got out of his car’ Not a crime on public property and not negligent either.
4. ‘GZ followed TM’ Again, anyone can follow anyone on a public street unless the followee has obtained a restraining order against the follower and even there, the RS only places time, place, and manner restrictions on the person enjoined.
5. ‘GZ wasn’t really injured’ * Under Florida’s self-defense laws, one doesn’t have to be injured AT ALL to use deadly force * No one is required to refrain from defending himself while another is engaged in or attempting to commit a felony.
6. ‘TM is dead through no fault of his own’ * If you believe that TM assaulted GZ, then he IS dead as a result of his own actions.
7. ‘GZ could have left’ * Under Florida law, there is not a duty to withdraw rather than use deadly force * TM was straddling GZ so how the latter was supposed to leave the scene is unanswered.
8. ‘GZ was armed and TM wasn’t’ * One’s fists can be considered weapons and can result in severe bodily harm or death. * GZ was legally carrying a weapon * There is no requirement under the law that the same weapon be used by the assailant * A homeowner can kill an intruder whether or not he has been threatened * Those that attack cannot feign surprise if they are met with superior firepower.
9. ‘Stand Your Ground!’ * SYG is NOT at issue in this trial. * The defense is a classic self-defense case.
10. ‘Black men NEVER get to use SYG!’ * Wrong http://tinyurl.com/nboht35
11. ‘GZ is a man and TM was a boy!’ * As if ‘boys’ don’t commit murder, rape, and assault everyday in this country.
***
Trayvon was 17 and a thug. IMHO, once you pick up a gun or a knife or beat up on someone, you're not a child anymore.
Your list is true, but there is also no proof that having skittles makes someone a cross between Al Capone and Rambo. fatnotlazy - do you have proof that he picked up a knife or a gun.
Actually, I spoke to George and he confirmed that he is a racist. He said if a white hispanic had been banging his head into concrete there is no way he would have shot him.
Do I really need the sarc tag?
As it says in Proverbs, “Don’t drink wine as you will fall down and hurt yourself”. Hopefully, she didn’t leave anything in the gene pool.
I just find this guy’s story hard to get my mind around.
She’s banging on the door, I get that.
But he finds his gun, but not his phone? That seems sort of silly, doesn’t it?
And then, he opens the door and just BLAM! shoots the person in the face.
I mean, he opened the door, she didn’t open it.
If you are afraid of who is on the other side of the door, why do you open it? And it’s a steel door? A person is not really going to be able to break down a steel door.
I don’t know what was up with this man, but I think he showed very poor judgment.
I agree. Basically, he shot a little girl when she knocked at his door because he was afraid that if he didn’t, he might have to “cower” (his word). Even if his story is accepted as true, he seems to be attempting to cope with a level of fear that renders him unreasonably dangerous to others. He shouldn’t be running around loose.
What does that case have to do with this one? You going to reach and equivicate banging on the door with someone having his head banged into the ground?
Little girl? 5’4” almost 200 pounds? High as a kite?
again, WHY does he open the door if he is afraid??? that makes ZERO sense. All he has to do is stand there with the gun in hand and call the cops. But no he just hauls off and OPENS the door and shoots her! Its a STEEL door she isnt going to just “knock it down” 200lbs or not...
Sorry I wasn't clear.
Right, he’s got the gun. He opened the door to what he perceived as danger, it does make zero sense.
Maybe he was intoxicated too, or mentally impaired in some other way. Groggy from being woken up? Did they do any “tox screening” on him? Did he take a sleeping pill? That ambien makes people do some messed up stuff.
This guys story doesn’t add up.
I think he was more angry than scared.
It seems to be less a case of “I thought I was gonna die!” and more a case of “Take this!”
If you read the actual story its pretty clear this dude has no business with a gun, he panicked ...
Over the last two days, Wafer has described how he was awoken at around 5 a.m. by loud banging. “I’ve never heard anything like it,” he said. “I still can’t wrap my mind around it that a woman can make those sounds.” He also claimed that he was unable to find his cell phone to call 911, so he crawled around in the dark until he reached the closet where he kept his gun. “I needed to find out what was going on. I was not going to cower. I didn’t want to be a victim in my own house,” he said.
The New York Times reports that, on cross-examination, prosecutor Athina Siringas “questioned [Wafer’s] account, pointing out that he had told the police that his phone is regularly kept in his jeans pocket.” From the Times:
“You didn’t call the police because you were mad and you wanted to handle this thing yourself, right?” she said.
“I was upset,” Mr. Wafer said. “I had a lot of emotions. I was scared. I had fear. I was panicking.”
Wafer eventually opened his interior steel door and, without opening the screen door behind it, shot McBride in the face. During his testimony, he claimed that he didn’t get a look at the five-foot-four, 184-pound teenager until after she was dead, repeatedly saying that he “just reacted” to a “figure.” “I shot in fear,” he said. Later, Siringas pointed out that, on the night of the shooting, Wafer didn’t tell the police that he had felt afraid until they prompted him to. “I guess in front of a cop I didn’t want to come across as less of a man,” he explained.
Unarmed. On the other side of a steel door. Where was the threat to him?
But he finds his gun, but not his phone? That seems sort of silly, doesn’t it?
If you had any common sense at all the first thing on your mind would be to PROTECT YOURSELF....NOT MAKE A TELEPHONE CALL! In your case, I doubt that for that requires common sense.
Earlier this year I had someone bang on my door about 2am and the first thing I did was grab the pistol I have beside my bed, walk up to my front door, open it and stick the pistol right up his “snot locker” before asking any questions at all. Then we had a conversation and found out he was a neighbor who needed to report that my handicapped son (who lived 5 blocks away) had fallen down and the police and ambulance services was over at my house and he did not have my telephone number.
If he had continued to try to force his way in, I would have blown him away without any hesitation.
The point of this story is that:
1. When seconds count don’t call the police for they will be there within a matter of minutes while you only have seconds to protect yourself. See what the problem is FIRST and then call the cops. If needed, use lethal force if necessary.
2. ALWAYS arm yourself FIRST and not with a cell or telephone. Time is of the essence!
3. Don’t ever believe that the “justice system” is blind for it is only color blind.
I don’t know why. But I’m not buying that this was some little girl who was asking for help. The accident had taken place hours before and she was wandering around the neighborhood “disoriented” (high). He found the banging on the door weirdly aggressive - 5 in the morning being woken up.
I have some sympathy here because about two years ago, while my husband was at work, I had a hulking teenager banging horribly at my door on Halloween night. I opened the front door, too, but the storm door was locked. I clearly wasn’t thinking because I was so disoriented by the unexpected visit!
Silly would be looking for a phone and not your gun when someone is banging on your door.
If he finds his phone and not his gun, and a perp breaks in and kills him, the cops put a chalk line around his body, that would be silly.
No kidding. Many years ago, I was awakened by loud knocking on my door around 3am. It was a 3rd floor apartment, so there was no option of leaving. It was pretty unnerving.
I had my weapon and took a defensive position near the bathroom while I called the police. Turned out, there was a call for a domestic dispute in the complex and they had the wrong building.
Fortunately, despite being justifiably afraid, I had enough sense not to open the door and start blasting.
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