Posted on 11/13/2018 10:59:09 AM PST by yesthatjallen
A white retired firefighter in Michigan found guilty of firing a shotgun from his porch at a black teenager who knocked on his front door because he was lost was sentenced Tuesday to four to 10 years in prison.
Jeffrey Zeigler, dressed in a grey jumpsuit with his hands shackled in front of him, appeared in an Oakland County courtroom where a judge sentenced him to two to 10 years for one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and two years for one count of felony firearm. He was convicted on Oct. 12.
The sentences will be consecutive, meaning Zeigler will serve at least two years for the assault count and another two years for the firearm count, the judge said.
Zeigler, 53, was seen on home surveillance video around 8:20 a.m. ET on April 12 shooting at Brennan Walker as the teen fled down the street. Walker told police that he had missed his school bus that morning and got lost as he was walking through Rochester Hills.
Walker, 14, said he went to Zeigler's home to ask for directions to Rochester High School, where he is a freshman.
"I knocked on the door, stepped back, knocked, stepped back, and then a lady came downstairs yelling at me," he told NBC-affiliate WDIV in April.
Walker said Zeigler's wife picked up the phone to call police, reporting that a black male was trying to break into her house.
Ziegler, a retired Detroit firefighter, grabbed his shotgun and chased after Walker, firing one round as the teen fled.
"I was running away ... I was trying to run away faster and I heard a gunshot," Walker said.
Uninjured according to the article. Four to Ten would make more sense if he had injured they guy. No injury at all, makes this punishment a travesty of justice.
Im with you on this one I NEVER answer my door unless expecting someone!!! Dont want to talk to realtors, sales people, or religious people handing out pamphlets!!!!
So a scatter gun was fired at the potential perp running away. But did not hit him.
Sounds to me like scaring away a potential perp and shooting at him are two different things. A two dimensional video can not show the actual direction of a cloud of shot. Sounds like so much bullflop to me. What angle was the video from.
Farmers have been blasting away with shotguns at kids stealing watermelon for years(ask Joe Biden). They generally dont aim at them unless its a mild rocksalt loaf. Birdshot is harmless after not too long of a distance.
Depends if the shooter was trying to hit the kid. If he was, it could rise to attempted murder.
Unless I'm missing something here it's pretty clear that he deserves to do at least *some* time...I just don't have enough info to decide how much (or how little) time.
"...no teenager walking to school gets lost..."
He didn't hit him. Either he was a lousy shot, or he didn't intend to hit him.
I see nothing wrong with firing a shot over the head of someone who was running away from your property as if they had done something. Wife may have overreacted, but the Husband seems to have behaved reasonably in my opinion. Now if he had hit the kid, that would be a different animal.
Could be just asking directions, but he could be seeing if anyone is home in order to burglarize the house. Hard to tell.
you forgot about his “purple drank” as well.
Sounds like the guy deserves prison, from what I can tell.
"...realtors, salespeople, or religious people with pamphlets..."
check his rap sheet. Then we’ll know his intent.
I think the guy deserves to be punished, but I agree with you. He shouldn’t be allowed to own guns from what I can see.
I can't see the video for some reason so I can't tell if he was trying to hit the kid or not. I can't judge the distance or even the aim.
The fact that the kid was not hit tends to make me believe the man wasn't trying to hit him. If he was in range of the shotgun and the man aimed at him, he would have been hit.
He wasn't.
Agreed. That sentencing STINKS of a leftist judge and jury.
I agree. The kid missed his bus and the video in the article, not the front porch security video seems to support his story.
I’m sure the police and DA were convinced the kid was telling the truth, they’re not in the habit of going after retired firefighters.
Looks to me like this guy really screwed up and is darn lucky he missed the kid.
Wasn’t this Joe Biden’s idea?
Why is scaring someone away from your house an imprisonable offense? Maybe county jail, but felony prison?
That's nuts.
When I first saw the article, I thought he had killed or injured an innocent person. When I found out he didn't, I was shocked that he would have gotten so much time, and the only explanation that made sense to me was that of an activist jury intent on punishing him for their perception of racism projected onto him.
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