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He Says He Stabbed a Student to Defend His Home. His Home Is a Box.
The New York Times ^ | 15 Jan 2020 | Nikita Stewart and Jan Ransom

Posted on 01/15/2020 8:32:33 AM PST by Theoria

A homeless man is fighting his case by invoking New York’s “castle doctrine,” which gives people the right to defend their dwellings.

Each night, Joseph Matos builds his home on the East Side by placing several cardboard boxes on the ground for cushioning and then linking together a half dozen others so he can fit inside to sleep.

One night in October 2018, he said, he was jolted from his slumber by a thud, followed by another. Startled, he leapt outside and grabbed a knife. A college student, walking by with a friend, had kicked Mr. Matos’s box because he thought it was trash, investigators said.

What happened next could send Mr. Matos, 57, to prison for more than a decade. Mr. Matos faces assault charges for stabbing one of the men and slashing the other, but he is fighting the case with an unusual argument: His lawyers say he was defending his home against attackers.

Under New York’s “castle doctrine,” a person has a right to protect his home with deadly force if he reasonably believes another person is entering without permission and is seeking to commit a crime. The defense hinges partly on whether a collection of cardboard boxes is a home.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: New York
KEYWORDS: castledoctrine; homeless; josephmatos; newyork
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To: Theoria

One man’s box is another man’s castle . . .


21 posted on 01/15/2020 8:55:57 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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To: Mermaid Girl
Brown from the right area of the world still trumps white guy (even homeless white guy).

Homeless guy needs to go all in, and show up to court dressed as a woman. In the game of Intersectional Victim Poker, a Homeless Tranny Flush beats a Guatemalan Strait Pair.

22 posted on 01/15/2020 8:57:57 AM PST by ETCM
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To: Theoria

That doctrine would not defend his actions in this circumstance. The student had no way to reasonably know for certain that this ‘box’ was someone’s residence, and not a large piece of rubbish.


23 posted on 01/15/2020 9:03:19 AM PST by lee martell
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To: Responsibility2nd

“If I don’t pay the State 3400 bucks a year.... They will own it.”

Dont complain unless ...

You dont use the county facilities and disable 911 on your phone.


24 posted on 01/15/2020 9:04:00 AM PST by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Theoria

pay wall.


25 posted on 01/15/2020 9:04:17 AM PST by lee martell
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To: lee martell

pay wall bypasser.


26 posted on 01/15/2020 9:05:18 AM PST by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: bert

OK Yes. This is great logic. If they can “defend” their home, then they should be subject to the local laws for residences. So then he is either trespassing or subject to a bunch of other laws about residences.

Can’t have it both ways.


27 posted on 01/15/2020 9:06:01 AM PST by NEMDF
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To: bigdaddy45

That’s not the point for the street folk

Most live this way by choice

Mostly alcoholics first

Other drugs second

He doesn’t want support like prison might give

Can’t stay drunk or high


28 posted on 01/15/2020 9:08:04 AM PST by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: zeestephen

Does he have a mortgage?
= = =

How about an HOA?


29 posted on 01/15/2020 9:19:28 AM PST by Scrambler Bob (This is not /s. It is just as viable as any MSM 'information', maybe more so!)
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To: NEMDF
So then he is either trespassing or subject to a bunch of other laws about residences.

You got it all wrong!

Those two college kids who kicked his refrigerator carton, thinking that it was just "trash," were in fact trespassing on his private property (= "castle").

At least, that's what the Defense Attorney is implying.

Regards,

30 posted on 01/15/2020 9:42:38 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Theoria

In Missouri, all things else being lawful, he could be successful. Car,tent cardboard box....could be a protected domicile.


31 posted on 01/15/2020 10:03:32 AM PST by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War")
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To: SauronOfMordor

Does he have a “property” in the boxes? Then he owns it.


32 posted on 01/15/2020 10:04:59 AM PST by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War")
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To: Theoria

Well sure as soon as he presents a title, mortgage papers, hotel check-in documents, or a rental agreement from the person he was borrowing the land from to build his Kraft Paper Cottage. Otherwise he was defending someone else’s property without their permission.


33 posted on 01/15/2020 10:09:31 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Unfortunately true. Used to be they just taxed your dining room table... but then people made them so they could convert to a chair with a big round back anytime the tax collector showed up. So they taxed clocks... then people put paintings on the clocks and called them art... then they taxed interior doors... so in the Federalist period in Missouri the people put long back porches on their buildings so they could go from room to room because most rooms only opened to the porch with untaxed exterior doors. ...


34 posted on 01/15/2020 10:15:17 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Mermaid Girl

Maybe they should first have to convict the students of breaking and entering.


35 posted on 01/15/2020 10:16:37 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Scrambler Bob

I’m pretty sure his ‘home’ is not up to code....


36 posted on 01/15/2020 10:19:06 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: alexander_busek

Except he doesn’t own the land and cannot prove he rents it.


37 posted on 01/15/2020 10:19:49 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: PeteB570

probably a smaller box not far from his box tool shed.


38 posted on 01/15/2020 10:29:41 AM PST by Leep (Everyday is Trump Day!)
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To: ETCM

Indeed. Its moments like this that I really regret not going to law school instead of getting my clown college degree. A real bloodthirsty cynic could make millions mining this era of crazy as a Civil Injury lawyer.


39 posted on 01/15/2020 10:30:19 AM PST by Mermaid Girl
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To: rightwingcrazy

The jar of vaseline was a dead giveaway.


40 posted on 01/15/2020 10:34:29 AM PST by lowbridge
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