Drug Warrior on Trial, Defense Says Shooting Justified

Richmond Times Dispatch ^ | 10-23-02 | Rex Bowman

[putupon]

ROANOKE - An off-duty Drug Enforcement Administration agent who gunned down a Roanoke man during a parking-lot scuffle in February was impelled by too much booze and machismo, a prosecutor asserted yesterday.

"What happened is, you had two men fueled by alcohol and testosterone, and they came together," prosecutor Wanda DeWease told jurors in the opening day of agent Timothy G. Workman's murder trial.

[putupon]

".....it's the first time in his professional career that he had to make such a choice."

professionalism on parade, thank you FLEO for a job well done

[Pern]

DeWease said Workman lost his nerve when Bailey came at him,...

Typical.

[The Red Zone]

If I ruled the world, nobody toting a gun would be allowed to get soused. It is asking for trouble. Most states ban gun carrying by someone who was hospitalized for depression 25 years ago. Yet they wink at gun carrying by those who are inebriated right at that moment.

That being said, to try to choke an armed officer is to earn an instant Darwin award.

[ActionNewsBill]

An off-duty Drug Enforcement Administration agent who gunned down a Roanoke man during a parking-lot scuffle in February was impelled by too much booze

Just goes to show the outrageous hypocricy of these WOD goons.

If this murdering jack-boot had been smoking pot instead of boozing, this never would have happened.

[RJCogburn]

If this murdering jack-boot had been smoking pot instead of boozing, this never would have happened.

Ironic, and probably correct.

[RWG]

When I was a bartender I would rather have had 300 refer maddened customers than 2 drunks in the bar.

[Trickyguy]

A few days ago I was standing in a convenience store when I heard the clerk say that on Friday nights he preferred dealing with the stoned crowd to the drunks, since the former were never any problem and the latter often were. He told this to a cop, who said he agreed, and didn't give a damn if marijuana was legal. I had to leave before I started laughing. Having said that, it sure seems an awful lot of cops and gummit agents pretty much get a pass on killing citizens, although the opposite certainly isn't true, even if they're protecting themselves against a marauding government.

[Maelstrom]

1st class citizen vs. 2nd class citizen alert

[bimbo]

Hasn’t the word gotten to Roanoke yet? Federal LEOs are above the law. They are not to be prosecuted, but rewarded. If Workman’s attorney does not reference the FBI agent who shot the kid riding with his girlfriend in Baltimore, or Lon Horiuchi, or the agents at Waco, then the attorney is negligent.

[weikel]

He'll walk im sure after all he just killed a serf.

[weikel]

it sure seems an awful lot of cops and gummit agents pretty much get a pass on killing citizens

We're just serfs its not as if we have rights.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

It seems to me that if a person is being choked and the choker's associate is approaching with a gun in hand, as witnesses agree, then blasting away is justified. What started it and the booze are irrevelant to those facts.

[putupon]

It seems to me that if a person is being choked and the choker's associate is approaching with a gun in hand

If you believe that a single witness stating she saw a gun that no one else saw and was never reported at the time of the incident (I have been following the story, posted it when it happened), and if you believe that the shooter could tell who the alleged gun bearer was coming to assist, and if you believe that FLEOs magnificent training instructs that when approached by a person with a gun you shoot his buddy yet never fire at the man with a gun, and if you believe that an off duty DEA agent is supposed to be out boozing with a barroom Betty while off duty, and you believe it is professional behavior to be out boozing while armed with said barrom Betty, then I can see why you believe the shooting was justified.

[FreeTally]

The way I see it is that Workman was involved in the commission of a felony when he shot the other man. He was carrying a firearm while intoxicated, a felony. He should be charged with murder under that law as well.

[Oztrich Boy]

It seems to me that if a person is being choked and the choker's associate is approaching with a gun in hand, as witnesses agree, then blasting away is justified.

Well yes that appears to be the defence case. but establishing
if a person is being choked
if the choker's associate is approaching with a gun in hand
will depend on the credibility of Workman and his ladyfriend (who it appears fled the scene before police arrived to take staements.)

And what happened to "the choker's associate"?: from the defence case he/she appears to have committed a number of crimes.