Posted on 04/10/2006 9:11:53 AM PDT by neverdem
Each case may turn on whether life was in danger
Karen L. Foxx had sought court orders to keep her estranged husband away, had filed criminal assault charges against him and changed her phone number. She also bought a gun to protect herself, and last Saturday, her lawyer says, Foxx did just that when she fatally shot her husband.
Now the Randallstown woman awaits word on whether she will be charged with a crime - one of two recent cases in which the legal right to self-defense is under examination.
The Randallstown shooting occurred two weeks after a 57-year-old gas station owner was attacked by three would-be robbers at the upscale Village of Cross Keys shopping center in North Baltimore, grabbed his own gun and fatally shot one of the assailants.
In such cases, the decision to file charges often hangs on whether prosecutors or grand jurors determine that the shooters reasonably believed that their lives were threatened before pulling the trigger, legal experts interviewed this week said.
In a 2001 case involving two brothers who killed a man after lying in wait for burglars, a Baltimore County grand jury decided the shooting was justified, even though the intruders were unarmed.
In a 2003 case, two businessmen were acquitted of murder charges after shooting a man who broke into their East Baltimore warehouse.
Given the police accounts of the two recent shootings, the experts interviewed say it's unlikely that either Foxx or the gas station owner, Mark A. Beckwith, will be charged.
"I don't think a crime has occurred. I don't think it's even close," said Richard M. Karceski, a criminal defense attorney who represented one of two brothers cleared in the 2001 shooting of three unarmed intruders at the brothers' concrete plant in Glyndon. "Just because an unfortunate situation..."
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
So you've got a 'pubbie guv'nor. Bully for you. You've also got a totally DemocRAT controlled statehouse, you have Barbara Mikulksi, Paul Sarbanes, Steny Hoyer, Chris Van Hollen, Elijah Cummings ... In fact, six of your eight Representatives are socialist DemocRATs, and Wayne Gilchrest is a squishy Republicrat. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. You have Baltimore City, Land of the Voting Dead. You have Prince George's County, largely indistinguishable from the District of Columbia. You have Montgomery County, AKA "Berkeley East". You have "Won't Issue, but Will Laugh in your Face" Concealed Carry. You have an "assault weapons" ban. You have County Income Tax. Gee ... all these things I miss soooo much.
Oh, yes. I literally thank God that the Washington Nationals did NOT move to Virginia. I dodged that bullet twice.
I'll insult Maryland any bloody time I please, and twice on Sundays. I did my time; I EARNED that right.
OBTW, say "hi" to Parris 'The Duck' $pendenning for me, willya? He quit talking to me ... musta been those hard questions about his rampaging liberalism.
Perhaps the liberals would feel better if that woman and the shop owner were dead.
Yeah, how dare they defend themselves. Unreal.
Hey, Nappie. You took on the wrong FReeper. Arrogant didn't get that way by being wrong.
Get what way...ignorant. Unlike some people I don't blame my own personal shortcomings on the government. His posts just demonstrate that he is not worth arguing. The median price of a house in my neighborhood is 7 figures. I would hardly call it a sewer. Secondly our economy is crushing Virginia's economy and about every other state's economy as well. If you want to judge my state by what happens in Baltimore, then I will judge Virginia by what happens in Richmond. Richmond is a sewer that has a higher rate of violent crime than almost any other city in the country. I also point out that Northern VA is as liberal as it gets. Hampton certainly isn't any place I would like to raise a family. We may pay obscene tax rates, but it least we have a vibrant economy that attracts businesses from all over the country. Plus we have more entertaining past times than watching grass grow and tractor pulls.
By the way, thanks for Bill Clinton.
I wasn't bragging about having a Republican governor. I learned long ago that the people who run the major political parties in this country have more in common with one another than they do with the American people; e.g. illegal immigration debate.
Self-defense, indeed, as a legal defense may not apply unless there is convincing evidence that lethal force was unavoidable and necessary.
This is true for both criminal and civil actions - the latter being, for instance, lawsuits brought for wrongful death by relatives of the deceased.
Otherwise, you can have a hypothetical case where someone, intending to commit homicide, baits someone with premediation into an action that sets up a supposedly "self-defense" scenario that is really a set-up for murder.
2) If you weren't bragging about the R governor, why mention him? Like it or not, the political climate in Maryland is totally dominated by the MontCo-PG-Baltimore Axis of Evil.
3) You think your neighbourhood is typical? Get a grip. There are neighbourhoods in DC, and in lowly, depressed, almost third-world Virginia that are also 7-figure median house value. BFD. DC is a hellhole, too.
4) Richmond is a sewer. So is Hampton, and much of Norfolk. In fact, most big cities are sewers. Like, for example, Baltimore. That's why I don't live in one.
5) I note that you make no effort to refute any of my points about Maryland. That's good. They're true. I had enough; more than enough. I left. I'm not deluded about Maryland.
It seems that you like picking fights. Since you just signed up, I am ready to believe you are a troll. Go back to DU where you belong.
What he failed to mention is that he lives under the porch of one of those fancy dandy houses that we are supposed to be impressed with.
I forgot to tag you.
LOL I don't think the mods would get mad at me for calling a troll a troll. Maybe I should have just called him a newbie. ha
I normally don't get drawn into junk like this, but that guy made ME mad. Attacking one of my favorite posters just doesn't cut it as far as I am concerned.
Nah, he's probably just a noobie. And FReepers stick to their guns, generally. I picked fights on my first few days here. Some quickly learned humility later, I fit in.
If he does anything trollish, then there'll be ozone. However, for the time being, I'll extend a cautious welcome.
So, welcome to Free Republic, Naptowne. Develop a thick skin, and prepare to do constant verbal battle. En garde!
you've been here one day and already no one likes you.
Maybe that's a sign.
and he has a major league sports franchise in his area. That makes him special!!!
Hey, we have the Savannah Sand Gnats.....but we don't have any cheers for them because ain't nobody down here in Savannah-town that likes these damned gnats!! They get in your nose and eyes and are most bothersome...wish we could send them all up North and bother them Yankees.
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