Posted on 08/02/2007 10:03:39 AM PDT by Serious Capitalist
BENTONVILLE -- The father of a 17-year-old girl found his daughter's boyfriend hiding inside her bedroom closet Tuesday, beat him bloody with a pool stick, then left the room to fetch a gun. The daughter and boyfriend blocked the door with a dresser, so the father shot through the closed door, hitting the boyfriend in the back and paralyzing him, police said.
George David Reed, 48, posted a $150,000 bond and was freed from jail Wednesday afternoon as Michael Austin Guzman, 19, underwent surgery to treat a bullet lodged in his spinal cord.
Three of Guzman's vertebrae are fractured and doctors don't expect him to regain feeling or mobility below his waist, according to a probable cause affidavit released Wednesday after Reed's bond hearing. He was still in surgery Wednesday evening in Joplin's Freeman Health System, according to an intensive care nurse.
Benton County Circuit Judge Xollie Duncan set the bond Wednesday based on a request from Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Wilkinson. Reed was arrested on suspicion of a felony terroristic act, the most serious type of felony aside from capital murder, punishable by up to life in prison. He was also arrested on a charge of felony first-degree battery.
Defense attorney W.H. Taylor, who spent the morning consulting with his client at the jail, did not object to the bond. Reed is to be arraigned Sept. 10 before Circuit Judge David Clinger.
Taylor said that Reed has three children and lives with his wife, Sharon, at 13569 Vaughn Road near Highfill. Reed has been in Northwest Arkansas since 1962, owns a farm and rental properties, and has operated a moving and storage business since 1983.
(Excerpt) Read more at nwaonline.com ...
My mother cursed me to have to raise a teen just as stubborn and hellraising as I was once. Sure enough, my teenage daughter has the same mindset I did as a teen. Boy, are my hands full. So far, so good. But it keeps me busy.
I saw many different ages for the age of consent in Arkansas so I just used the oldest.
Oh well, to each their own right? I don't think I would have shot the guy. I would have preferred to use whatever legal means are available to destroy the punks life, so that I could be around for the next punk.
Oh, Gawd. Not going to get into marital property and all that -- having enough trouble with deadly force. Will just say this much: You're wife's ability to invite people into your house has NOTHING to do with whether or not you deigned to put her name on the deed. UNLESS you bought the house COMPLETELY with pre-marital money OR you have a prenup and you keep all your funds separate from hers, she STILL has an ownership interest in the house. And even if she has no ownership interest, she is at LEAST a tenant, in which case she has the right to invite guests and you as the owner/landlord CANNOT tell her who she can and can't invite. It's been that way for, oh, about 100 years in this country. Sheesh.
I’m with you on this that the dad went nuts and should be punished. I’m wondering though if the dad could use as his defense that he told the guy to get out and instead Guzman barricaded himself in his daughters room. Could he say that he was fearful for his daughter’s safety and was trying to blast his way into the room to free her?
Either could be true and both have a motivation to lie.
Either that, or perhaps the kid was scrambling about, trying to gain some purchase, and he inadvertently kicked the old man. It's perfectly plausible. That the old man was loaded for bear and spoiling for a fight at the get go is obvious . . . the very first thing he did was arm himself with a pool cue.
But, the father's criminal action in shooting him are not open to dispute.
Use of deadly force (which the father did TWICE), is regulated by statute in most states.
A prerequisite is that a person must have fear of imminent serious bodily harm or death.
Getting kicked in the shins a couple times don’t cut it.
This guy is NUTS. I hope he does a good many years in jail, this kid will never walk again. Shocking.
Generally not. Although a different analysis might be needed, it gets to the same result. Maritial property law trumps whose name is on the deed, unless a pre-nup trumps that, in which case you go to landlord/tenant -- which still gets you to the same place.
The guy already beat him pretty good with a pool cue. You ever been on the receiving end of one of those? I had a friend get real "badass" with a kid about half his size one time in a pool hall. He shoved the kid and accused him of ripping him off on some marijuana. The kid tried to walk away and my friend came after him. he just chucked the cue up about half way, pivoted and POW. It looked like he was dead. His head bounced off the floor. One eye straight ahead, one crazy cocked off to the right. If this kid took a beating with a pool cue, that was enough, even if he was stupid enough to attack the girl's old man. We are not exactly talking about Polly Pure here, on the daughter's part, either.
Bounce the kid out on his *ss, give him a few souvenirs to remind him, let him see what a shotgun looks like? Sure. No problem.
This shooting thru the door stuff was just the dad being out of control. He is gonna pay for it, too. Even if he gets off on the criminal charges, there are civil charges. Even if he skates on BOTH of those, he will have legal bills that will break him for life.
There are no winners in this story.
Not necessarily. Proportionality. You are entitled to use whatever force is required to protect yourself - but no more. Vengeance is not a viable defense.
Indeed I did. My wife's an attorney - I'm familiar with these issues.
And even if she has no ownership interest, she is at LEAST a tenant, in which case she has the right to invite guests and you as the owner/landlord CANNOT tell her who she can and can't invite.
Aha - and how does one's spouse's tenancy differ from one's child's?
The scenario you paint is TOTALLY different from the situation we have been discussing. Of course you have the authority to boot the kids out, but that does NOT make them intruders.
Shooting through a closed door...
How did he know he wasn't going to hit his daughter?
*shiver*
I'm saving this one for my son to read...
I guess, but I'm not sure how much legal protection that would really afford him.
Even if Mr. Guzman and the daughter and he all agreed that Mr. Guzman walked up to him and punched him in the face before he even said or did anything, it wouldn't get him off the hook for what he did after he retrieved the firearm.
Now can I call you Dad?
No bullet hole in the door makes it an accidental shooting.
___________
So the gun fired itself.
Just like those SUVs plowing into people at a bus stop. No human actions involved.
Sorry. I call crock.
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