Sutherlin man who shot intruder (inside home) sentenced to 19 months

nrtoday.com ^ | 8/8/2009 | Staff

[Red in Blue PA]

Smith walked in through the unlocked door and was unbuckling his pants and taking off his shoes when Cramer's wife, Christy, found the man, Stoll said. Smith then laid down on the couch and went to sleep, she said.

Christy Cramer went into the master bedroom with her daughter and locked the door. The pair then left the house through a back door in the bedroom, Stoll said.

Christy Cramer picked her husband up at the nearby bar and took him home. All three entered the home but could not get into the bedroom where guns were located because the door was locked from the inside, so Christy Cramer and the young girl went to the car and called police, Stoll said.

Meanwhile, Cramer went around the outside of the house to the back door, grabbed a gun and re-entered the living room, Stoll said. Cramer woke a sleeping Smith with the butt of his gun and a verbal argument ensued, she said. At some point, Smith reached toward Cramer, Stoll said.

“We don't know if he was reaching at the gun or at his shoes, which were over there too,” she said.

Cramer said he believed Smith was reaching for the gun and shot the man in the chest, Stoll said. Smith never left the couch, she said.

“He was totally and completely on the couch,” Stoll said. “His feet were up. He was only able to get up on an elbow.”

Cramer had said early on that he was acting in self-defense when he shot Smith. Stoll said the law does not allow people to use deadly force, even in their own homes, unless the intruder is committing a felony. The state believed Smith's only crime was trespassing, which is not a felony, Stoll said.

[Shooter 2.5]

Monthly IDPA matches are a great help. The qualifier is a twice a year match that allows you to learn the basics. The monthly matches are the ones that sharpen your combat skills with real life incidences.

One of the most important things I learned from IDPA is the use of hard cover as apposed to standing in the open and shooting. Someone wrote an article and he bragged his previous experiences had allowed him the skills to win the IDPA match. He claimed he had won the match by reloading as he ran to the next cover thereby eliminating reload time.

IDPA does not allow reloading on the move. All reloads have to be made from behind cover.

[Uncle Miltie]

Slightly North of Roseburg, Oregon. West of the Cascades, slightly South of the center of the state.

Excellent Steelhead fishing up the North Umpqua there.

[Cuttnhorse]

I’d like to get involved in IDPA...nothing like it where I live.

The course I took was a one-day course, but we shot 400-rds of ammo. We shot a lot, and did all the jam drills, reloading, multiple targets, shooting on the move and behind cover. Small class, so a lot of individual attention. I will go back if I can...70% of the people in the class were repeats. It made me want to do more and do some competive shooting.

[ColdWater]

Agree, but using the line above, if two thugs kick in your door with guns in their hands and are just standing there, they have not yet committed a felony per se, so it is not okay to shoot them under the law they are citing?

I don't know which state laws you are referring to but it looks like they have already committed multiple felonies to me.

[awake-n-angry]

“grab a kitchen knife, put it in the guy’s hand and claim self-defense. Law abiding citizens are at the mercy of their leftist masters...”
____________

Yeah, you’re just oozing honesty and ethics.

“Law abiding citizens” is a list that does not contain your name.

[Freedom2specul8]

They could have got the police there before the guy woke up..@ least 100 times. Sometimes, you just go “what”?

[j_tull]

Christy Cramer and the young girl went to the car and called police, Stoll said.

And where were the police while this very slowly developing crime was taking place? No mention in the article as to the delay between call and arrival. I have my theory, but would probably be banned for voicing it.