Posted on 03/12/2016 2:34:07 PM PST by skyman
FOSTER CITY (KPIX 5) – A Bay Area man said he is struggling to pay his legal fees after a home intruder he shot filed a lawsuit against him.
Joe Balistreri could hardly believe an intruder sued him for negligent use of a handgun. “That is my biggest issue, our judicial system allows these people to have the right to try to sue,” he told KPIX 5.
Balistreri said he was merely protecting his family. “I had no choice given the circumstances,” he said.
On March 24, 2012, his family was spending the night at his parents’ home in Foster City. At 4:15 a.m., a noise woke him up.
“I heard the noise coming from the front door. I heard clicking, rattling of the door handle,” he recalled. “I woke up my father, told him someone’s trying to break into your house, where’s your gun?”
Balistreri said the intruder did not stop at the front door. He jumped the fence, made his way around the back of the house, through a side door and into the garage, left unlocked.
“This guy is now in my house,” he recalled.
In the dark home, Balistreri came face-to-face with the 6’4” intruder and fired three shots.
But here’s the catch, the plaintiff said he was intoxicated and thought he was walking into his friend’s house.
“There was no knocking, there was no announcement, there was no nothing,” Balistreri said.
Months after the incident, there was a civil suit.
In the end, the judge sided with Balistreri. With mounting legal fees, he launched a GoFundMe account in hopes of once and for all paying off his debt and putting that horrific night behind him.
“This guy put a huge burden on my shoulders,” Balistreri said.
Prosecutors didn’t file charges in the case. Since the shooting happened at Balistreri’s parents’ house, their homeowner’s insurance covered only their legal fees, not his.
Burden is not on the homeowner to know what is in the intruders mind.
Never has been. It is what the homeowner believes to be going on, and the responses he gets, if any, from the intruder.
Burden on the jackass to make sure it is the right house. If that was what actually was going on, to which I have doubt.
You are probably right.
Double-tap?
The rule in California is if you shoot him make sure he is dead and has a knife in his hand. No witness and clearly self defense.
If not for the lawsuit, I’d feel sorry for a poor, drunk, moron getting shot when he didn’t even know he was in the wrong house (if that’s true, and I’m not confident it is). With the lawsuit, I wish he’d been killed, even if he really was just drunk. I despise frivolous lawsuits, and breaking into a home makes any subsequent lawsuit frivolous.
He should counter sue for trespassing, aggravation, making him fear for his life etc.
Government protecting its peeps
Know what’s crazy?
Also in Foster City this same thing almost happened to my friend: he was drunk and trying to get in my home and instead tried to break into my neighbor’s home, which was identical. They were condos. Understandable.
Years later in Houston a guy tried for several minutes to jiggle my apartment’s doorknob. I just stood there with my gun, looking thru the viewhole. He did not behave like a criminal, and expressed frustration that my door was not opening.
He thought it was HIS door.
you ass
shut your pie hole
My, you are really on top of things. Took you a couple of days to come up with that erudite comment. Been busy redistributing other people’s money?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.