And the follow up, also from thederrick.com
Lore jury delivers not guilty verdict
By ERIN SCHATTAUER
While the defendant and his family feel relief, the slain man's relatives are outraged.
A Venango County jury deliberated just over an hour Wednesday afternoon before delivering a not guilty verdict in the case of a Sandycreek Township resident accused of shooting a man he said was trying to break into his home on a September morning in 2006.
"Thank God!" Rodger Lore exclaimed after the verdict was read.
His wife, Peggy, wept.
On the other side of a crowded courtroom, David Scott Kirkpatrick's mother, Debbie, doubled over in her seat, sobbing loudly, then rushed through the room's back door.
The verdict came as a surprise to Kirkpatrick's family and friends who had gathered, some with tissues in hand, to hear the trial's outcome.
"What kind of justice is this?" demanded Juanita Kuhns, Kirkpatrick's grandmother. "This boy's life was taken."
"Our hearts are broke. My daughter has lost her only son," she said.
But for the other family affected by the case, the jury's verdict was a relief.
Fellow teachers, church goers, friends, the Lores' children and other family members cried tears of joy and embraced one another after the verdict was read.
Lore, a 68-year-old retired biology teacher, was on trial for involuntary manslaughter and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Kirkpatrick, a Polk Cutoff Road resident.
There was no doubt Lore shot Kirkpatrick. Jurors, though, had to decide if the shooting was justified.
Taking the stand in his own defense Tuesday, Lore admitted he loaded five bullets into a .22 caliber revolver in the early morning hours of Sept. 23, 2006, and fired two of them through a closed and locked door at the man standing on his back porch.
Lore and his wife were awakened around 3:30 a.m. that day to find someone "pounding and kicking" at their door, Lore testified. Fearing the person was armed, Lore retrieved the revolver from his bedroom dresser drawer and fired a "warning" shot at the man. When the man still didn't stop pounding on the door, he fired a second shot.
The first shot grazed Kirkpatrick's scalp. The second shot, which Lore said was meant to hit the man in the shoulder, entered Kirkpatrick's neck, traveled through his body and entered his right lung, fatally wounding him.
Kirkpatrick died as state police troopers, who arrived almost immediately after the shooting, tried to administer CPR.
No one may ever know what Kirkpatrick was doing at the Pittsburgh Road residence that morning. He had missed two rides from the Airways Lounge, which is located a short distance from the Lores' home.
One of those rides was from his father who testified Friday. John Kirkpatrick said he went to the Airways Lounge at 1:30 a.m. that day to retrieve his son, but could not find him and left. After leaving, he parked his tractor trailer at a nearby fruit stand where he often parked overnight while in Franklin. The stand is located across the street from the Lores' home.
Whatever 28-year-old Kirkpatrick was doing at 1436 Pittsburgh Road that morning, Lore remains confident that the man was trying to get into his house.
In his closing remarks, Lore's attorney, Robert Varsek, said his client never meant to kill the potential intruder.
"If he wanted to kill him he would have done it with the first shot," Varsek said.
Lore acted in self defense and was justified in his actions, according to Varsek.
"The adage your home is your castle, it means something here in Venango County and everywhere else," Varsek said.
"Don't think for one minute that he had to run away and hide in his own house," Varsek said. "You shouldn't have to languish with criminal punishment for defending your house and defending your family."
Although he agreed a person does not have to retreat when he is in his home, assistant district attorney William Martin argued that Lore's decision to use deadly force in this situation was not reasonable.
"You have to look at whether he or Mrs. Lore was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury," Martin told jurors in his closing remarks.
Martin said that at no time did Lore make his presence known to Kirkpatrick. He never told him he had a gun. He never told him the police had been called. He never turned on any lights.
"The bottom line is Mr. Kirkpatrick never gained entry to that home. He's outside the entire time," Martin said.
Kirkpatrick never verbally threatened the Lores, Martin added. Also, if Kirkpatrick had wanted to gain entry to the home, he could have done it secretively without drawing the Lores' attention or by breaking a window, but he didn't, Martin pointed out.
Lore was the initial aggressor in the situation, not Kirkpatrick, Martin said.
"Mr. Lore picked up the gun and introduced deadly force into this situation," Martin said.
In the end, it was the jury's job to decide if the shooting was justified.
With three days of testimony and evidence to consider, jurors began deliberating at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. A little over an hour later they returned to announce the verdict before President Judge Oliver J. Lobaugh.
About 70 people, including family and friends, attorneys and court personnel, filled courtroom benches and chairs to hear Wednesday's verdict.
Her voice hurried, the jury foreman read the verdict.
After the second "not guilty" was announced, the courtroom erupted.
"I can't believe this!" cried one of Kirkpatrick's supporters.
"You've got to be kidding," said another.
On the other side of the room, supporters of the Lore family embraced.
Although he was acquitted, the morning of Sept. 23, 2006, will forever haunt him, according to Lore.
"I think about it every day," he said. "It shouldn't have happened."
The Lores have lived at 1436 Pittsburgh Road, Sandycreek Township for 10 years, Lore said. He has no intention of moving, but his wife still won't stay in the house alone, he said.
Lore expressed his sorrow Wednesday for the Kirkpatrick family.
"I have great remorse for the Kirkpatricks, but if their son hadn't been breaking into my house, he wouldn't be dead."
