Vern Smalley
Member
Vern Smalley replies to fraudulent stories.
I found this forum just a few days ago when I was web surfing, and was surprised to find that a fraudulent story about me was posted by DevilDog on July 20, 2004. The story was about how I allegedly had road rage and intentionally killed a teenager with my handgun. I’d like to tell you what actually happened because there are lessons in it for all of us. If you are going to travel with a firearm readily accessible in your car or with you on your motorcycle or pack it concealed, you would be wise to be aware of these lessons.
The following is an actual, real-life story. There is no fiction here. You will not be able to confirm it by going back to read news media coverage because everything published was fabricated, concocted and invented by liars who make their wages by writing stories that people want to hear about. People who lived in Colorado Springs (or Colorado, for that matter) were saturated with disinformation courtesy of the news media, hearsay and rumors, You can go back to my trial transcripts that are recorded at the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but unfortunately they charge for access. Or you can read the following and take it for what it’s worth.
On the morning of April 21, 1993 in Colorado Springs, I encountered a teenager who was racing his two buddies to breakfast, each in their own car. Carmine Tagliere III was 17 years old, had been banned from two Colorado Springs shopping malls for fist fighting, had been suspended from high school for fist fighting, had a police record for threatening another boy with a pistol, had a reputation at his high school as a bully, had a community reputation for violence, and was then trying to force my car off the road because I was in his way. I was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and retired chief scientist in long-range space system planning. I had an extensive array of top-level security clearances through the Department of Defense as well as with a highly-classified office. I had been on an Air Force pistol and rifle team, and was a life-time hunter. I had absolutely no criminal record.
After his trying to force my car off the road and into a thirty-foot-deep rock-walled canyon where I could have been killed, I regained the lead on the highway. Thinking about how he tried to kill me by forcing my car off the road, I decided to talk to him, not knowing who he was. I pointed to the side of the road, stopped my car, rolled down my window and prepared to bawl him out. When he exited his car, he ran toward mine with fists clenched. I remained seated in my car, with my seat belt on. I immediately got out my loaded .357-Magnum revolver (a SS Ruger Security-Six) which I kept legally concealed in my glove compartment, placed it in my lap and prepared to use it if I saw any sign of a weapon on him. I saw none.
Tagliere was 100% out of control with rage. He shook as he screamed profanities at me through clenched teeth, spitting through his teeth. I saw I needed to get out of there fast, and looked away as I restarted my car. He stepped forward and, according to the testimonies of two eye witnesses who were passing in a nearby truck, struck me in my left temple four or five times, walked away from my car a few steps, then returned and, putting the upper half of his body inside my car, started hitting again. I was hit a total of five or six times in my left temple, according to their account. His first blow to my left temple was a knock-out blow that broke my glasses. One of the eye witnesses saw my head recoiling from the blows as he did his best to kill me. A photograph later released by his parents showed him as a wrestler in high school, wearing a leather head guard, so I am quite positive he knew the dangers of hitting someone in their temple. There is no doubt he did his best to kill me twice that day.
Unfortunately for him, his first set of blows knocked me over so I was leaning onto the passenger seat, and my revolver, which was still in my lap, was aimed at my open car window. When he came back and stuck his upper body into my car window, he struck me once again in my brain. This time he caused what was technically known as an “interlimb-interaction,” and the theory is that entire right side of my body involuntarily convulsed. I was unconscious, but my right hand fired my revolver double action. Actually, I have no knowledge of what happened, but this is what we think happened.
The bullet did not “blow his heart away,” as falsely claimed by the news media. The bullet hit him about 4" above and to the left of his heart, blew away his subclavian artery, broke two ribs and punctured the upper lobe of his left lung. He bled directly from the artery into his lung. He withdrew from my car window, ran about 50 feet from my car and collapsed, blowing out blood all the way.
One of his buddies, his best friend, invented innumerable “incorrect” statements of what happened, and since he claimed to be an eye witness of the whole event, I was immediately charged with Second Degree Murder without further investigation. Actually, the NAACP was partly responsible for that, but that is another story. All of what the best friend said was shown to be untruthful. Contrary to his allegation, it was also proven in court by the police that he changed the crime scene to mitigate the circumstances. Fortunately, honest people saw Tagliere try to kill me and they testified as such.
After a very short deliberation of a few hours, I was acquitted of Second Degree Murder and Negligent Homicide in a criminal trial that attracted national media attention in December, 1993. My jury called my attorney to the deliberation room after the trial and told him that all twelve would have done what I did. It was a deadly situation, and I behaved the best I knew how.
Throughout this experience, the news media reporters invented, concocted and fabricated one fraudulent story after another, all with the prompting of three men who had interest in providing disinformation. There was not one single newspaper account that wasn’t prejudiced against me. Since the shooting happened in a military town and I was a retired officer, I was fair game for their fraudulent reporting. The accounts I saw on TV were so totally skewed and erroneous, I couldn’t even recognize they were talking about me except when my name was occasionally mentioned. Based on their lies, I was the topic of two national TV reports and at least one book that I know of. No doubt I was the topic of discussion with gun packers everywhere, with numerous “uninformed citizens” voicing their outrage of my alleged behavior in the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper. That, of course, increased circulation and made the publisher richer — at my expense.
Following my acquittal of all charges, it was my turn. I wrote a letter to the Gazette publisher acquainting him with facts that were part of court record and how they differed with what was printed. Within one week the editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette Newspaper, Dan Griswold, published his notice of departing, and two weeks after that he was gone. The two reporters that caused most of the problem, Kathryn Sosbe and Marcus Montoya, departed soon thereafter, I hope in response to my letters to them and their fellow reporters.
The chief prosecutor in the DA’s office was Bill Aspinwall, a fellow who was successful in prosecuting over 20 cases, and who routinely pulled dirty tricks in and out of the courtroom. Aspinwall liked seeing his photo in the newspaper and being quoted by reporters, so he was quite free with his condemnations. Since I was acquitted of all charges, my letter to the Grievance Committee of the Colorado Supreme Court could not be interpreted as sour grapes and ignored. When they notified Aspinwall that they were considering investigating him, the DA told him that he would be fired if they did investigate. They did so and Bill Aspinwall moved immediately to private practice, thanks to yours truly. The era of disinformation to the news media courtesy of Bill Aspinwall was over (fair comment).
I was also instrumental in getting the life membership of Colorado chairman of the NAACP, James Tucker, revoked. He got booted because the NAACP threatened a race riot in Colorado Springs if I wasn’t charged with Second Degree Murder, as was one of their black brothers about 13 months earlier.
The shooting incident attracted national attention based on the distorted views of reporters who got to see their creations on the front pages and above the fold line. Three reporters working for U.S. News and World Report picked up the distortions and wrote an article titled “Road Rage.” I wrote a stinging letter to the editor and he published a letter written by my daughter the following September with his regrets for the error (my letter was too insulting to be shared with the public). You can read the article by Googling “Vern Smalley.” You might note that the article was written by a lowlife named Warren Cohen (fair comment) who was fired by U.S. News, and is published on his own website in retaliation for my getting him fired.
About the time of my incident, a 15-year old was convicted for murdering his two abusive parents, following which I was found innocent. This upset Mary Ellen Johnson so much, she wrote a book titled “The Murder of Jacob” which is still for sale on the internet. The paragraph posted on this forum by DevilDog came from her book. It’s all a bunch of invented garbage, but after living in Colorado Springs for 17 years and being married to a psychologist, I am firmly convinced that Mary Ellen Johnson is ill (fair comment) with the same malady that affects many Colorado Springs residents. It’s a cultural thing wherein people look for ways to degrade others to make themselves look good. By pushing others down, you are artificially elevated and feel better about yourself. If you want to read more about this, look at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). I now live in Montana and the culture here is far different.
You might think that if the news media should invent garbage about you in your shooting incident, all you have to do is sue them. Wrong thinking. The news media is not responsible for presenting facts as you and I would know them. They present “impressions.” I went to two Colorado Springs lawyers to file suit against the liars in the news media, and each lawyer wanted one million dollars up front. They both said that was how much money it would take to win a law suit and prove that the “impressions” were malicious. Unless you have that kind of money (I didn’t) all you can do is suck it up.
Perhaps the biggest lesson I learned is that you might think at the time that you are doing the right thing in using your handgun, as I did. But things can go to hell in an instant, and you can’t set back the clock. Don’t expect people to understand what actually happened. Nearly all people believe what some scumbag reporter writes, and you are completely at their mercy.
Do not fantasize about pulling out your weapon and blowing away the bad guy unless your life is in immediate danger. If there is time and the situation warrants, point your gun at the dirtbag and yell “Back off or I will kill you!” or something like that. If it goes that far, you had better have solid proof that your life was in danger, and no, your word is not good enough. If it winds up with your word being against his in court, you will probably be charged with Malicious Assault With a Weapon, or something similar.
If you are able to do so, use your weapon as a club and strike your assailant on his head. Do it hard and try to knock some sense into him. Remember that once you pull the trigger, it’s a whole new world, one that you will not be able to control. You can comfort yourself that you are still alive, but you want to be sure that you aren’t behind bars. You’ll need plenty of evidence that you did the right thing. I was lucky, and six eye-witnesses stepped forward and saw Tagliere try to kill me those two times. You might not need six witnesses but you will definitely need solid proof that will stand up in court.
Whatever you do, stay at the scene and surrender yourself and your weapon as soon as the police arrive. You should expect to be handcuffed and taken to a police station for questioning. I was read my Miranda Rights and I waived them. I told the police everything I could remember, in spite of my mild closed head injury. As a result, I had a wonderful relationship with the police and sheriff’s department that continues to this day. I had their fullest support, including their keeping me separate from the criminals being detained (I never spent one second behind bars) and defending me in court. Of course, lawyers tell you to not say anything unless they are present. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t now. As a result, my lawyer used the fact that I disclosed everything to the police as evidence that I was a good person.
I hope the above helps all packers.
Vern Smalley
I found this forum just a few days ago when I was web surfing, and was surprised to find that a fraudulent story about me was posted by DevilDog on July 20, 2004. The story was about how I allegedly had road rage and intentionally killed a teenager with my handgun. I’d like to tell you what actually happened because there are lessons in it for all of us. If you are going to travel with a firearm readily accessible in your car or with you on your motorcycle or pack it concealed, you would be wise to be aware of these lessons.
The following is an actual, real-life story. There is no fiction here. You will not be able to confirm it by going back to read news media coverage because everything published was fabricated, concocted and invented by liars who make their wages by writing stories that people want to hear about. People who lived in Colorado Springs (or Colorado, for that matter) were saturated with disinformation courtesy of the news media, hearsay and rumors, You can go back to my trial transcripts that are recorded at the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but unfortunately they charge for access. Or you can read the following and take it for what it’s worth.
On the morning of April 21, 1993 in Colorado Springs, I encountered a teenager who was racing his two buddies to breakfast, each in their own car. Carmine Tagliere III was 17 years old, had been banned from two Colorado Springs shopping malls for fist fighting, had been suspended from high school for fist fighting, had a police record for threatening another boy with a pistol, had a reputation at his high school as a bully, had a community reputation for violence, and was then trying to force my car off the road because I was in his way. I was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and retired chief scientist in long-range space system planning. I had an extensive array of top-level security clearances through the Department of Defense as well as with a highly-classified office. I had been on an Air Force pistol and rifle team, and was a life-time hunter. I had absolutely no criminal record.
After his trying to force my car off the road and into a thirty-foot-deep rock-walled canyon where I could have been killed, I regained the lead on the highway. Thinking about how he tried to kill me by forcing my car off the road, I decided to talk to him, not knowing who he was. I pointed to the side of the road, stopped my car, rolled down my window and prepared to bawl him out. When he exited his car, he ran toward mine with fists clenched. I remained seated in my car, with my seat belt on. I immediately got out my loaded .357-Magnum revolver (a SS Ruger Security-Six) which I kept legally concealed in my glove compartment, placed it in my lap and prepared to use it if I saw any sign of a weapon on him. I saw none.
Tagliere was 100% out of control with rage. He shook as he screamed profanities at me through clenched teeth, spitting through his teeth. I saw I needed to get out of there fast, and looked away as I restarted my car. He stepped forward and, according to the testimonies of two eye witnesses who were passing in a nearby truck, struck me in my left temple four or five times, walked away from my car a few steps, then returned and, putting the upper half of his body inside my car, started hitting again. I was hit a total of five or six times in my left temple, according to their account. His first blow to my left temple was a knock-out blow that broke my glasses. One of the eye witnesses saw my head recoiling from the blows as he did his best to kill me. A photograph later released by his parents showed him as a wrestler in high school, wearing a leather head guard, so I am quite positive he knew the dangers of hitting someone in their temple. There is no doubt he did his best to kill me twice that day.
Unfortunately for him, his first set of blows knocked me over so I was leaning onto the passenger seat, and my revolver, which was still in my lap, was aimed at my open car window. When he came back and stuck his upper body into my car window, he struck me once again in my brain. This time he caused what was technically known as an “interlimb-interaction,” and the theory is that entire right side of my body involuntarily convulsed. I was unconscious, but my right hand fired my revolver double action. Actually, I have no knowledge of what happened, but this is what we think happened.
The bullet did not “blow his heart away,” as falsely claimed by the news media. The bullet hit him about 4" above and to the left of his heart, blew away his subclavian artery, broke two ribs and punctured the upper lobe of his left lung. He bled directly from the artery into his lung. He withdrew from my car window, ran about 50 feet from my car and collapsed, blowing out blood all the way.
One of his buddies, his best friend, invented innumerable “incorrect” statements of what happened, and since he claimed to be an eye witness of the whole event, I was immediately charged with Second Degree Murder without further investigation. Actually, the NAACP was partly responsible for that, but that is another story. All of what the best friend said was shown to be untruthful. Contrary to his allegation, it was also proven in court by the police that he changed the crime scene to mitigate the circumstances. Fortunately, honest people saw Tagliere try to kill me and they testified as such.
After a very short deliberation of a few hours, I was acquitted of Second Degree Murder and Negligent Homicide in a criminal trial that attracted national media attention in December, 1993. My jury called my attorney to the deliberation room after the trial and told him that all twelve would have done what I did. It was a deadly situation, and I behaved the best I knew how.
Throughout this experience, the news media reporters invented, concocted and fabricated one fraudulent story after another, all with the prompting of three men who had interest in providing disinformation. There was not one single newspaper account that wasn’t prejudiced against me. Since the shooting happened in a military town and I was a retired officer, I was fair game for their fraudulent reporting. The accounts I saw on TV were so totally skewed and erroneous, I couldn’t even recognize they were talking about me except when my name was occasionally mentioned. Based on their lies, I was the topic of two national TV reports and at least one book that I know of. No doubt I was the topic of discussion with gun packers everywhere, with numerous “uninformed citizens” voicing their outrage of my alleged behavior in the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper. That, of course, increased circulation and made the publisher richer — at my expense.
Following my acquittal of all charges, it was my turn. I wrote a letter to the Gazette publisher acquainting him with facts that were part of court record and how they differed with what was printed. Within one week the editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette Newspaper, Dan Griswold, published his notice of departing, and two weeks after that he was gone. The two reporters that caused most of the problem, Kathryn Sosbe and Marcus Montoya, departed soon thereafter, I hope in response to my letters to them and their fellow reporters.
The chief prosecutor in the DA’s office was Bill Aspinwall, a fellow who was successful in prosecuting over 20 cases, and who routinely pulled dirty tricks in and out of the courtroom. Aspinwall liked seeing his photo in the newspaper and being quoted by reporters, so he was quite free with his condemnations. Since I was acquitted of all charges, my letter to the Grievance Committee of the Colorado Supreme Court could not be interpreted as sour grapes and ignored. When they notified Aspinwall that they were considering investigating him, the DA told him that he would be fired if they did investigate. They did so and Bill Aspinwall moved immediately to private practice, thanks to yours truly. The era of disinformation to the news media courtesy of Bill Aspinwall was over (fair comment).
I was also instrumental in getting the life membership of Colorado chairman of the NAACP, James Tucker, revoked. He got booted because the NAACP threatened a race riot in Colorado Springs if I wasn’t charged with Second Degree Murder, as was one of their black brothers about 13 months earlier.
The shooting incident attracted national attention based on the distorted views of reporters who got to see their creations on the front pages and above the fold line. Three reporters working for U.S. News and World Report picked up the distortions and wrote an article titled “Road Rage.” I wrote a stinging letter to the editor and he published a letter written by my daughter the following September with his regrets for the error (my letter was too insulting to be shared with the public). You can read the article by Googling “Vern Smalley.” You might note that the article was written by a lowlife named Warren Cohen (fair comment) who was fired by U.S. News, and is published on his own website in retaliation for my getting him fired.
About the time of my incident, a 15-year old was convicted for murdering his two abusive parents, following which I was found innocent. This upset Mary Ellen Johnson so much, she wrote a book titled “The Murder of Jacob” which is still for sale on the internet. The paragraph posted on this forum by DevilDog came from her book. It’s all a bunch of invented garbage, but after living in Colorado Springs for 17 years and being married to a psychologist, I am firmly convinced that Mary Ellen Johnson is ill (fair comment) with the same malady that affects many Colorado Springs residents. It’s a cultural thing wherein people look for ways to degrade others to make themselves look good. By pushing others down, you are artificially elevated and feel better about yourself. If you want to read more about this, look at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). I now live in Montana and the culture here is far different.
You might think that if the news media should invent garbage about you in your shooting incident, all you have to do is sue them. Wrong thinking. The news media is not responsible for presenting facts as you and I would know them. They present “impressions.” I went to two Colorado Springs lawyers to file suit against the liars in the news media, and each lawyer wanted one million dollars up front. They both said that was how much money it would take to win a law suit and prove that the “impressions” were malicious. Unless you have that kind of money (I didn’t) all you can do is suck it up.
Perhaps the biggest lesson I learned is that you might think at the time that you are doing the right thing in using your handgun, as I did. But things can go to hell in an instant, and you can’t set back the clock. Don’t expect people to understand what actually happened. Nearly all people believe what some scumbag reporter writes, and you are completely at their mercy.
Do not fantasize about pulling out your weapon and blowing away the bad guy unless your life is in immediate danger. If there is time and the situation warrants, point your gun at the dirtbag and yell “Back off or I will kill you!” or something like that. If it goes that far, you had better have solid proof that your life was in danger, and no, your word is not good enough. If it winds up with your word being against his in court, you will probably be charged with Malicious Assault With a Weapon, or something similar.
If you are able to do so, use your weapon as a club and strike your assailant on his head. Do it hard and try to knock some sense into him. Remember that once you pull the trigger, it’s a whole new world, one that you will not be able to control. You can comfort yourself that you are still alive, but you want to be sure that you aren’t behind bars. You’ll need plenty of evidence that you did the right thing. I was lucky, and six eye-witnesses stepped forward and saw Tagliere try to kill me those two times. You might not need six witnesses but you will definitely need solid proof that will stand up in court.
Whatever you do, stay at the scene and surrender yourself and your weapon as soon as the police arrive. You should expect to be handcuffed and taken to a police station for questioning. I was read my Miranda Rights and I waived them. I told the police everything I could remember, in spite of my mild closed head injury. As a result, I had a wonderful relationship with the police and sheriff’s department that continues to this day. I had their fullest support, including their keeping me separate from the criminals being detained (I never spent one second behind bars) and defending me in court. Of course, lawyers tell you to not say anything unless they are present. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t now. As a result, my lawyer used the fact that I disclosed everything to the police as evidence that I was a good person.
I hope the above helps all packers.
Vern Smalley
