Homeowner Shoots and Kills Neighbor Turned Home Invader

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Based on the details reported so far, this is a solidly good self-defense with a gun. But I don't get it. Can a guy who is kicking down the door of his neighbor's house, after sending threatening texts and calls, expect to meet anything other than a loaded gun on the inside?

Love makes people go crazy, I guess. :uhoh:

Too bad the brother couldn't stop the lunatic. I gotta feel sorry for the brother in this case. He had some level of opportunity to stop it but failed to do so.



Neighbor killed after threats, home invasion
BY MICHELLE BRADFORD

Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008

A Prairie Creek resident shot and killed a neighbor who had kicked in his door Tuesday evening and tried to assault him, police said.

Johnny Hawthorne shot Mekin Kantaphone with a handgun once in the head in self-defense inside Hawthorne’s home, Benton County sheriff’s Capt. Mike Sydoriak said.

The prosecuting attorney’s office will decide whether the shooting was justified, Sydoriak said.

Kantaphone, 34, sent threatening text and voice messages to Hawthorne, 25, earlier in the day, he said.

“He was threatening to beat him and kill him,” Sydoriak said.

“There was certainly that assumption by the deceased that there was a relationship between the shooter and the deceased’s wife,” said Benton County sheriff’s deputy Doug Gay. “Whether there is any validity to that remains under investigation.” Kantaphone was a weight lifter who was much larger than Hawthorne, Sydoriak said. Kantaphone recently worked as a mechanic for American Airlines. He exercised regularly at World Gym in Bentonville.

“He was in here every day, always happy and friendly,” said Travis, a World Gym employee who wouldn’t give his last name.

On Tuesday evening, Kantaphone and his brother, Ole Kantaphone, drove to Hawthorne’s home at 8549 Wild Cherry Drive.

Ole Kantaphone tried to stop his brother from going to the door, but he wouldn’t listen, Sydoriak said.

“He tried to reason with him and stop him, but he couldn’t hold him back,” Sydoriak said.

Police got a 911 call about the shooting at 6: 40 p.m.

Sydoriak said Mekin Kantaphone lived in the neighborhood but he didn’t have the address.

His body has been sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for an autopsy.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/230891/
 
I hope for his sake the guy wasn't reading bible lessons with the decedent's wife. Most prosecutors take a very, very dim view of this...
 
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I hope for his sake the guy wasn't tapping the decedent's wife. Most prosecutors take a very, very dim view of this...
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Whether or not the guy was having an affair with Kantaphone's wife is irrelevant. You have a raging nitwit (have to use that term, seriously, the guy didnt expect to get shot after rampaging into someone's home) who busts in and gets shot. End of story, along with evidence to back it up. They guy was basing his rampage on "assumption by the deceased that there was a relationship between the shooter and the deceased’s wife". Not a very good idea. Aggravated assault is STILL assault, regardless of the terms. A good defense attorney will overlook this and lead a good defense on the evidence shown, not "assumptions" of infidelity by a now-dead mortal coil.

Now, Jaholder, you have a STRONG STRONG arguement concept in a potentially ensueing CIVIL case though (this has held up from what I have been told in cases like this). I am more frightened of a civil matter, than a criminal one. People that tend to go off like this guy usually have a wailing mother/family/brother waiting in the wings who will beat their chest and rip out their hair in front of TV cameras over the lump of useless flesh (raging nitwit comes into mind) of a family member lying in the ground, all the while jumping for joy over the settlement money while the cameras are off and the reporters are gone. While the gym folks will say he is a good guy, that means nothing realistically. I work out with a lot of guys that are "nice" but turn out to be the biggest dinks in the world. But, their testimony is useless in a criminal case, but the only strong basis of a civil one.

This is a prime example of why one should be prepared and mostly, keep their ego to themselves. Even that one guy you "want to teach a lesson" in traffic by cutting them off after they did the same could have a gun, can follow you home and murder you in a rage. The world is becoming too packed with people not to mention (in my mind) a deterioration of the gene pool. The amount of murders due to insanity/rage is more prevalent. One must be prepared in a crazy world to combat craziness with pure insanity. But the main idea is to keep out of trouble.
 
I hope for his sake the guy wasn't tapping the decedent's wife. Most prosecutors take a very, very dim view of this...
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True, but it shouldn't change the fact that it was self-defense in his own home.
 
Did the attacker have the means and opportunity and did the defender have a reasonable fear of grave bodily harm or death?

Sounds like it may be a justified self defense shooting since the attacker had made repeated threats via text and vmail and breaking down the door both help establish means and opportunity. All together is sounds like a justified shooting.
 
I never said it was a bad shooting. Looks like clear cut SD.

What I am saying is that if there was indeed a love triangle here this guy may have a long row to hoe in the Criminal courts. Shooting your lover's husband, even in self defense, never plays well in front of a jury.
 
This is a horrible story. If your wife cheats on you, it is not the guys fault.:banghead: He does play a large part, but blame should be placed elsewhere. I do not feel that this was unjustified, I just believe this is the worst possible out come of the situation. I wish the best to the shooter, as it must be hard to have to deal with a situation such as this mentally never mind legally.
 
What I am saying is that if there was indeed a love triangle here this guy may have a long row to hoe in the Criminal courts. Shooting your lover's husband, even in self defense, never plays well in front of a jury.
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Actually I imagine it will "play" extraordinarily well in describing why he reasonably feared his life was in imminent danger. Remember the victim was in his own house at the time, presumably at least hours after the affair was discovered, and not caught in flagrante delicto with the attackers wife.

I can't fathom why you think this guy might have a tough time in the criminal courts merely because he appears to have aided the lady in commiting adultery? The 50 state standard for justifiable homicide is whether the shooter reasonably believed he is in imminent danger of losing his life or suffering great bodily injury. Can a clearer case be made than a guy who sends you messages that he intends to kill you, then comes to your home and bashes through the door?
 
dont blame the guy. guys will take most anything like that, given its put in front of them. blame the damn woman.

well, i guess he cant blame anyone now that he is no longer with us. he should have just called her a few choice words, kicked her out and dumped her. stupid move on his part.
 
Waaaay back in my younger days I was living in a condo and had a situation with the folks who's back balcony faced my balcony.

The guy's wife was a younger cutie but the ONLY contact I'd ever had with her was helping her change a flat tire one morning.

Still the guy got it in his head that there was "something going on" and showed up at my door one night (totally drunk) smashing on the door and carrying on. I called the cops and they showed up in time to escort him home and tell him to stay there (which he did though he spent roughly another half hour cussing at me from his balcony).

The next day the wife's actual "boyfriend" shows up over there, an argument ensues and "boytoy" pops the husband in the face (knocking him out) and wife and boytoy leave for good.

A week later the husband also moves out and I never saw any of them again (Thank God!).

I will never forget sitting in my apartment with the police on the phone, a .357 in my lap, the door to my apartment just about rattling off the hinges and the though that I was going to have to shoot this guy looping through my head. I will also never forget how HAPPY I was that I never had to do anthing else and that the cops arrived!!!

What a mess situations like that are!
 
As far as I can tell, AR doesn't formally have Castle Doctrine, yet a person is not required to retreat if the person is in his dwelling and was not the original aggressor, or the person is a law enforcement officer or a person assisting at the direction of a law enforcement officer.

I don't think he has much to worry about criminally. Depending on how other AR statutes are written, he may or may not be shielded from civil liability.
 
jaholder1971: What I am saying is that if there was indeed a love triangle here this guy may have a long row to hoe in the Criminal courts. Shooting your lover's husband, even in self defense, never plays well in front of a jury.
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There might be something to what jaholder said. Texas has some of the best laws in the country for protecting ones person and home. However, if the parties know each other or there is any kind of domestic angle, the cops take a very, very close look at the situation. Far more than if a stranger breaks in.

This is just an example folks!! I’m not suggesting anything beyond what is stated in the article.

Say the shooter and the wife are having an affair. Wife goads husband into attacking the shooter. She gets rid of said husband. This could be accomplished with or without the shooters knowledge. Even in Texas it would undergo strict scrutiny.
 
Georgia also limits civil liability for justified uses of deadly force, thank goodness.

I'm surprised AR doesn't, given that it's in a part of the country that generally isn't considered RKBA hostile. Even my previous state of residence had it and it's behind the iron curtain.

MASS
 
jaholder said
What I am saying is that if there was indeed a love triangle here this guy may have a long row to hoe in the Criminal courts. Shooting your lover's husband, even in self defense, never plays well in front of a jury.
Click to expand...

granaule said:

Actually I imagine it will "play" extraordinarily well in describing why he reasonably feared his life was in imminent danger. Remember the victim was in his own house at the time, presumably at least hours after the affair was discovered, and not caught in flagrante delicto with the attackers wife.

I can't fathom why you think this guy might have a tough time in the criminal courts merely because he appears to have aided the lady in commiting adultery? The 50 state standard for justifiable homicide is whether the shooter reasonably believed he is in imminent danger of losing his life or suffering great bodily injury. Can a clearer case be made than a guy who sends you messages that he intends to kill you, then comes to your home and bashes through the door?
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What I'm saying is that if there was adultery here, then the possibility that a scheme to whack the guy and claim SD is very real and is going to muddy up what should be a clear case of self defense.

Not to mention that some states still have laws on the books making adultery a crime. Killing someone in the commission of a crime, anyone? Yes, grasping straws but that's what prosecutors do with your tax dollars.

Then there's always the chance you'll seat a jury that has no love for adulterers and will find no problem convicting the shooter on anything.
 
biker buddies

They were friends who rode motorcycles together. When Kantaphone busted in he was drunk and Hawthorne was with his wife and kids. I can't find any report about their being an adultery connection.
 
It shouldnt matter what the shooter did before tthe shooting incident. The deceased could have found a home movie with his wife and the shooter in it. It doesnt change the fact the deceased broke into the shooters home with the intent to harm.

Even if it was a setup as someone mentioned, no one forced the guy to break into the shooters house, in fact, the deceaseds brother was trying to stop him from doing it.

Only thing i really hate about the story is the mention of the guy being a weightlifter and much larger then the shooter. It shouldnt matter what the size of the guys are :cuss:. It concerns me that being large 6'3 300 and benching about 500lbs that if i was to shoot someone in a situation such as this that it would be frowned upon because i "should" be able to take the guy in a fight. That perhaps it was unneccassry force considering i am big and should be able to defend myself without a weapon.....All it takes is one good punch to knock me out and for them to stomp on me while i am out. Enough ranting i just thought it was unecessary in the story and they were using the guys size as justification for the shooting as opposoed to just the fact the guy busted down the door.
 
Only thing i really hate about the story is the mention of the guy being a weightlifter and much larger then the shooter. It shouldnt matter what the size of the guys are . It concerns me that being large 6'3 300 and benching about 500lbs that if i was to shoot someone in a situation such as this that it would be frowned upon because i "should" be able to take the guy in a fight.
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That's called disparity of force. Some states consider it an extenuating circumstance - some don't.

I live in a state that doesn't. I asked the lawyer who taught the CCW class I took about it. I said: "you mean you're telling me that if a 7' 400# guy attacks an 80 year old, 5'5" guy in a wheel chair with his fists that disparity of force won't matter?"

His answer:"nope - won't matter one bit". He continued:"What matters is did the 7' 400# guy have the means, intent and opportunity to cause grave bodily harm or death. If the answer is yes then you get a by if no then you're going to the pen."

He gave other examples that all boiled down to means, opportunity, intent adding up to a good shoot. Disparity of force didnt'.

Almost as an after thought he said:"of course there's no accounting for what a jury might do..."
 
Wow, you know, this could play out very interesting in a state such as Michigan, where adultry is a felony. It is not usually prosecuted, but it is a felony. Now, add to the mix that the "lover boy", killed the "lover's" husband, and well, the mix could get uuuuuugly.
 
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