Just in:
http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=07d90c27-1081-4d0f-9203-cdcfdbc4eed4
The law works
http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=07d90c27-1081-4d0f-9203-cdcfdbc4eed4
The law works
Florida Stand Your Ground Law: not guilty
- Thread starter avmech
- Start date
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Another dead gang member, although I pray for this guy's safety during the tribal retaliation. Thank God for "gun violence" though or this guy might have ended up smashed into the grille of an "assault Jeep."
I believe this law has already been tested once or twice now.
I believe this law has already been tested once or twice now.
Roccobro
Member
Man free from charges, not from fear after verdict
LAK Supply
Member
That's mighty fine shootin' there!
One less POS gangster to worry about.
David904
Member
Good grouping. Now that's what I call gun control!
gunsmith
member
I bet the gang banger learned his lesson good
Hopefully the gang banger is stopped.
oh btw links and story please!!!
Hopefully the gang banger is stopped.
oh btw links and story please!!!
duckandcover
Member
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- May 18, 2006
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- 26
The backgournd story:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpborden0621psjun21,0,350992.story
Pictures from the trial
http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/search/results.php?keywords=borden
crazed_ss
Member
Wierd case. Sounds like he pretty much executed them after they tried to hit him. I can see how he got off though. The guys apparently tried to hit him with a car with is definitely a deadly weapon. The guy is now convinced that they're trying to kill him, so he takes to oppurtunity to get them before they get him......
feedthehogs
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- Jan 8, 2003
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- 1,801
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/06/26/m1a_BORDEN_0626.html
Man said he killed two attackers in self-defense
By LARRY KELLER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Norman Borden became the first defendant in Palm Beach County to beat murder charges under the state's Castle Doctrine law, which expands an individual's right to self-defense, when a jury acquitted him of all charges Monday in connection with a double slaying.
Friends and family of the two men he shot to death cried and covered their faces with their hands as the court clerk read the verdicts: Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty.
Borden, 44, also was teary-eyed as he whispered thanks to his attorney, Public Defender Carey Haughwout. "He's very relieved," Haughwout said later. "I think he always had faith they would do the right thing."
At least 20 sheriff's deputies, including three undercover agents, ringed the courtroom when the jury returned with its verdict. A half-dozen deputies hovered near Borden, probably to protect him more than to prevent an escape.
Borden received death threats, Haughwout said, and security throughout the trial was increased dramatically out of fears of street gang retribution against him or jurors.
On Oct. 8, Borden fired 14 shots from his 9mm handgun at three men in a Jeep who he said shouted threats at him and tried to run him over as he walked his four dogs in the Westgate neighborhood near West Palm Beach at about 2:30 a.m. Killed were Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21. Juan Mendez, now 21, was wounded.
Borden said he feared for his life and acted in self-defense.
Borden had reason to believe the men in the car were violent, Haughwout told jurors. Araujo once told Borden that he carried two guns and had held a weapon to a woman's head, according to trial testimony. Trejo was a local leader of Sur 13, a violent street gang, according to authorities. A baseball bat and a makeshift weapon were found in the Jeep, but no guns.
Neither Haughwout nor prosecutor Craig Williams thought the verdicts had implications for future defendants claiming self-defense under the Castle Doctrine law, which has been in effect less than two years.
"This case kind of stands on its own," Williams said. "They were bringing a lot of violence to this defendant. I don't think the new law made any difference. The truth hurt me in this case."
The law broadens a person's right to self-defense to include shooting in his own home or vehicle or in a public place. It states that a law-abiding citizen has "no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she believes it necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another."
Last month, a Central Florida man was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend in another Castle Doctrine case. The dead woman's friends allegedly threatened to kill him, and he fired as they broke into his mobile home, killing her. He said he didn't know his girlfriend was at the door when he fired.
Borden was acquitted of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle by the jury of 11 women and one man. Another felony charge was dropped by the prosecution.
Williams conceded that Borden acted in self-defense when he fired the first five shots. But when he moved from the front of the Jeep to the driver's side and fired nine more rounds, it became murder, he argued.
"There was no threat" after the first five shots, Williams said in closing arguments. He said that, although the danger to Borden was real, he had time to reassess the situation after firing the initial shots because the Jeep had come to a stop after slamming into a fence post.
"He knew what was going on," Williams told the jury. "He knew what he was doing."
Borden told investigators that, even after he fired the initial shots, he saw movement inside the vehicle and still felt he was in danger.
Haughwout urged jurors to view the incident through Borden's eyes.
"The car is not the danger," she said in her closing argument. "It's the people in the car that are the danger. How do you reassess when you're in that spot with people that ... want to kill you? You do what you have to do to survive. There is no time for thought. There is no chance for reassessment."
After two hours of deliberations, the jury returned its verdict agreeing with her.
Araujo's fiancée, Anastasia Bocanegra, 20, wept as the verdicts were read and was incredulous afterward.
"He got away with killing two people," she said. "The car was stopped. Norman was not in fear for his life. These were not bad guys. They were babies."
Instead of spending life in prison if he had been convicted as charged, Borden gained his freedom at 8:13 p.m. after more than eight months in jail. Haughwout declined to say what Borden's plans are now, because of fears for his safety.
Williams said he also worries about threats against Borden. "I pray nothing happens to him. Am I worried? Sure. Look what they did to his house."
Two days after the shootings, Borden's house was set on fire, presumably in retaliation.
Compounding his troubles, his four pit bulls were euthanized while he was incarcerated.
"His story is very tragic," Haughwout said. "He's lost everything. He has no home to go home to. He's been in a grieving process ever since this happened."
Borden's instinctual response to the threat to his safety was "more rational" and "courageous" than would be expected of most people, she said. He has always regretted that he killed Araujo and Trejo, she said.
"There's nothing about this that Norman is proud of," Haughwout said.
---------------------------------------------------------
I bolded out a troubling comment the prosecutor made.
'the truth hurt me in this case'
The guy never should have been prosecuted.
Man said he killed two attackers in self-defense
By LARRY KELLER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Norman Borden became the first defendant in Palm Beach County to beat murder charges under the state's Castle Doctrine law, which expands an individual's right to self-defense, when a jury acquitted him of all charges Monday in connection with a double slaying.
Friends and family of the two men he shot to death cried and covered their faces with their hands as the court clerk read the verdicts: Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty.
Borden, 44, also was teary-eyed as he whispered thanks to his attorney, Public Defender Carey Haughwout. "He's very relieved," Haughwout said later. "I think he always had faith they would do the right thing."
At least 20 sheriff's deputies, including three undercover agents, ringed the courtroom when the jury returned with its verdict. A half-dozen deputies hovered near Borden, probably to protect him more than to prevent an escape.
Borden received death threats, Haughwout said, and security throughout the trial was increased dramatically out of fears of street gang retribution against him or jurors.
On Oct. 8, Borden fired 14 shots from his 9mm handgun at three men in a Jeep who he said shouted threats at him and tried to run him over as he walked his four dogs in the Westgate neighborhood near West Palm Beach at about 2:30 a.m. Killed were Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21. Juan Mendez, now 21, was wounded.
Borden said he feared for his life and acted in self-defense.
Borden had reason to believe the men in the car were violent, Haughwout told jurors. Araujo once told Borden that he carried two guns and had held a weapon to a woman's head, according to trial testimony. Trejo was a local leader of Sur 13, a violent street gang, according to authorities. A baseball bat and a makeshift weapon were found in the Jeep, but no guns.
Neither Haughwout nor prosecutor Craig Williams thought the verdicts had implications for future defendants claiming self-defense under the Castle Doctrine law, which has been in effect less than two years.
"This case kind of stands on its own," Williams said. "They were bringing a lot of violence to this defendant. I don't think the new law made any difference. The truth hurt me in this case."
The law broadens a person's right to self-defense to include shooting in his own home or vehicle or in a public place. It states that a law-abiding citizen has "no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she believes it necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another."
Last month, a Central Florida man was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend in another Castle Doctrine case. The dead woman's friends allegedly threatened to kill him, and he fired as they broke into his mobile home, killing her. He said he didn't know his girlfriend was at the door when he fired.
Borden was acquitted of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle by the jury of 11 women and one man. Another felony charge was dropped by the prosecution.
Williams conceded that Borden acted in self-defense when he fired the first five shots. But when he moved from the front of the Jeep to the driver's side and fired nine more rounds, it became murder, he argued.
"There was no threat" after the first five shots, Williams said in closing arguments. He said that, although the danger to Borden was real, he had time to reassess the situation after firing the initial shots because the Jeep had come to a stop after slamming into a fence post.
"He knew what was going on," Williams told the jury. "He knew what he was doing."
Borden told investigators that, even after he fired the initial shots, he saw movement inside the vehicle and still felt he was in danger.
Haughwout urged jurors to view the incident through Borden's eyes.
"The car is not the danger," she said in her closing argument. "It's the people in the car that are the danger. How do you reassess when you're in that spot with people that ... want to kill you? You do what you have to do to survive. There is no time for thought. There is no chance for reassessment."
After two hours of deliberations, the jury returned its verdict agreeing with her.
Araujo's fiancée, Anastasia Bocanegra, 20, wept as the verdicts were read and was incredulous afterward.
"He got away with killing two people," she said. "The car was stopped. Norman was not in fear for his life. These were not bad guys. They were babies."
Instead of spending life in prison if he had been convicted as charged, Borden gained his freedom at 8:13 p.m. after more than eight months in jail. Haughwout declined to say what Borden's plans are now, because of fears for his safety.
Williams said he also worries about threats against Borden. "I pray nothing happens to him. Am I worried? Sure. Look what they did to his house."
Two days after the shootings, Borden's house was set on fire, presumably in retaliation.
Compounding his troubles, his four pit bulls were euthanized while he was incarcerated.
"His story is very tragic," Haughwout said. "He's lost everything. He has no home to go home to. He's been in a grieving process ever since this happened."
Borden's instinctual response to the threat to his safety was "more rational" and "courageous" than would be expected of most people, she said. He has always regretted that he killed Araujo and Trejo, she said.
"There's nothing about this that Norman is proud of," Haughwout said.
---------------------------------------------------------
I bolded out a troubling comment the prosecutor made.
'the truth hurt me in this case'
The guy never should have been prosecuted.
I am on the fence on this one. I tend to agree with the prosecutor. However, I think sometimes the legal community expects legally armed citizens to have the clarity of mind that LEOS posses from their experience and training. The shooter probably was completely jacked up after the first shooting and might have misread the situation or not been in a postion to make a rational decison. I am purely speculating. Manslaughter might have been a more appropriate charge. He still would have gotten off though.
One more thing. The shooters lawyer did not do him any favors by admitting that the shooter regretted killing the two men. If you really believe you were right, as was their defense, there is nothing to regret.
One more thing. The shooters lawyer did not do him any favors by admitting that the shooter regretted killing the two men. If you really believe you were right, as was their defense, there is nothing to regret.
gunsmith
member
why the heck
did they euthanize(SIC) his doggies for?
That really stinks!
did they euthanize(SIC) his doggies for?
That really stinks!
PILMAN
Member
Good to hear he was able to get off innocent, it sucks what happened to his home though, hopefully they catch the people who did it.
Rumble
Member
Police officers are often put on the spot to explain why they fired multiple times, too, so I think there is just a general expectation that someone in such a situation can switch in and out of defensive mode without any lag time.
I can't speak to the facts of the case. I know that somebody threatening to run me down with a car would be considered, by me, a threat of imminent grievous harm. I don't know how quickly I could reassess a situation like what happened to this guy.
fletcher
Member
Nobody knows that but the parties involved when it happened. He just shot a gang leader, I would think his gangbanger buddies are now a threat.
eric.cartman
Member
Gang members came back to kill him. It's simple as that. And he killed them right back. I hate this excesive use of force BS... "they were no longer a threat". Come on people. 3 gangztaz come after you, yea, they are no longer a threat when their blood preasure drops to zero.
breakerilya
Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2006
- Messages
- 24
7 shots in the face? where did the other shots go... what happened to the other gang members?
trueblue1776
Member
Bravo! Taking out the trash, legally.
No, no, no, no, NO! You always had a right to do so, only before you had to explain how you were physically unable to retreat from the danger first when in a public place.
Okay, so maybe it codified a little common law on self-defense, but it didn't "broaden" a damn thing.
Borden's life is ruined as well now, missy. You know what the common thread is in this entire tragedy? Your dumbass drugged-up, violent boyfriend who couldn't control himself.
*ahem* Now back to the high road..
Crunker1337
Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,168
I think this guy used excessive force.
You're only supposed to shoot to stop threats, not to execute your aggressor.
Besides that, it was clearly legit self-defense. A gangster tried to run him over, he protected himself.
You're only supposed to shoot to stop threats, not to execute your aggressor.
Besides that, it was clearly legit self-defense. A gangster tried to run him over, he protected himself.
K3
Member
Threat was stopped, wasn't it?
GotGlock
Member
See this situation sucks, he spent 8 months in jail, for what? They killed his dogs, his house is burned down, and he is still in danger. All he did was defend himself, and there should be a law that protects someone from the messed up court system.
A good example of gun control:
http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/pages/photo_page.php?mm=1743044&gallery=317502
http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/pages/photo_page.php?mm=1743044&gallery=317502
Sometimes the machine society created for us really does suck. The only thing you can do is move or avoid contact with these people. Bend with the wind and if they still drive a Jeep at you for a thrill, then you have to shoot them. Then find peace and happiness where you can.
That's my whimsical take on it.
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