p35
Member
Note what this guy did right:
(1) He got a restraining order- even if the BG ignored it there was an official record of who was causing the trouble,
(2) He let his lawyer do the talking for him- what your lawyer says isn't evidence against you.
Had he just waited without laying the groundwork, he might have had a lot harder time proving it was self defense.
From the July 3 Olympian:
A 49-year-old man shot and killed in a neighborhood southeast of Rainier had been accused in the past of making threats and vandalizing the property of the man who gunned him down.
Scott J. Keith, of 15117 McIntosh Lane S.E., died early Friday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from multiple gunshot wounds. Keith was wounded about 200 yards from his home, on the property of a family with whom he had feuded during the past few years, Thurston County sheriff's Capt. Dan Kimball said.
The shooter, Donald Skewis, 44, and his wife obtained a restraining order last year against Keith after they outlined in court a log of vandalism to their property, intimidating behavior and threats they alleged Keith and his family had made toward them.
The restraining order was in place when Keith approached Skewis around dusk with a baseball bat on Skewis' property on McIntosh Lane, just off 148th Avenue. Skewis ordered him to stop and fired his .357 revolver several times when Keith came toward him, Kimball said.
What prompted the deadly confrontation Thursday was still under investigation, he said.
"There was a history of issues between the shooter and the deceased," Kimball said.
He said Skewis was questioned but is not likely to be charged with a crime because the shooting appears to have been in self-defense.
Investigators found that in addition to the baseball bat, the victim had a footlong, sheathed knife tucked into the back of his pants. His blood was found on Skewis' property.
The shooting was reported at 9:37 p.m. After the gunshots, Keith staggered to the road, where he was lying when deputies arrived. Keith was airlifted to Harborview, where he died about nine hours later.
Skewis' attorney, Sax Rodgers, said his client heard a rustling in the bushes and noticed Keith approaching him. Investigators say Keith was 20 feet away when Skewis first saw him.
Rodgers said his client carried the gun for protection because of the recent vandalism on his property.
Rodgers also said there was an encounter on the road earlier in the day between Skewis and Keith's wife, Veronica, while both were driving, which might have triggered the confrontation.
One of Keith's close friends said Friday she feels Keith has been misrepresented. Dondra Dumas, who had known him for about five years through work, said he loved his family deeply and was always willing to help a friend in need.
"He was a big, loud guy, but he really was a gentle man. It was a real pleasure to know him, and I feel really privileged to have been his friend," she said from her home in Grays Harbor County.
She said he went by the nickname "Cowboy" and that he worked as a contractor and heavy equipment operator. She said he was a "man's man" and good at his job.
She said she also knew of the ongoing dispute, and she thinks Keith was just defending his family.
Police reports and the Skewises' statements in court files, however, portray a different story.
As recently as November, the Skewises had called sheriff's deputies to report Keith had violated the court order by stopping in front of their property and yelling obscenities. Skewis' wife, Barbara, also reported receiving threatening calls from Keith at work. Barbara Skewis worked with Keith's wife at Prairie Elementary School in Yelm, court documents say.
When deputies contacted Keith in November, he denied violating the order and said he had driven past the Skewises' home to pick up his daughter from a bus stop, court documents say.
The Skewises also alleged that Keith sometimes pointed at them as if shooting a gun when he passed by.
(1) He got a restraining order- even if the BG ignored it there was an official record of who was causing the trouble,
(2) He let his lawyer do the talking for him- what your lawyer says isn't evidence against you.
Had he just waited without laying the groundwork, he might have had a lot harder time proving it was self defense.
From the July 3 Olympian:
A 49-year-old man shot and killed in a neighborhood southeast of Rainier had been accused in the past of making threats and vandalizing the property of the man who gunned him down.
Scott J. Keith, of 15117 McIntosh Lane S.E., died early Friday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from multiple gunshot wounds. Keith was wounded about 200 yards from his home, on the property of a family with whom he had feuded during the past few years, Thurston County sheriff's Capt. Dan Kimball said.
The shooter, Donald Skewis, 44, and his wife obtained a restraining order last year against Keith after they outlined in court a log of vandalism to their property, intimidating behavior and threats they alleged Keith and his family had made toward them.
The restraining order was in place when Keith approached Skewis around dusk with a baseball bat on Skewis' property on McIntosh Lane, just off 148th Avenue. Skewis ordered him to stop and fired his .357 revolver several times when Keith came toward him, Kimball said.
What prompted the deadly confrontation Thursday was still under investigation, he said.
"There was a history of issues between the shooter and the deceased," Kimball said.
He said Skewis was questioned but is not likely to be charged with a crime because the shooting appears to have been in self-defense.
Investigators found that in addition to the baseball bat, the victim had a footlong, sheathed knife tucked into the back of his pants. His blood was found on Skewis' property.
The shooting was reported at 9:37 p.m. After the gunshots, Keith staggered to the road, where he was lying when deputies arrived. Keith was airlifted to Harborview, where he died about nine hours later.
Skewis' attorney, Sax Rodgers, said his client heard a rustling in the bushes and noticed Keith approaching him. Investigators say Keith was 20 feet away when Skewis first saw him.
Rodgers said his client carried the gun for protection because of the recent vandalism on his property.
Rodgers also said there was an encounter on the road earlier in the day between Skewis and Keith's wife, Veronica, while both were driving, which might have triggered the confrontation.
One of Keith's close friends said Friday she feels Keith has been misrepresented. Dondra Dumas, who had known him for about five years through work, said he loved his family deeply and was always willing to help a friend in need.
"He was a big, loud guy, but he really was a gentle man. It was a real pleasure to know him, and I feel really privileged to have been his friend," she said from her home in Grays Harbor County.
She said he went by the nickname "Cowboy" and that he worked as a contractor and heavy equipment operator. She said he was a "man's man" and good at his job.
She said she also knew of the ongoing dispute, and she thinks Keith was just defending his family.
Police reports and the Skewises' statements in court files, however, portray a different story.
As recently as November, the Skewises had called sheriff's deputies to report Keith had violated the court order by stopping in front of their property and yelling obscenities. Skewis' wife, Barbara, also reported receiving threatening calls from Keith at work. Barbara Skewis worked with Keith's wife at Prairie Elementary School in Yelm, court documents say.
When deputies contacted Keith in November, he denied violating the order and said he had driven past the Skewises' home to pick up his daughter from a bus stop, court documents say.
The Skewises also alleged that Keith sometimes pointed at them as if shooting a gun when he passed by.
