Murder charges against CC'er dropped

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wvshooter

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A few weeks ago a local cc permit holder shot and killed a man who had just robbed him. The cc'er was charged with murder. The public was outraged and the prosecutor and judge finally saw the light and dropped all charges. This is very good news for permit holders in WV.

BTW the story says the perp was shot in the back of the head but he was actually shot in the back. I'm confident he will not be committing any more robberies.

Link to story http://wvgazette.com/News/201109192975
 
I don't think he is out of the woods yet, my intuition tells me he will be charged. (with something)
No way should he have shot him in the back as he was running away.
His life was no longer in danger.
 
Although TX is a pretty gun-friendly state I'll bet the guy would be in prison by now here. Shooting in the back is not always SD.
 
Shooting in the back? How is that a legal defense against "imminent threat"?

NO way that would fly in FL............as to the outrage by folks - so what you are saying is now "mob rule" is the law of the land in WV instead of the US Republic's "rule of law"?

Guess I'll drive around that state on my next trip - I do not like 51% telling the other 49% what to do, especially when it comes close to what sounds similar to a lynching of justice officials for not seeing the mob's way.........wow
 
BTW the story says the perp was shot in the back of the head but he was actually shot in the back. I'm confident he will not be committing any more robberies.
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im sorry pal.....but thats murder.....period.


if someones back is turned to you and are leaving......they no longer pose an imminent threat to your life.....thus the use of lethal force is not justified.


sounds like this guy got REALLY REALLY lucky
 
im sorry pal.....but thats murder.....period.
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Not always.

There are situations, and cases, where shooting someone in the back is the correct thing to do and they still pose an imminent threat to your safety and welfare. Someone with their back turned to you while they are reaching for a gun is a likely scenario. Another is someone fleeing yet shooting behind them as they flee.

These are just two examples but they do, I hope, help to illustrate that shooting someone in the back is not always murder.

BikerRN
 
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There are situations, and cases, where shooting someone in the back is the correct thing to do and they still pose an imminent threat to your safety and welfare. Someone with their back turned to you while they are reaching for a gun is a likely scenario. Another is someone fleeing yet shooting behind them as they flee.

These are just two examples but they do, I hope, help to illustrate that shooting someone in the back is not always murder.
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you know something....i did not think of that.
 
imminent threat and potential threat are different and mutually exclusive. You are in your house and someone is running away blindly firing behind them? Not an Imminent threat as you can stay in cover.

Some with their back turned - how do you determine they have a gun until they turn around and face you? Willing to guess? Once they are facing you, different story. Sorry - shoot someone in the back and you are going to jail - with all of the shooting we have here in FL, I haven't seen any justifiable shootings in the back
 
while i am not going to lose any sleep over the death of this robber i think most reasonable people can agree that shooting someone in the back is USUALLY not neccessary to save your own life.

The biggest thing about something like this is the if we are arguing about this on a GUN MESSAGE board imagine what the anti crowd can do with a story like this. This type of thing is not good for CCW fight no matter how it turns out.
 
The biggest thing about something like this is the if we are arguing about this on a GUN MESSAGE board imagine what the anti crowd can do with a story like this. This type of thing is not good for CCW fight no matter how it turns out.
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Excellent point!

The only thing we have going for us is that the guy was an obvious POS.

Lets just hope the shooter wasn't.
 
There's something missing here

Before flaming the OP for his righteous indignation, I'm going to wait for more facts. At first-look, it seems as though charges should have been maintained against the robbery victim / shooter. After all, the armed robber was shot in the back, right?

But the charges were not maintained; they were dismissed. The robbery victim / shooter will be released from custody. Why? We all know that they can be re-filed or the case can be brought to a grand jury for possible indictment, but it just seems to me that something is missing here...

I hope the OP updates us on the news that will surely follow. Maybe there is some physical evidence or eyewitness testimony not mentioned in the article that will clarify why this is not a slam dunk murder or manslaughter beef. I'll be looking for updates. Please post them if you can.
 
Although TX is a pretty gun-friendly state I'll bet the guy would be in prison by now here. Shooting in the back is not always SD
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It is legal to shoot to recover your property in TX as along as the thief is fleeing at night, so not always is indeed the correct answer here, you have to let them run away during daylight hours or if you "know" them and would have other recourse to recover your property.

It is very very dangerous to be a night time robber in Texas, the media often picks up on some snatch and run robber getting shot leaving a convienence store, but the law has not been changed -- it they do, I'm betting it'll be to remove the daylight restriction :)
 
Running away is just that...running away
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as my FL CWP class instructor put it, the only time you can't shoot the guy is when he is "fleeing" or no longer a threat to you or your family etc..
ex.
You wake up in the middle of the night to your back door getting kicked in...you grab the shotgun and go investigate. You confront the bad guy and tell him to get the @#$% out of your house...he turns away and runs, but happens to be running for your back door, which also happens to be the way to your kid's bedroom door...you shoot him in the back
That would be a good shoot

Running away from you, and "fleeing" are not the same thing
 
I don't have the link, but the FBI actually did a series of tests on this
A person drawing and fireing a handgun from exposed (presented) is 3 TIMES slower than the time it takes a person to identify and move (turning being the quickest)

So, guy goes for his gun
BG sees him drawing and turns
bullets impact side and back

Now why would a big ol Federal LE agency be wasting your money on these test???
Cause BG's family sue for big money, even when they are killed in the commission of a felony. Esp. when they weren't threatening anyone and were JUST TRYING TO RUN AWAY... see the cops didn't have to shoot them in the back...

And when the decision to shoot was made, the BG was a clear and imminent danger.
 
He started running towards the store. Let's see, an armed man obviously with the intent and capability to do harm, that is now running to a more populated area where he could potentially take hostages. While it's highly LIKELY his intention was to flee, why wouldn't he run in a direction where he was less likely to get caught? He's already committed ONE violent crime, that of armed robbery. Thus you have to presume he still poses an imminent threat to anyone around him. Was it right to shoot him? Probably not. But you can't just condemn the shooter over it.
 
Mike1234567 said:
Although TX is a pretty gun-friendly state I'll bet the guy would be in prison by now here. Shooting in the back is not always SD.
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Not so fast. I do believe the CCr is allowed to use the force required to get his money back.

In any case, it is important to show up for jury duty. I might or might not find him guilty. But he'd get off with time served.
 
It is also entirely possible that the BG was distracted by a sound or something similar and turned around while still holding the intent of robbing the shooter.

If that was the case than it would seem that it was the best chance the shooter had to drop the BG.
 
Mike1234567 said:
Although TX is a pretty gun-friendly state I'll bet the guy would be in prison by now here. Shooting in the back is not always SD.
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In TX, the shooting would be justified.


There's several things going in the shooter's favor on this one, as it applies to TX:

Bad guy has what is defined in Texas penal code as a deadly weapon.
Perp is in the act of committing aggravated robbery.
It's at night, and the Perp is attempting to make off with tangible, moveable property.


Any of those three would authorize the use of deadly force. All three at once is an open and shut case.


But l don't intend to sidetrack this thread to applying TX laws to other situations in other states...
 
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