Portland man charged after shooting robber

[NG VI]

Heard about this breifly on the radio this morning, checked it out today. Looks pretty scummy all around, however the two did force their way into Phillips' apartment. Chasing someone who has robbed you and shooting them may not exactly be self defense, especially not when it is over drugs, but at the same time, I believe that home invaders need to learn that they are giving up their lives when they commit those types of crimes, because right now there is no real punishment that they face. none that they care about anyway, going to jail is like a degree for them. And much of the time people legitimately defending their homes get prosecuted as if they were seeking out an innocent victim to kill.

But this guy happens to come off as a total scumbag.




http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/025789.html
http://www.wmtw.com/news/15942831/detail.html?rss=port&psp=news
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=85364

A 45-year-old Portland man was arrested and charged with murder today in connection with the shooting death of a 25-year-old man from New York on Sunday night.

At a press conference this afternoon, Portland Police Chief Tim Burton said police believe Randel Phillips shot Lashawn Covington on the sidewalk outside Phillips' home at 73 Cumberland Ave. Burton said Covington and another man from New York, 21-year-old Klein Ferandes, had attempted to rob Phillips before the shooting.

Police were called to Mercy Hospital after Covington arrived there with a gunshot wound at approximately 9:50 p.m. Sunday. Covington was later transferred to Maine Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Ferandes was also arrested today and charged with robbery and assault on a police officer.

The police chief said both Ferandes and Phillips have extensive criminal records and all three men knew each other. He said police suspect the men were involved in drug trafficking.

Phillips and Ferandes are being held at Cumberland County Jail. They are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.

 

[WayneConrad]

Chasing someone who has robbed you and shooting them may not exactly be self defense, especially not when it is over drugs, but at the same time, I believe that home invaders need to learn that they are giving up their lives when they commit those types of crimes, because right now there is no real punishment that they face. none that they care about anyway, going to jail is like a degree for them.

Did you just say that the correct and just punishment for robbery is summary execution?

 

[csmkersh]

Did you just say that the correct and just punishment for robbery is summary execution?

Since this was in the course of a home invasion, would have been perfectly legal in Texas if it hadn't have been for the drug nexus. That and it occurring at night place it under different rules here.
​

 

[NG VI]

no, I may not have been clear but I think that home invasions are going to continue to rise in frequency and severity so long as people who otherwise mind their own business (not the man in the story) are prosecuted for home defense shootings, in the home. What this man did was outright revenge, over an attempted drug robbery, but if he had been an upstanding citizen and not followed the two robbers outside to shoot them than this would be a different situation. They forced their way into his apartment, and I can't help but think that there will be less burglaries in Portland for a little while, as the criminal element will (hopefully) take a second to rethink their conduct.

 

[NG VI]

Chasing someone who has robbed you and shooting them may not exactly be self defense, especially not when it is over drugs, but at the same time, I believe that home invaders need to learn that they are giving up their lives when they commit those types of crimes, because right now there is no real punishment that they face. none that they care about anyway, going to jail is like a degree for them.

What I meant by "giving up their lives" is that when someone breaks into another's home, especially knowing that person is home at the time, they may very well be killed by the victim of the invasion. That is not something that many people in that line of work think about, at least not enough to stop and consider that maybe getting a job would be a better bet than hoping the next person they rob isn't armed.

I just know that I keep to myself, and if two men forced their way into my home at night I might not have the presence of mind to declare that I was armed.

My point was just that when you jeopardize someone's life and limb in their own home, you are gambling with your own life and limb as well.

 

[WayneConrad]

Fair enough. Glad that's not what you meant.

There is, in economic terms, a cost to the robber of doing a home invasion in a place where there is a probability that the citizens are armed and allowed to defend themselves. They do take that into account. That is why, in the US, only 16% of home break-ins occur when someone is at home.

 

[NG VI]

When I first heard this story on the radio, it was a very short little piece. They basically said, a 45 year old Portland man has been charged with murder after shooting a man who tried to rob him on Sunday night, that the man who was killed was nearly half his age and from New York (doesn't neccessarily mean anything, but then again, NY has less guns than we do, more crime, and protecting oneself isn't taken very well there).

So that sparked my curiousity, because it sounded strange to me. I didn't realize drugs were involved or that the shooting occured outside the home until this afternoon when I read the story, but the murder charge makes a lot more sense now.

And I was also wondering what would happen to the home invasion rate of some high crime areas if a few citizens successfuly and righteously defended their home and family instead of being faceless victims, I wonder if the local thuggery would move on to feeding off their own more often instead of honest people. I think that them knowing there is a possibility they could be harmed is very different from them knowing people personally who took the same gambles they do and losing them, I think many of the people on the edge would find that a very convincing reason to stick to victimless crimes.

 

[HonorsDaddy]

Wayne:

You said "Did you just say that the correct and just punishment for robbery is summary execution?"

He may not have said that - but I would. Rob me, die. End of discussion, and sharp reduction in crime.

While being all sensitive and caring about rehabilitating our fellow misguided soul SOUNDS good, in real life it has the effect of enlarging the criminal class. Kill a few hundred of em and make it clear that the executions wont even be investigated, much less prosecuted, and you'll see crime rates plummet.

 

[brighamr]

Drugs are involved - this immediately makes it ok to charge someone with murder??? Do we even know what drugs? Do we know if the shooter was a lawful user under the Oregon medical marijuana program?


Just hoping to spark some thought. More info would be appreciated.

 

[KyJim]

Well, it happened (apparently) on the sidewalk. That's not home invasion. Sorry, but you don't get to hunt someone down and kill them just because they robbed you. It is and always has been murder.

 

[csmkersh]

It did occur at night which makes it open season on robbers. See TxPC §9.42(2)(B). It's that drug nexus that messes things up here.


​

 

[brighamr]

It is and always has been murder.

Incorrect. In the 1800's if someone robbed you of your horse, it was a hanging offense. No courts needed.

nowadays, I don't think the death penalty covers robbery, unfortunately.

 

[WayneConrad]

The original question is whether or not someone should be allowed to shoot his own robber.

In a nation of law, we are not individual executors of the law. This is a good thing.

Even if death is an appropriate sentence for robbery. By law, it is not. If you don't like that, get the law changed.

 

[Flintlock Tom]

the two did force their way into Phillips' apartment.

I don't see anything in any of the articles that suggests that the two forced their way in. So where do you get "home invasion"?
One article says they knew one another and the two were attempting to rob the third. It seems, from the information available in the stories, that the only place that information could have come from is from the shooter. And, again, from the info in the stories, he does not sound like a reliable source of information.

 

[browningguy]

I think chasing them down the street and shooting them may be a bit overboard.

But to answer another question, yes, summary execution is the correct and just punishment for breaking in to my home, for any reason. Even if it was just to steal a bowl of milk for a homeless kitten.

 

[Harley Quinn]

CA Penal Code # 197

Homicide is also justifiable when committed by any person in
any of the following cases:
1. When resisting any attempt to murder any person, or to commit a
felony, or to do some great bodily injury upon any person; or,
2. When committed in defense of habitation, property, or person,
against one who manifestly intends or endeavors, by violence or
surprise, to commit a felony, or against one who manifestly intends
and endeavors, in a violent, riotous or tumultuous manner, to enter
the habitation of another for the purpose of offering violence to any
person therein; or,
3. When committed in the lawful defense of such person, or of a
wife or husband, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant of such
person, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to
commit a felony or to do some great bodily injury, and imminent
danger of such design being accomplished; but such person, or the
person in whose behalf the defense was made, if he was the assailant
or engaged in mutual combat, must really and in good faith have
endeavored to decline any further struggle before the homicide was
committed; or,

4. When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and
means, to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in
lawfully suppressing any riot, or in lawfully keeping and preserving
the peace.

Not sure if this would be similar in Maine or not

 

[acdodd]

Do we know if the shooter was a lawful user under the Oregon medical marijuana program?

I think you are on the wrong side of the country for it to be an Oregon medical pot user.
Portland, Maine

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

The police chief said both Ferandes and Phillips have extensive criminal records and all three men knew each other. He said police suspect the men were involved in drug trafficking.

What's that sound? It's the sound of any claim of legitimate self defense circling the drain.

One vastly reduces one's chance of being a victim of a violent crime by not engaging in illegal activity oneself. To paraphrase John Farnam: "Don't do stupid things, hang with stupid people or go stupid places."

 

[NG VI]

I don't see anything in any of the articles that suggests that the two forced their way in. So where do you get "home invasion"?

That was what I picked up from two different radio stations pieces on the event. It had said that the two either were attempting or had forced their way into his apartment and that when they were leaving he chased them outside and shot Covington.

And I also agree that being involved in marijuana should not affect legally a person's right to protect their life. However, if they were involved in heroin I only wish they had all three bled out slowly. Just my take.

 

[primlantah]

That is not something that many people in that line of work think about, at least not enough to stop and consider that maybe getting a job would be a better bet than hoping the next person they rob isn't armed.

All the excons i ever met readily agree that when they did what they were locked up for they were not thinking... they refer to it as "just going with it"

 

[grimjaw]

It's only robbery if they get away with it . . .

I'm JOKING!

Sounds like drugs were involved and drugs are bad, mmmmk?

jm

 

[owlhoot]

Legal nicities aside, all's well that ends well, and it appears that this ended well all around.