Jeez, I feel so conservative ... I support this druggist, that he had the right to defend his store, even though he shouldn't have put 5 more bullets into one of the robbers - but I think adrenaline has to do with it. Just because of that shouldn't mean that he is to be tried for first-degree murder. His response is a good deterrent to future robbers and criminals - and those guys who were shot are robbers and could have killed people (and so many of them do so, and get away), and he had video to prove that he wasn't just killing some random innocent customers. Over here in Ontario's Golden Horsheshoe area, robberies and crime are on the rise, and its becoming dangerous to live ... Note that the area where this incident happened has some serious crime ...

EDIT: The guy who shot the robbers is a Gulf War vet. So go figure - adrenalin kicked in, he was protecting fellow female workers (who were working with him at the time).

What do you guys say? I say cases like this would discourage people from defending themselves, because "unnecessary" response may result in serious jail time and morale victory for robbers. Plus the adrenalin factor. Lets say if you are in a gun battle with some retards, then they stop due to whatever reason, and you shoot them - do you go to jail for murder and not self-defense?

Druggist charged after killing robber
Oklahoma's Make My Day law stirs debate

quote:

May 30, 2009 Tim Talley The Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (May 30, 2009) Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore's security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor. Now Ersland has been charged with first-degree murder in a case that has stirred a furious debate over vigilante justice and self-defence and turned the pharmacist into something of a folk hero. Ersland, 57, is free on $100,000 US bail thanks to an anonymous donor. He has won praise from the pharmacy's owner, received an outpouring of cards, letters and cheques from supporters and become the darling of conservative talk radio. "His adrenalin was going. You're just thinking of survival," said John Paul Hernandez, 60, a retired Defence Department employee who grew up in the neighbourhood. "All it was is defending your employee, business and livelihood. If I was in that position, ... I probably would have done the same thing." District Attorney David Prater said Ersland was justified in shooting Antwun Parker, 16, once in the head, but not the additional shots into his belly. The prosecutor said the teen was unconscious, unarmed and posing no threat when Ersland fired what the medical examiner said were the fatal shots. But many of those who have seen the video of the May 19 robbery attempt at Reliable Discount Pharmacy have concluded the teenager in the ski mask got what he deserved. Mark Shannon, who runs a conservative talk show on Oklahoma City's KTOK, said callers have jammed his lines this week in support of Ersland, who wears a back brace on the job and told reporters that he is a disabled veteran of the Gulf War. "There is no grey area," Shannon said. One caller "said he should have put all the shots in the head." Don Spencer, 49, a National Rifle Association member who lives in the small town of Meridian, 65 kilometres north of Oklahoma City, said the pharmacist did the right thing: "You shoot more than enough to make sure the threat has been removed." The pharmacy is in a crime-ridden section of Oklahoma City and had been robbed before. The video shows two men bursting in, one of them pointing a gun at Ersland and two women working with the druggist behind the counter. Ersland fires a pistol, driving the gunman from the store and hitting Parker in the head as he puts on a mask. Ersland chases the second man outside, then goes back inside, walks behind the counter with his back to Parker, gets a second handgun and opens fire. Irven Box, Ersland's lawyer, noted the outpouring of support for the pharmacist, including $2,000 US in donations, and said: "I feel very good 12 people would not determine he committed murder in the first degree." Under Oklahoma's Make My Day Law -- named for one of Clint Eastwood's most famous movie lines -- people can use deadly force when they feel threatened by an intruder inside their homes. In 2006, Oklahoma's Stand Your Ground Law extended that to anywhere a citizen has the right to be, such as a car or office. "It's a Make My Day case," Box said. "This guy came in, your money or your life. Mr. Ersland said, 'You're not taking my life.'" The gunman "forfeited his life." Box said that another person might have reacted differently, but he asked: "When do you turn off that adrenalin switch? When do you think you're safe? I think that's going to be the ultimate issue." If convicted, Ersland could be sentenced to life in prison with or without parole, or receive the death penalty. The second suspect in the holdup, a 14-year-old boy, was arrested Thursday and faces attempted armed robbery charges.

SOURCE: Choose your media:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q...&meta=&aq=f&oq=

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Last edited by Magnetonium on May-30-2009 at 19:42