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"Just the facts, ma'am." More often than not, politically correct bullshit won't be found here. Pardon me while I exercise my 1st amendment right! I welcome all to my little world of bitches, moans, gripes and complaints, and sometimes, the downright freakin' odd. Take a seat and join me. I love a good story.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

So Where's the Righteous Indignation Now?

The Truth-About-Bobby-Gadsden Facebook page had this link to the Post and Courier newspaper about another Castle Doctrine incident that occurred not far from the Gadsden episode.
Let's review some recent Castle Doctrine cases in SC, shall we?

In this particular case, a drunken, ex-con, former drug addict by the name of Arriolo, returns to his neighbor's house after having been asked to leave.  Arriolo becomes confrontational and believe it or not, wants to kiss and make up.  Arriolo backs the homeowner in to a corner. The homeowner couldn't retreat if he wanted to. The homeowner fears for his life and shoots and kills Arriolo.  Point: Arriolo was not armed, and Arriolo had been previously told to leave, but returned, forcing his way in to the house, therefore he was in the home unlawfully.
It does not appear charges will be filed as the homeowner acted in self-defense.
The homeowner is white and the deceased is Hispanic.

In Colleton County, SC - a male forces his way in to a home, obviously intent on committing a crime therein.  The homeowner is in fear of his life, and restrains the suspect, strangling him to death.  The suspect was in the commission of a dangerous felony, even though the suspect had no weapon, the homeowner had no duty to retreat and defended himself and his property from an attacker or intruder.
The homeowner was a middle aged black male and the attacker was a younger black male.

Lexington County, SC - homeowner is awakened by noises shortly after 3:00 a.m.  Upon opening his garage door, there is a suspect attempting to steal something from the homeowner's vehicle.  The suspect was shot twice by the homeowner and the suspect fled on his bicycle, ultimately dying from his injuries not far away. The homeowner was not prosecuted as he was legally protecting his property under the Castle Doctrine.
The homeowner was an elderly white male and the suspect was a homeless black male.

James Island, SC - the homeowner is awakened shortly after 12 midnight by barking dogs.  He sees the suspect attempting to break in to his truck.  The homeowner grabs his .40 cal and goes after the perp.  The suspect jumps in to his waiting car and drives away.  As he is driving away, the homeowner fires off 5 rounds at the escaping vehicle.  One shot actually grazed the top of the suspect's head.  This incident doesn't appear to be a Castle Doctrine candidate.  However, Sheriff Al Cannon cites a relatively obscure law that is still on the books about citizen's arrest authority during the commission of a crime and the escape when the citizen is endeavoring to make an arrest.  The facts and evidence pointed to a conclusion that the suspect was lying about where he was and what he was doing.  He was subsequently charged with breaking into the homeowner's auto and no charges were brought against the homeowner.
The homeowner and the thief were both white males.

Moncks Corner, SC - A homeowner is alone at 8:40 a.m. and hears noises upstairs.  Upon noting that there were no family cars in the driveway, the homeowner grabs his handgun.  He confronts a burglar on a stairway inside his residence.  The homeowner notices that the suspect has his rifle and ammo pouch. The homeowner fires one round, taking the suspect down.  The resident hears more noises, indicative of someone else being inside the house, so he flees to a neighbor's to call 911. Investigation noted that entry was gained unlawfully, presumably through an over head garage door that was partially open.
The 2nd suspect was seen fleeing the scene on foot and was apprehended a short while later in a wooded area.  The bullet fired by the homeowner struck one Bobby Gadsden in the back of the head.  Police investigators state that it appears that Bobby turned his head at almost the same time the gun was fired.
The deceased was found at the bottom of the stairs.  The police report that Gadsden was armed with handcuffs and a butterfly knife.
The homeowner is a middle aged white male and the deceased, as well as the other 2 conspirators in the burglary, are black males.

Now, if any of these scenarios was a prime example of the Castle Doctrine law, the Gadsden case is it.  The deceased, along with 2 co-conspirators, were in the commission of a dangerous felony.  2 of the 3 entered the residence unlawfully and were in the process of taking the homeowner's property.  One burglary suspect was confronted by the homeowner and shot.  It doesn't matter if he was shot in the back of the head, in the leg or in the ass, the homeowner was in peril, defending himself and his property during the commission of this felony crime. Deadly force is justified under the legal definition of the law.

The family of the deceased burglar claims the threat was leaving the house and the homeowner had no cause to shoot him.  The majority of people, including law enforcement and prosecutors, beg to differ.  The Castle Doctrine was written to protect homeowners from intruders or attackers who enter another person's "castle" whether by force or by stealth.  Now the family of the deceased has accused every person imaginable with wrong doing in some form or another.  They cry racism. The Castle Doctrine law in SC leaves no wiggle room.  The law will side with the homeowner every time.  There are no legal loopholes that can justify prosecuting the homeowner with any crime.  In SC, a person has a legal right to have a gun in their home, place of business, or in a closed compartment of their motor vehicle.

Gadsden's family has run out of straws to grasp in their futile effort to blame someone.  The best they can do is throw out the race card?  Oh, come on.  This is a continuous "wolf cry" and since it's used so much, no one wants to listen anymore.  It was not a white/black thing as they so assert.  It was a bad guy committing a felony crime and paying the price kind of thing.
These charges and accusations levied by the Gadsden family and his supporters played out on various social media sites, including Facebook, ireporter CNN, Twitter, local news stations, and some blogs carried the story.  The on line edition of the local newspaper was predominately pro Castle Doctrine, but name calling and Monday morning quarter backing were non-stop. Some comments promoted only rumors and more gripes of racism.  Some of the comments that blacks denounced as racist must have been invisible to some of us white folks because even if people tried not to step on any toes, they were summarily lambasted for their opinions. The Gadsden family wasn't garnering much sympathy and it was, unfortunately, divided along racial lines.  The blacks felt that they were wronged on some level.  Someone needs to draw me a picture because this was certainly a cut and dried case that had nothing to do with racism.

So now this recent Arriolo case has evoked no outspoken indignation, no anti Castle Doctrine proponents, no ugly accusations of racism or implications of a cover up.  In fact, there is no chatter at all.  Why is that?

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