this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024

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New York man convicted of murdering woman in car that turned into his driveway (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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Kevin Monahan, 65, shot 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis after a car she was riding in with friends made a wrong turn on his property

A man was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday for fatally shooting a young woman when the SUV she was riding in mistakenly drove up his rural driveway in upstate New York.

A jury found Kevin Monahan, 66, guilty of second-degree murder for shooting 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis on a Saturday night last April after she and her friends pulled into his long, curving driveway near the Vermont border while they were trying to find another house.

The group’s caravan of two cars and a motorcycle began leaving once they realized their mistake. Authorities said Monahan came out to his porch and fired twice from his shotgun, with the second shot hitting Gillis in the neck as she sat in the front passenger seat of an SUV driven by her boyfriend.

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[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I made a post, as a lawyer, about some of the common law rules for self defense, five months ago, and I still get replies from people who don't like the truth:

Deadly force is never authorized to protect property.

An intruder standing in your living room with no weapon or other outward sign of aggression is not a deadly threat and you will be charged with murder if you kill him.

People cannot handle this.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I had quoted this in my post:

“In the anti-gun Spokane newspaper, internet comments indicated that many people had the clueless idea that Gerlach had shot the man – in the back – to stop the thief from stealing his car. One idiot wrote in defense of doing such, “That ‘inert property’ as you call it represents a significant part of a man’s life. Stealing it is the same as stealing a part of his life. Part of my life is far more important than all of a thief’s life.”

Analyze that statement. The world revolves around this speaker so much that a bit of his life spent earning an expensive object is worth “all of (another man’s) life.” Never forget that, in this country, human life is seen by the courts as having a higher value than what those courts call “mere property,” even if you’re shooting the most incorrigible lifelong thief to keep him from stealing the Hope Diamond. A principle of our law is also that the evil man has the same rights as a good man. Here we have yet another case of a person dangerously confusing “how he thinks things ought to be” with “how things actually are.”

As a rule of thumb, American law does not justify the use of deadly force to protect what the courts have called “mere property.” In the rare jurisdiction that does appear to allow this, ask yourself how the following words would resonate with a jury when uttered by plaintiff’s counsel in closing argument: “Ladies and gentlemen, the defendant has admitted that he killed the deceased over property. How much difference is there in your hearts between the man who kills another to steal that man’s property, and one who kills another to maintain possession of his own? Either way, he ended a human life for mere property!”

― Massad Ayoob, Deadly Force - Understanding Your Right To Self Defense"

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Yeah, that about sums it up. Think about the optics in front of a jury, your family, and probably your local community newspaper when you have to take the stand and tell the prosecutor and the rest of the court, "yes, I shot that man 7 times in the back, but he was running off with my laptop."

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

But muh things!

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

People who feel out of control of themselves cling to control over their things. Tale as old as time

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Deadly force is never authorized to protect property.

Never say never. In Texas there are some specific instances where it is, but they are narrow enough that most people probably can't cite them offhand and they're certainly narrower conditions than what those people think.

Texas penal code 9.42:

https://txpenalcode.com/sec-9-42/

Make what you will of "criminal mischief in the nighttime."

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Wow. Seems impossibly narrow and vague.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Can I see that post please?