Month: July 2014

The sad case of the Houston Family murders

Off the bat I will say that I can’t understand the dynamics and psychology of an abusive marriage. I leave that to those who are still trying to figure it out and haven’t been able to come up with a solution since the Homo Sapiens began roaming this planet.

But what we need to break is the idea that an abusive partner needs to be given “chances” for whatever reason: He did not mean it, he loves me/us, he is the father of my children,” etc. Once the partner has crossed the line and inflicted damage on the “loved one” he surrenders any consideration and must be kept as far as possible from the intended victims.

Ron Haskell seemed had a history of getting violent and yet nothing congealed into final legal action other than the divorce proceedings. And when somebody kidnaps, ties down & tries to choke his own mother, we are seeing somebody who is way past anger and hopping down the path of uncontrollable rage. The mother sought a restraining order but there was a breakdown somewhere because Haskell was not arrested. Would having Haskell arrested changed the outcome? maybe, maybe not but we will never know. Somebody who is determined to inflict death and then kill himself (not in this case but we have seen it prior and will see it again) is obviously not afraid of spending some time behind bars.

If anything, our society need to take cases like this very seriously. Unfortunately, it is now the norm in many divorce cases to preempt a husband legal actions and hobble him with a bogus restraining order. This is a despicable tactic by divorce lawyers and has undermined the value and respect people have for those things. Still, if a woman is being abused, she needs to have the husband arrested and a restraining order put in place if for nothing else that stating a firm legal paper trail. You should also have a lawyer or some sort of advocate keeping an eye on your case. Keep track of any attempts of contact by your Ex and notify anybody that needs to be notified.  Violations of the order are not a thing to dismiss and it may dampen the efforts your Ex may have, but do not bet on that.

Next and as much as possible, change your routines. You lived with a person that by that time knows you better than your own mother. He knows your likes, dislikes, where you go shopping, times you wake up and go to sleep, where do you gas your vehicle, at what time yo go to work, etc. Choose different stores, go out of your way if necessary to get your everyday items, try to throw his timing off as much as possible. On those location that you cannot change, increase your lever of awareness to Paranoid Level if necessary.

It is silly, but many forget to change locks and secure windows.  If you cannot move to a secure location, at least make sure he does not have easy access to your domicile.  Surveillance systems these days can be found for a very reasonable prices and being able to see who is outside without exposing yourself can prove invaluable .

I don’t have kids so I don’t have any good advice to give you on how to deal with that very delicate matter. You are gonna have to find others with that knowledge.

And yes, arm yourself, take a class or two, make yourself proficient with your firearm. Many firearm instructors will waive fees to women who are victims of abuse and put them in front of the line for training. Get your concealed permit and carry the gun with you at all times. You may not need it, but f you do, it will do you no good locked away in some drawer. If it on you, it can be reached instantly and it is under your control.

Let me get back to the restraining order and keeping track of violations of the same. Besides helping your case during the divorce proceedings, they may be used to prove a history of violence against you should you be forced to use deadly force to defend you life.  Although many prosecutors know better than bring a case against a battered woman, some have no problems with getting a notch carved if they smell they can get an easy conviction with your case. Full documentation of prior abuse, threats, violations of the restraining order may help a bad prosecutor rethink if it is a good electoral idea to go after a woman for murder or manslaughter after she was attacked by an Ex. Police reports, affidavits from witnesses, medical reports, any paperwork that can be presented by your lawyer in that worst case scenario will avoid you being victimized twice.

This is not a comprehensive list of things to do nor a 100% guarantee that you shall not have problems if you follow the above advice. but simply some tips to increase your percentage points of avoiding and surviving bad times. Nobody can guarantee you a perfect plan. The latest slogan of Not One More is just that and slogans don’t stop determined killers.

Florida’s Self-Defense Immunity given a boost.

The Florida Supreme Court won’t take up the case of an Opa-locka man who claimed self-defense in shooting and killing two unarmed men during a fight outside a Northwest Miami-Dade restaurant.

Prosecutors had asked the high court to review a local appeals court decision to grant immunity to Gabriel Mobley under Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground self-defense law.

But this week, high-court justices without explanation issued an order refusing to accept the case, which means Mobley is free and clear of murder charges.

The decision means Mobley’s case will set legal precedent in Florida. Legal experts have long seen the case as a key test of the controversial law, which eliminated a citizen’s “duty to retreat” before using lethal force in the face of a deadly threat or great bodily harm.

Critics say the 2005 Florida law, and similar ones across the country, promote a shoot-first vigilante culture that allows criminals a pass on justice.

More vexing for prosecutors, the law also gave judges greater leeway to throw out criminal charges — before a jury trial — if they deem someone acted in self-defense.

In Mobley’s case, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas Rebull refused to grant immunity to Mobley. But the Third District Court of Appeals in January reversed the judge, saying Mobley acted reasonably that night in using deadly force against two aggressors.

“Mobley did not shoot two innocent bystanders who just happened upon him on a sidewalk,” the court said in a 2-1 opinion.

via State high court won’t hear appeal in Miami self-defense case – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

I won’t say that this closes down the book on SYG/ Immunity from Prosecution challenges in Florida, but it does make it more difficult. As usual, the media is making a hash about what happened that night and I am sure there is plenty of absence of malice in dong so.

If you want to read the details of the case, click here for the appeal to the Third District court. As usual we want to read the original documentation and not what some journo thinks you should know or rather not kn ow about the case.

In this document, I found a passage that left me surprised as hell and proves what Andrew Branca says about some lawyers and judges not knowing Stand Your Ground and Immunity from prosecution and the same principle applies to other parts of the Florida Statutes

Here, the court below determined that Mobley did not “reasonably” believe  that deadly force was “necessary” to prevent “imminent” death, great bodily harm,  or commission of a forcible felony. In doing so, the court discounted the totality of  the circumstances facing Mobley and concluded that the use of deadly force was  not reasonable, first, because Mobley “never saw a weapon and did not know  anything about the possibility of a weapon,” with him only seeing “the second  attacker appear to be reaching for something under his shirt,” and second, because  Mobley should have brandished his gun, fired a warning shot or told the attackers  to stop because he had a gun.

Now, this happened in 2008 and the badly called “Warning Shot” law just came online 10 days ago. This reads like the judge is actually saying that at that time, a warning shot was not only legal but obligatory?  If somebody were to read this section and then give a warning shot (prior to July 2014) can he successfully refer to that court’s decision in case he was charged with Assault w/ Deadly Weapon, etc?

We got us a good law if nothing else to get this kind of judicial tumblings in check.

Manassas City police imitates Hollywood

In Northern Virginia, a teen boy’s girlfriend sent sexy pictures of herself and he sent one back. Now they want to charge the kid with felonies for child pornography and are trying to “prove” it’s him by creating their own collection of child pornography to compare it against. When the response by the prosecutor and the cops is to think, “hey, we should haul a 17-year-old boy to a hospital and give him a shot to force an erection so that we can take nudie pictures of him all hot and bothered,” it’s time they need to reconsider their choices in life.

via Creating Child Porn to “Prove” Child Porn | Shall Not Be Questioned.

Bitter’s post is good and outrage is more than indicated….but my cerebral files came up with this famous scene from a famous movie.

Dear Manassas City police & Prosecuting attorney:  Those of us not pissed at you, are laughing this hard.

Play Stupid Games with Stupid People gets you Stupid Prizes, study confirms.

The study highlighted a strong correlation between firearm-related hospitalizations and poor outcomes after being discharged, including repeated hospitalization, commission of crime and death. A quarter of those hospitalized for a firearm-related injury were arrested for firearm-related crime within the next five years.

Researchers found that those hospitalized with a gun-related injury who had a prior arrest for gun-related or violent crime were 43 times more likely to be slain within the next five years than those without either.

The study also looked at patients’ prior alcohol or drug abuse as well as prior psychiatric history. Those who were hospitalized with a gun-related injury who had prior arrests for firearms or violence were 13 times more likely to be arrested over the next five years, while those with prior psychiatric history were only twice as likely to be arrested.

via UW study: Shooting victims more likely to die by gun in future | Local News | The Seattle Times.

This is an obvious NRA-Gun Manufacturers paid study as we well “know” that the only victims of gun violence are toddlers between the ages of two and twenty-four. [/end snicker]

This is not new info for a lot of us, We know that most of the murders and violence is commited by violent felons within their circle of criminals and the it goes out to

“Most violent crime is caused by a small minority of repeat offenders. One  California study found that 3.8% of a group of males born in 1956 were responsible for  55.5% of all serious felonies.43 75-80% of murder arrestees have prior arrests for a  violent (including non-fatal) felony or burglary. On average they have about four felony  arrests and one felony conviction.”
The Prevalence and Incidence of Arrest Among Adult Males in California, Robert Tillman, prepared for California Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Statistics and Special Services, Sacramento,  California, 1987

Besides the obvious attempt at power grab by the Gun Control Cults, what ticks me off is all that time and taxpayer’s money wasted trying to legislate the wrong group of people because there is no political testosterone to go after those hard-core criminals. So instead of devoting resources going after the predators, they waste time and other people’s lives trying to blame and restrict those who have nothing to do with the violence.

The Game of Stupid appears to be eternal.

Alive by the grace of God, not because he did anything right.

Around 6:30 p.m. Monday, Phil Reagan says he came home to discover two strangers inside his house. He says they were stealing his guns, and then they used those weapons to try to shoot him.

“I was only able to fire off one round and then they opened up on me, both of them, with pistols from their car,” Reagan said.

Reagan says he didn’t shy away when he returned home to find his back door bashed in and thieves stealing his things.

“Well, I shot at them. I told them to drop the guns and then I shot at their car, but neither one of them were in it yet and then my gun jammed.” he said.

When Reagan’s gun jammed, the thieves took their chance to fire back. Reagan says they fired about a dozen bullets at him. He took cover in his truck, where evidence is apparent.

via Knoxville man says thieves broke into this home, used his guns t.

But wait, that is not all:

He says this isn’t the first time he’s been robbed, someone stole guns from his home back in April, too.

“I was broke into while I was in the hospital for 31 days for my leg,” Reagan said.

Reagan says he’s an avid shooter. He thinks he may have been targeted because people know he has guns.

The prior incident is what the experts call “A frigging clue.”

So let’s summarize:  His house was broken into on a previous occasion when guns were stolen. He probably got more guns instead of buying something to keep them secured while he was out. He arrived home, saw that his house was broken into again, did not call the cops, gave the burglars a warning, his firearm malfunctioned, did not manage to clear the malfunction (so much for the “avid shooter part) and almost got hit by return fire?  He is alive indeed by sheer divine intervention.

Now, did he get the hint and plans to purchase a gun safe? Apparently  not:

While the robbers may have stolen some of his weapons, he says he’ll get more, and invites the thieves back anytime.

“I want them to come back. I’ll be better prepared for them next time,” Reagan said

You can’t fix stupid.