(02-01-2017 10:14 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Sounds like an anti-gun Minnesota prosecutor at work.

Possible, but that is a pretty rural part of southern Minnesota that is nothing like urbane Twin Cities or the union Iron Range way up north. Basically, southern MN is like an Iowa, Illinois or Indiana farm areas with lots of guns and good-ole' boys.

But as the law is currently written in Minnesota, this guy broke the law. Here is a cut and paste of the general rules:


*You must not be a willing participant in the incident. You can’t start a brawl, and then draw your gun when someone pulls a knife.
*You must reasonably, immediately fear death or great bodily harm.
*The force you use must be reasonable; you can only use it to end the immediate threat to your life.
*You must make a reasonable effort to disengage. One exception is when you’re in your home – which means “within the walls of your domicile”. Which excludes driveways, outbuildings, and detached garages.

Now we've had some instances of a DA not bringing gun charges against a gun owner, but with a death no DA would take a Career Limiting Event (CLE) like not bringing charges.

(02-01-2017 09:58 AM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 07:35 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  Give the DA the choice to prosecute either one with the understanding that the other party (or parties) will go free. Either way, prosecute the burglars and fine the old man.

Disagree with this statement Gemini..

Again, prosecute the burglars, if you have proof
Prosecute the old man for manslaughter (again, if we're getting the entire story).

In this case, you don't pick and choose which "wrong" you're going to prosecute and ignore the other.

Yeah, I contradicted myself. Strike that from the record, please. Of course, I still think if I were his attorney, I'd somehow talk the DA down to accepting a plea of criminal negligence. While the homeowner was wrong, one could argue that he still felt like his life was in danger at the time of the shooting. I'm not sure either one would be a winnable case for the State. That's why I said what I said.

Quote:I still think if I were his attorney, I'd somehow talk the DA down to accepting a plea of criminal negligence.

This I can see happening