“Life turns on small choices.”
William Carmichael
The federal “hate crimes” prosecution resulted in convictions all around, and life or essentially life sentences (on top of similar result for their Georgia convictions). No surprises. None at all. The U.S. Department of Justice view is HERE. Worth a read, whether entirely correct or not. I think the “three guys” will do their life sentence time “initially” in the prison system of Georgia. It would be fair to say they will most likely die in some prison.
One life needlessly taken and three lives horrifically altered because of poor decision-making. When they weren’t even “under the gun” to act. Families with lost or gone forever loved ones. Bad thinking on the MAY element of my deadly force paradigm. Worse on the SHOULD. Deadly force decision-making is far more a thinking person’s endeavor than it is a confirmation of equipment selection or a test of marksmanship. It should never be made foolishly by spur-of-the-moment lark, whether individually or in tandem with other bad thinkers. A possible universal mantra: Don’t open the door; don’t go outside. See HERE.
We live in perilous and strange times. Deeper thought is imperative, as I suggested in 2020, HERE. Your neighbor’s property? Check your state law. You might have no privilege to use any force to protect it. Brandishing and gunpointing should never be taken lightly. See HERE and HERE.
Screw it up? Don’t compound it by saying dumb things to police (or letting others assert them) which aren’t so (like “citizen’s arrest” see HERE). A Florida guy named Michael Drejka made a similar mistake, see HERE. Resist the urge to chase, see HERE.
Aristotle had a lot to say about tragedy. He would surely agree that the tragedies that befall others provide the rest of us with a unique opportunity to reflect on our own mindset and values.
Disclaimer: No MSW post constitutes particularized legal advice, or creates an attorney-client relationship with a reader.