Electrically boobie-trapping an aluminum sash window

[Kurt Ullman]

The dude was 75. I am thinking his contributions to the gene pool had already been made.

[Robert Green]

I said "rarely" and stand by that. Texas is the exception to a LOT of rules. Even their "property exemption" has some serious limitations: "Cannot be protected by other means" and "would expose the actor or another to substantial risk" and apparently, only at night. My guess is that it's worded that way to aloow the DA to decide whether you meet those rather rigorous standards.

I'm not sure our sash executioner would fall under those exemptions. Wait, I take that back. I *am* sure those exemptions don't concern him: He's already told us he's a Floridian working under their penal codes.

My journalism prof once said "If you want to commit adultery, don't do it in Texas!" because Texas was then well-known as a place where you could

*still* shoot your wife's lover without serious consequence. Probably still is, at least in the rural counties. They call it "misdemeanor murder" and it's a reason I said earlier: don't do the crime if you're ugly. MM is a term that loosely means the murder of an unsympathetic victim that results in probation instead of real hard time or judicial homicide.

The excerpt you submitted is not typical of most state penal codes involving the use of deadly force to defend property, AFAIK.

My guess is that it's a holdover from the good ol' days of "Lonesome Dove" where rustlers were routinely used to decorate trees. From ropes. Even if they used to be your riding buddies. That pioneer spirit dies hard and so did the rustlers.

-- Bobby G.

[Jon Danniken]

You'd think people would know better by now, but I guess not.

Jon

[HeyBub]

Well, yeah, it's not like you get a free shot. On the other hand, it's your word against a dead man's. And nighttime applies only to theft or criminal mischief. You can shoot a burglar et al during the daytime. Criminal mischief includes such things as wheelies in the lawn, burning crosses, or papering a house.

Used to be. We called it the "Paramour Statute." But the courts so narrowed its application that you had to literally shoot the dude out of the saddle. So to speak.

Very famous case where the husband shot and killed both the wife and her sex partner. The DA couldn't prosecute for the death of the lover, so he tried the husband for the murder of the wife. The defense was simple: Since the husband was in the performance of a lawful act (killing the sampler), and there was no showing of negligence on the part of the husband, the homicide could be of a degree no higher than "excusable," for which there is no criminal penalty.

The state's "Paramour Statute" has been replaced with the common law defense of "But yer honor, he needed killin' " defense.

Nope. Actually added during the massive revision of the Penal Code in 1976.

[The Daring Dufas]

It's entertaining to counter-troll. 8-)

TDD

[aemeijers]

None of that makes booby traps legal. They are referring to the homeowner standing there with a gun.

[Higgs Boson]

Not supposed to put meat, bones, fat, etc. on compost piles.

to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."

I saw him on Bill Maher show once. Once was enough. Pathetic.

HB

[hallerb]

add a nightime bsecurity camera and record all activity. catch your neighbor vandalyzing proscute him.

thats far better than being charged with murder if a kid happens to get shocked and killed...

then it would be you in legal trouble

[HeyBub]

Right. The comment was whether deadly force could be used to defend property. In Texas, it can. In more benighted realms, some evidently feel that no property is worth a human life, not even a lawnmower or pot plant.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 10/25/2010 3:35 PM The Daring Dufas spake thus:

Just don't let that hook get anywhere near your mouth. Damn thing's sharp!

[Robert Green]

Depends on how unsympathetic your victim is. I think shooting New Yawkers is still relatively punishment free, if they "needed killing."

And that's the way I like it. It's why my cop buddies say: "If you're going to shoot, shoot to kill." Which is why you should have an orphaned screwdriver (i.e. not 1 of a set of 6 from your toolbox) around to insert into the dead man's hand so it's self defense. Might not work so well if you kill a relative, although there was a case recently where a man shot his newlywed wife thinking she was a burglar - and walked. I always wondered whether he just decided he didn't really like being married after all.

There was a case here where a foreign student was shot because he went to the wrong house, in costume, for a Halloween party. When he wouldn't leave, and continued making gestures and speaking in Turkish (IIRC), the homeowner shot him. And walked. The law here *expects* you to call the police in such situations but the reality is that the response time lag often means the damage is already done by the time they arrive. My experience has been mixed.

A while back, I saw someone skulking about in the backyard at 11PM on my IR CCTV. I went and got my Glock and my 2M candlepower spot. Turns out the spotlight blinded him so severely that he couldn't see to run away! He just stood there, blinking hard, trying to spin a yarn about why he was in my backyard.

The cops showed up within 2 minutes of being called and arrested him and his buddy in a car waiting down the street. And, to my delight, both resisted arrest. I don't know if PG County Maryland's rep extends much beyond the DC area, but out of all the cops to resist, they are not to be f*cked with. I was hoping they would have tasered the MF, but I guess a couple of whacks with a nightstick, a sap or a maglight are just as good.

Yes, I forgot to mention getting off was only a sure thing if you caught them "in flagrante delicto."

I wonder if it has any deterrent effect on adultery? Somehow, knowing how the little head thinks, I doubt it.

(-: That covers a lot of people.

Haven't you ever seen "Walker, Texas Ranger?" They may have passed it in

1976 but I'm betting the sentiment behind it was very much 1876 based.

-- Bobby G.

[Robert Green]

I noticed recently that folks like Blago and a number of other were convicted of lying to FBI agents. I thought the Jon Benet Ramsey case proved that you didn't EVER have to talk to a law enforcement officer if you chose not to. How stupid can you be to not only talk to them, but lie to them? Rod Blago stupid, apparently.

-- Bobby G.

[Robert Green]

I've been doing IR CCTV for years and if your perp wears a grey hoody and grey sweats you'll be lucky to get a grainy, fuzzy photo of a guy who could be the Unabomber (especially if he wears shades). At least the wildlife still camera traps have resonable resolution but if detected are stolen or smash up very nicely.

My view? Stalkers demand ambushing and nothing less. It's probably one of the fundamental pillars of human intelligence - learning to reverse predate. Some anthros believed that happened when our ancestors realized that those marks the saw on the ground would lead to food. We moved from senses such as smell to visual senses, like following footprints in the snow. Our eyes improved, our noses got less sensitive and we began to kill anything we could find at either end of those tracks, mammoth or mouse.

That's why when it comes to burglars staking out your house, you gotta catch 'em and learn 'em. Nail 'em up. Nail some *sense* into them! If that's too extreme for your taste, stun batons, baseball bats, and golf clubs all work. I'll bet you could even use a rope net jungle snare and play "Misery" with them until the police come to get them. Or maybe even "Pulp Fiction" or "Deliverance" if your tastes run that way.

-- Bobby G.

[HeyBub]

Once. Show is pure fiction.

In the show, Walker travels with his faithful Negro companion, James Trivette. In real life, Rangers are not often seen together inasmuch as there's only one Ranger for each of Texas' 254 counties.

[Kurt Ullman]

One riot, one Ranger. Learned that from the Miami Vice that starred Willie Nelson (probably the second best one behind Smugglers Blues- grin)

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Tue 26 Oct 2010 12:49:11a, Robert Green told us...

Friends of mine wired their steel doors and window frames with the same equipment that powers an electric fence to keep livestock inside. Enough to give you a good wallop, but not usually enough to kill you.

[HeyBub]

Neither a punch to the jaw nor tattooing a giant penis on the subject's back are likely to lead to death, but they are still assaults.

[LSMFT]

Leave the windows unlocked, let them come in, then kill them with whatever. You can dispose of the bodies with a wood chipper or burlap bags, rocks and a river. They can be cut to fit.

[Stormin Mormon]

THAT TROLL IS A COMPELTE IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Robert Green]

Now you are insulting fiction. Pure BS, maybe. It is hilarious to watch, however, to see how many police procedures can be violated within 60 minutes. The Hawaii 50 reboot is lookding to beat their record, from what I've seen, but they've got a ways to go.

You know an awful lot about it for seeing one episode. Hmmmmmm. (-:

-- Bobby G.