D.C. a little safer (I hope).

[DanaC]

You've also jailed homeowners for defending themselves against violent repeat offenders ..

Yes, i think i know the case you are referring to. A farmer was jailed for shooting a teenaged burglar in the back as he ran away. I do not believe that anyone has the right to kill a child ( he was 15) in order to defend their stuff. To defend their life? yes. To defend their cd player? nope.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I do not believe that anyone has the right to kill a child ( he was 15) in order to defend their stuff.

Fred Barras was 16, but his accomplice was Brendon Fearon, a 29-yo violent career criminal, who was apparently *not* running away, and then sued for damages. I don't think it reasonable that a farmer, in a remote farmhouse, burgled many times in the past, confronting two criminals late at night in the dark in his own home should be required to get proof of age of all present before acting to defend himself.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

At his trial, Martin claimed that on the night of August 20, 1999, he was awakened by sounds in his home. He took his shotgun and came downstairs, he claimed, to be confronted by a torch being shone in his face. A 29 year old man, Brendon Fearon, and an accomplice of 16, Fred Barras, were stealing from the house. Martin fired three shots in the dark and in doing so killed the youth, and injured the older man.

Fearson died in the comission of a felony...and the UK held the victim of the felony responsible, rather than the "adult" man who led him into that peril.