Comments on: Between a void and a hard place

By: A vex at your door: revisiting FL’s stand your ground law | a public defender

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:54:05 +0000

[...] threat of deadly force during a home invasion, based largely on a case I briefly mentioned in this post a while [...]

By: The stupidity epidemic: it’s catching | a public defender

The stupidity epidemic: it’s catching | a public defender — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:50:19 +0000

[...] now you’ve gone and done it. The stupid has taken over the world. In addition to the “honey I found a shotgun in the yard” crime in Britain, Virginia has now gone and convicted the coffee guy who was walking around [...]

By: Gideon

Gideon — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:04:37 +0000

Wrong. The correct answer is to move. Far, far away. Let the next guy deal with the problem.

By: Bill Thompson

Bill Thompson — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:23:27 +0000

Moral to the story: If you happen to discover a shotgun lying around on your property, immediately take it to a gun show and sell it! Presumably to a good home…

By: Gideon

Gideon — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:12:41 +0000

I did a brief Google news search before writing the post to see if he’d been sentenced. Didn’t turn up anything. I’ll amend the post to reflect it.

Any idea what the defense was? Is there such a thing as void for vagueness in England?

By: Charon QC

Charon QC — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:08:33 +0000

Excellent post, Gideon

He was sentenced to 12 months – suspended. The judge (sensibly) applied the ‘exceptional circumstances’ provision to avoid what would have been an obvious injustice.

I still think the decision to arrest by Police and to charge by CPS was ‘strange’.

By: Gideon

Gideon — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:51:08 +0000

e) All of the above.

By: Paul B. Kennedy

Paul B. Kennedy — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:49:37 +0000

Unbelievable. I don’t know what’s crazier: the fact that it’s a strict liability crime, the mandatory minimum of 5 years, or the fact we’re talking about a freaking shotgun.

It’s like being stuck in a bad Kafka novel.