“The deadly confrontation happened just before 8 a.m. Saturday when the owner arrived to do some work for his business,” Seattle’s komonews.com reports. “He noticed a window screen out in the yard and someone had forced open the front door.” Should he have called the cops then? Well he didn’t . . .

The man went inside and confronted another man he found in his shower, deputies said. The homeowner left after the two exchanged words.

“He returned home, retrieved a firearm, came back over to the residence and fired multiple rounds into the shower … killing the intruder,” said Mason County Sheriff’s Lt. Travis Adams.

Note: the shooter’s home was next door (he owned adjoining properties). And let’s not forget the general standard for the lawful use of deadly force: you must be facing an imminent, credible threat of grievous bodily harm or death.

A naked unarmed man in a shower is not likely to meet that standard. It’s not impossible, but it’s not likely.

In fact, by successfully leaving the stranger in the shower to retrieve his gun, the owner proved that he did not face an imminent, credible threat of grievous bodily harm or death. At that moment. 

He may have faced a lethal threat when he returned. (A good lawyer will make that argument.) But by then the homeowner was behind the proverbial eight ball, legally speaking.

By not alerting the police to the presence of a home invader when he clearly had the chance the homeowner set himself up for murder charges. Like this:

The homeowner called 911 and told dispatchers that he had just shot and killed an intruder, Adams said.

It’s not clear how long Rosa had been inside the home, but detectives don’t believe the homeowner gave him any warnings before he fired his gun, they said.

Deputies later arrested the homeowner for second-degree murder. They believe he had ample time to call for help when he went back home.

“Certainly he had an opportunity to call law enforcement at that time,” Adams said. “And we’ve contacted our local prosecutor, explained the circumstances to him, and he agrees that second-degree murder was an appropriate charge in this case.”

Investigators said the homeowner is cooperating with detectives.

Detectives don’t believe Rosa was armed when he was killed, they said.

On its face, this homicide has all the hallmarks of an execution. But we don’t know all the facts; what’s called the “totality of circumstances.” That’s what the judge and/or jury will consider when rendering its verdict.

Meanwhile, let this be a lesson to us all.

Call the cops during a home invasion or any other kind of attack as soon as it is safe to do so. Don’t delegate the task. Don’t give the 911 operator any more details than is strictly necessary. Either hang up or set the phone down ASAP.

Calling the heat isn’t [just] a matter of cops arriving to save the day. It’s about protecting yourself from legal jeopardy — a danger that can linger months even years after a defensive gun use.

Don’t be this guy. Not even a little bit.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

109 COMMENTS

  1. yup, he fucked up. lucky it’s not first degree premeditated. this is one time bacon patrol should have been called without a doubt, stupid ass.

    • http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-man-charged-murder-fatal-shooting-showering-intruder-n743596

      “Dorcy has said that investigators were told Rosa and friends were sending off a friend who was being deployed to Afghanistan, and they went to some bars before visiting a friend’s home near the property where Rosa was later shot, and that home and Fanning’s property look similar, according to NBC affiliate KING.

      Rosa’s friends said he left at around 5 a.m. to get some air and never returned, raising the possibility he mistook Fanning’s building for his friend’s home, Dorcy said.

      Investigators aren’t sure what occurred in the hours after Rosa’s friends last saw him, Mason County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Ryan Spurling said Thursday.

      A homeowner shot an intruder after finding the man in his shower in Mason County, Wash. Mason County Sheriff’s Office
      His clothes were on the floor and were wet, and investigators aren’t sure if he got wet somehow outside and was in the early stages of hypothermia; the temperature was in the 30s at the time, Spurling said. “We just don’t know at this point,” Spurling said.”

  3. This reminds of the cases where a resident/homeowner has chased the fleeing perp. I just don’t get why an armed person would do that. The perp could be heading towards his/her partner–who may be armed as well.

  4. Wow. That’s as stupid as it gets. I would have called 911 and posted up outside the house without entering.

    When there’s no hurry, don’t hurry.

    Even if the jury sides with the dummy it’s going to cost him an arm and a leg to get out of this.

  5. Just goes to show you, your stupid neighbors who needed a job are more for your other stupid neighbors who are indeterminately dangerous (EVEN IF THEY’RE FING PSYCHO-NAKED AND IN YOUR DAMN SHOWER AFTER HAVING “WORDS” WITH YOU ABOUT BEING IN YOUR DAMN SHOWER).

    Protection of yourself, and your property has to rise to the razor’s edge before you DO anything permanent about it, while something permanent has been done to you, and you are less likely to partake in Society, and Societal Agreements with your neighbors after that.

    That’s worth shooting a naked guy in your house without permission, and on-orders to leave. No?

    Who said stupid naked guy’s actions were worth his life. HE DID. If you don’t think so, then it’s on you. Safer to think it’s not safe to shower in someone else’s house without emergency or invite.

      • He lost me at “psycho-naked.” I mean, aren’t you just “normal-naked” when you’re in the shower?

        • No.

          If I was naked and uninvited in your shower, you’d call me psycho without any further evidence or consultation.

          And I (at that point) might have earned it. And people would never again call me Francis.

        • Nah, I’d probably still call you Joe.

          Someone taking a shower is not by definition a psycho, even if it’s a felonious shower.

          • It probably wasn’t even a felony. It was probably a “gross misdemeanor.” Washington’s burglary statutes are a bit weird.

        • Unless you were naked, in my shower and babbling like a crazy man, I’d just call you a trespasser who needed to clean up. If you were naked, in my shower, and one of my ex-girlfriends, then maybe I’d call you a psycho.

      • Let me translate…
        P1: im surrounded by low lifes that tend to side with other low lifes even if those low lifes are bat shit crazy.
        P2: Society sucks because it forces me to be traumatized before I can take any action to protect myself. The trauma makes me withdraw from society further and loathe my low life neighbor more.
        P3: Stupid people doing stupid things in stupid places are likely to earn stupid prizes.
        P4: Stupid person willingly accepted stupid prize.

      • Even today’s top-of-the-line cell phones don’t have enough processing power to translate Joe’s ravings to intelligible human language.

        But maybe we could at least make a Joe R. drinking game out of it. Every time he says “your POS neighbors who need jobs”, take a drink. “Your mother owes us an abortion”, take a drink. “Evil house of (D)”, drink. Citations from that book he wrote, or imagined, or whatever that was, take two drinks.

        On second thought, bad idea. Alcohol poisoning is no joke, and it would only take two or three Joe R. comments to be lethal under these rules.

        • Too late, and you’re not allowed to say “drink”.

          So, consume, and pass the 12 sided die to your south.

    • Maybe the naked shower man tried to rape him? Or the homeowner was trying to rape the naked shower man and he resisted too much? Either way I think there’s a lot more to the story. When men are naked and fighting ussually there’s some rape or other sexual tension going on. Perhaps a lovers quarrel turned bloody.

  6. Yeah clearly he should have called 5-O. Do I fault him? Not really as I am not privy to his “exchange” with the naked shower invader…I don’t see 2nd degree murder. Manslaughter maybe…

    • In most jurisdictions, 2nd degree murder is the intentional killing of another human being, caused by actions done with the intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. The only thing that distinguishes 1st degree and 2nd degree murder is premeditation. Courts have held that premeditation can occur pretty quickly (the time it took to walk back to his house and grab a gun is WAY long enough). I’ll be surprised if the district attorney doesn’t bump this up to 1st degree. I see no grounds for voluntary manslaughter here, which requires circumstances that would “cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed.” In the vast majority of cases, manslaughter is a “crime of passion” involving discovery of adultery or abuse of women and children. No such mitigating circumstances are present here. Guy made a very bad choice going back into that house. (If the guy charged him from the shower, that might change my opinion, but the fact the dead guy was found in the shower suggests otherwise).

  7. Do I agree that B&E holds grounds for you losing your life? Yes, in most circumstances. This would not be one of them, with the information we have. Seems guy had enough time to exchange words, leave, go retrieve gun, call the PO, and then come back and shoot said intruder. I imagine that would take at least a min or two. What seems like a homeless guy just trying to clean himself up a bit, I’m not sure I could shoot the guy just for that. Holding him at gun point until cops arrive? I think that should’ve been the play.

    As RF would say, home carry.

    • ‘Holding him at gun point until cops arrive?’

      That may have been the plan, but what do you do if the naked guy rushes you and tries to take your gu n? Once you’ve already retreated to safety and then came back to confront the man?

      • Personally I would not have re entered nor shot the intruder. It’s a big deal to take a life, however I can’t hold the owner responsible for murder, bad guy continued to trespass after what I presume was a warning. At that point it’s on the bad guy (I would argue it’s on him for breaking in to begin with). In certain states that have more liberal castle doctrine rules you can be shot just for trespassing. A few friends and I were caught trespassing on purpose(not maliciously) in my younger and dumber days, luckily we pursuaded the owner and the state trooper not to press charges or lock us up. I still remember the troopers warning before leaving, “if you boys get caught out here again the owner can shoot you on sight and he will be within his rights”.

  8. Even where there’s no duty to retreat, if you do retreat you’d better not go back. Big no-no.

  9. Scenario II

    “Owner” returns to house and retrieves his firearm (verifying that stupid naked shower freak didn’t take it).
    Owner still hears the shower running, inches his way in the direction of the bathroom to see if, indeed, FING stupid naked shower dude has gone and left the shower running, or still there and passed out from seeing how much of a slut the bar of soap was, or strangubation from the shower-nozzle hose.
    FING Stupid-naked-shower dude, is deep into his database of “Asian women he has seen in an elevator” and butter fingers (no-pun-intended) the soap, OR, the body wash (it’s heavier).
    The sound from the shower floor sounds like a muffled gunshot, and freaked out Owner shoots through the door.

    All the Owner’s fault, because he didn’t spring from the womb fully formed and kill every swinging di<K of the mothers that would hatch the idiots that would engross the legislation and judicial decision to provide for a precedent that finding an uninvited person (who is not otherwise under duress to be or remain there) in your home, is not grounds to take action
    THAT DOESN'T FIRST REQUIRE A PHONE CALL TO SOMEONE WHO'S GOING TO QUESTION THE OWNER'S JUDGEMENT FOR THE LIFE OF THE OWNER UP UNTIL THE TIME OF THE CALL.

    f all that, and all comers. The rest sounds like idiot-speak that some "gun attorney" came up with for a seminar, because the ATTORNEY HAS TO TELL YOU TO FOLLOW / COMPLY WITH THE "LAW".

    Scenario III

    Drag FING stupid-naked-shower-dude on a chain over to your DA's house. Unchain them, and tell them that there's both a shower (with potentially more hot water) and a more sympathetic ear inside.

  10. Hyperlink gun to redsgear? Really guys? Very weaksauce.

    I understand ya gotta pay the bills but I’m used to most of them going to other articles; not advertising. Guess that’s what I get for reading on the iPad

  11. You know when people say “Id rather be judged by twelve than carried by six”, this is one possible outcome. Bumper sticker wisdom doesn’t replace sound judgement.

    • Most people who say that forget that they can and will be judged by twelve (after which you’ll wish you had been carried by six).

      • Eh. Having worked in the very vowels of the criminal justice system, I’d still choose life over death, every time, and will continue to act accordingly. However it looks like this guy wasn’t playing that game. But let’s all remember. We weren’t there, we don’t know all the facts, and the media is likley spinning the story. All the internet lawyers should avoid too much judgment before the trial begins.

        • Washington law states ““No person in the state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting by any reasonable means necessary … his or her real or personal property.” The property owner was a person in the state who protected his real (and some personal) property. The Washington law is referred to as a “stand your ground” law, so I assume some additional procedural and burden protections compared to traditional self defense law.

          The legal question in this case will be something like whether the means were reasonable and/or necessary. The best evidence we have that his actions were not reasonable/necessary is what he said. If the story was that a property owner found and shot a naked man in the owners house, most would find that reasonable/necessary. Leaving, getting a gun, coming back, and shooting the naked guy, all while not calling the police, that’s a much harder sell. And how do we know the home owner did this? He said so.

          It is fair to criticize his behavior, whether you got your J.D. from the Mark Zuckerberg School of Law or one that is actually accredited by the ABA.

        • TX_Lawyer is correct. Washington law is very protective of homeowner and property owner rights, and even in very blue King County, the prosecutor has been loathe to bring this type of case to court, even if it seemed there was ample reason for prosecution. Recall the 70-something guy that capped a teenager, in his front yard, for tampering with his care? The old gentleman wasn’t prosecuted.

          That all said, dealing with that particular situation could go all sorts of sideways, which may indeed require ballistic solutions – but as described, the homeowner should likely have shown some restraint.

          Or, running this through the Google Joe R. translator: Fvking PsYcHo Nakeed Man deserives shootin’ cuase dummasses shouldn’t drop the soap in lather beater!!! Or something like that….

  12. This is why you don’t talk to the police after shooting someone. It may turn out that you are an idiot and that perfectly justified shoot wasn’t.

    • Actually, you DO tell the police a brief account of what happened and where any witnesses are located. ‘He threatened me with a knife and I feared for my life; I shot in his direction; the witnesses are the man in the blue jacket and the woman in the tan blouse’. Then shut up. Did you get your law degree at Sears?

      • Nope. I got my law degree at JCPenney’s. Way better law school than Sears.

        But on a more serious note, you are the type of moron that thinks he is smarter than everyone else and will confess to a crime because clearly it wasn’t your fault this happened. You were totally justified. “I shot in his direction.” What are you? A Monty Python character? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWBUl7oT9sA

  13. So, the police know he went in, found the guy, went out, got his gun, went back in and shot the guy because he told them that’s what happened? He deserves everything bad that happens to him.

  14. I think executing intruders is morally wrong but should be ok from the legal standpoint.

  17. I see NOTHING wrong with what the homeowner did here save for not being “armed” in the first place when entering his supposedly “unoccupied” property.

    The homeowner entered his own property, discovered an intruder, exchanged words some of which I guarantee included “Get the **** out of MY house!”, retreated, gave the intruder time to leave, returned while “armed” to “secure” his property and was obviously “accosted” by the intruder then legally (Castle Law) “defended” himself. I suspect the homeowner expected (as he should have) that the intruder who had NO “right” to be in the residence in the first place, would have been gone by the time he, the homeowner. returned.

    As for the intruder being “unarmed” that DOESN’T mean he wasn’t a threat. How many times have we read/heard of an “unarmed” assailant who killed a victim with one punch or beat their head against the ground until they died?

    There is NO law that I am aware of where a home or property owner is required to call police in order to enter his own home or property.

    • You cannot just shoot unarmed naked people in your shower regardless of whether they belong there or not.

    • was obviously “accosted” by the intruder

      You mean the intruder who never left the shower? He’s the one “obviously” doing the accosting here?

      • Dude, he’s dead, if you want to advocate for stupid psycho-naked-shower people, you have to hurry to solicit the live ones.

        But, be careful, you can’t play devil’s advocate for more than a split-second before it becomes hard to tell the difference.

      • Are you actually implying that an “intruder”, a “home invader”, has the “right” NOT to be “accosted” or “confronted” by a homeowner who arrives to find the UNINVITED “guest” in his home?

  18. I generally side against the insipid laws that are written to do little more than hurt a guy protecting himself and/or his property, but this truly was a dumb-as-hell move. He absolutely should have just back out of the house and called the cops. He was in no real danger that any reasonable person can clearly see. Hell, aside from a bar of soap, his possessions weren’t even in danger.

    This guy gonna lose.

  19. They didn’t mention that the shooter’s naked wife was in there with the shower dude, the shooter is the one that kicked the door in. Whereabouts of the soon to be ex wife presently unknown as she exited stage left while hubby was grabbing iron.

    • Plausible, and more likely than homeowner finding a random dude in the shower making drain-babies.

  20. Curious if the showering man had just finished up with the shooter’s wife? Who owns two houses next door to each other? There’s something missing from the report here. Breaking into someone’s house to shower is the very height of not enough information.

    If someone so badly in need of a shower were to knock on my door, I might actually take pity on the smelly bum and just make him scrub down the stall when he was done. I’d certainly put his clothes through the wash or give him some yard work clothes of mine. If you’re desperate enough to swallow your last sliver of pride and knock on someone’s door for something as basic a civilized standard as cleanliness, it’s not outside the realm of reason for the person to treat you as a neighbor in the biblical sense.

    Of course there’s the risk that it’s a con and the person is a thief or worse, but I’m in the unique situation where there’s nothing in my current residence besides furniture and not that much at that. I’m sure there’s a sensible argument against subjecting your self and home to that level of risk, brewing right now in the minds of those reading, but there’s redemption in kindness.

    • Even if there’s nothing wroth stealing in your house, there are some real sickos out there. They might just want to cut up for fun. I’d say be careful, but I’ve given rides to bums in the past when it was raining or things like that. I can’t bring myself not to. Of course, I also carry every day, even at home.

      • Right, you could have a 28 [flakka] Days Later incident {disputed by HUFFPOO, and 9 out of 10 reputable flakka dealers}.

    • Every man sets the standards for his life. I give no money to people on the street but I will feed them. Have done so many times.

      I have wife and daughter and granddaughters living with me. I could not let a strange street person into my house. That’s further than I’m willing to go.

    • ” Who owns two houses next door to each other?”
      Lots of people do. Neighbor’s house goes on the market and you realize two things:
      1) You could turn it into a profitable rental property that’s easy to keep an eye on and maintain.
      2) You have some control over who your neighbor is.

  21. Personally I lose no sleep over someone being shot for breaking into someone else’s property and then refusing to leave.

    That said, the legal issues involved make the shooter here very dumb. Castle doctrine means you don’t have to retreat before using force- but once you have retreated, the idea that you then re-enter danger and use that as a justification for shooting someone is probably not going to fly.

    Stop. Think.

  22. My complete and speculative theory:

    Homeowner knew that if he called the cops the man living on his property taking a shower would tell them he has lived there over a month and the cops would tell the caller and property owner that he can do nothing about the squatter. He would have to put a notice on the door and evict him following legal protocol all while the squatter damaged his property with a filthy lifestyle.

    Homeowner went back to his vehicle, got his gun and shot the squatter dead. (My inner self has a little celebration, yet still sheds a small tear.)

    Homeowner calls cops??? Then detectives discover the obvious. An unarmed man was shot while taking a shower.

    • Hmm. Interesting scenario. And not entirely implausible – Seattle being overboard on renter’s rights, and now a “Sanctuary” city. Heck, if shower dude happened to not be white, shooter-dude may have been concerned that he’d lose the property entirely.

    • Except it happened in Belfair, on the Olympic Peninsula, about 25 miles away from Seattle. The Olympic Peninsula is nothing like Seattle, and Mason County in particular is a purple county. Went Trump in the last election, voted for a mix of Democrats and Republicans down ticket, and voted all over the place on ballot measures.

      • Eviction laws are made at the state level. Google “Washington State Squatter laws” to see another example of what is wrong with this country.

  23. There are some nuances of both law and morality that, sadly, are beyond some people’s comprehension. Breaking into someone’s house is a) morally wrong, b) illegal and c) extremely risky, as three teens in Broken Arrow, OK tragically learned last week. However,

    Nothing in the paragraph above gives us the right to execute a trespasser who poses no immediate threat. Doing so is a) morally wrong, b) illegal and c) extremely risky, as the shooter here tragically learned when they slapped the cuffs on him.

  24. Well, shooting the guy while he’s still in the shower does solve that messy cleanup problem.

  25. Libs will say, ok to kill an innocent naked person submeged in fluid if they were put there without your consent (i.e., abortion after rape or incest). Libs and people who lean in to their nooses too long while pleasuring themselves, would say it’s wrong to kill a non-innocent naked person getting splashed with water, who is permitted there by a frailty of “law” (that cannot even coalesce, much less be codified or preserved in writing) without Society, and Societal Agreement, that’s asked to stand the F by, while it’s run roughshod over to preserve the law. No. F all that. Don’t underthink it people, don’t abdicate your support for Society (Societies) so that ‘law’ can [long after the fact, and likely further removed by a safe distance] judge you in a past moment as though it is a more worthy notion.

    THE ONLY REASON, one could use to support an opposite notion, is if one were concerned that (stipulating to the description as a group of facts) one might find ones self uninvited and naked in a neighbors shower. If that’s the case, you’re all not careful enough in your persons and in your circumstances to even discuss ‘guns’.

    You are king on the dirt your shoed feet cover. You cannot reign with any peace without a safe standoff distance. We have defined LIMITS (J.M. Thomas R., TERMS, 2012) or we are TOO SUSCEPTIBLE TO ANOTHERS MOMENTUM. Ine of those LIMITS is your home, or else you have no solitude, and the fatigue garners you less, or no, opportunity for ARMISTICE with others.

    That’s permanent human nature, because we all have needs, and we’re stuck here together in this Universe until JESUS calls us home.

    • Joe R. is one of the many reasons why I keep stopping in at TTAG; the creative wit, the different styles of thinking and writing. Joe R. is hilarious (a compliment) and I think his creative perspectives are coming into his differently wired brain faster than he can write. Laugh-out-loud stuff as are many of the responses to him. What a great bunch you ALL are. Thanks.

  26. Invasion? Muddying the water with deceptive terms or descriptors is counterproductive, there’s absolutely no reason to twist, spin, or outright lie about the crime committed by the now deceased perpetrator. The most serious crime in this instance is residential burglary, the lessor included crime would be criminal trespassing. The term home invasion refers to a forcible entry or violent take over of a residence with physical force or a weapon during a burglary, robbery, kidnapping, assault or some other felonious act. Unless there’s more details that haven’t come to light, this incident sounds like the shooter used deadly force after he became angry then made the decision to leave and retrieve a firearm, then return to shoot the burglar, not because there was an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.

  29. Okay, I’ve broken into someone’s home. I’m in the shower when I am confronted by the owner, who then leaves…..,I continue with my shower???

    I don’t think so,

    I’m thinking someone was given permission to stay at the house. Argument or something set owner off, who waits until I’m in the shower.

    The whole story sounds like it could use a really good shower, to get rid of the aroma.

  30. as the Anti’s love to point out and as this guy demonstrates, there are people out there who can’t wait to shoot someone. this guy is one of them. yes, definitely don’t be this ass hat.

  31. i wouldnt have called the cops at all,

    burn barrel than a new concrete slab poured for a garage shed

    problem freaking solved

    • There is more to this story. Why break into a home just to take a shower?

      Why kill someone just because they broke in and took a shower?

      There’s more to the story.

      • Why break into a home (vacant house) just to take a shower?
        A. Homeless person
        B. Crackhead
        C. Mentally impaired
        D. Illegal alien
        E. All of the above

  32. “Forget to Call the Cops During a Home Invasion? Here’s What Can Happen”

    That is implying that if you don’t call the cops DURING a home invasion, even when you ARE in a situation where there is imminent threat, you will be charged.

  33. Too many gun owners legal “training” comes from watching THE LONE RANGER, HILL STREET BLUES or MAGNUM PI. They also depend on the newspaper and TV news to inform them about the law passed in the State capitol.

    Ego, bravado or just plain stupidity conspire to make people take rash action to defend their property. They feel that wimps call 911. Just taking a CCW/CCH course doesn’t mean that te gun owner has actually belived what the instructor told them about use of force, commonly called self-defense.

    Dial 911 ASAP, before a confrontation if possible. Your safety might depend on the prompt arrival of police and an ambulance. If you’re forced into a gun battle, having made the 911 call first means your lawyer can speak about your lawful use of force and your respect for te law.

      • Mike that’s got to rank right up there near the top on the all time list of really f*****g stupid comments posted on the TTAG website. Too funny!

        • Okay guys, keep behaving like antis and blame the gun. Then say stupid shit like “this makes gun owners look bad”.
          My point is, since this seems to have gone over your head, the argument needs to be framed as whether or not the killing was justified. That’s it. Method of homicide doesn’t matter.
          The original post in this string started off with “Too many gun owners…” bla bla bla.
          That’s the wrong argument to have. If you disagree, tell me why. Judging by the ad hominem insults, you have no counter argument.

  34. Reminds me of an incident that happened to one of my co-workers years ago who awoke one morning and on his way to the coffee pot noticed muddy footprints trailing from the carport door through a laundry room to the living room and terminating at the couch upon which an extremely intoxicated stranger lay snoring. Understandably alarmed, my co-worker hurriedly retrieved a pistol, alerted his wife to call the Sheriffs Office, then instead of executing the sleeping burglar, stood guard until Deputies arrived shortly thereafter to haul the drunk bastard off to jail.

    Turns out the drunk was a neighbor who got hammered the night before and attempted to walk home after driving his vehicle into a muddy ditch. The drunk walked to the wrong house and stumbled through an unlocked carport door before collapsing on the wrong couch. Had my co-worker been a stone cold killer eager to seize the opportunity to take out a defenseless dumbass, he could’ve easily come up with a story to articulate deadly force justification, but since my co-worker is a decent human being with common sense and a conscious, he didn’t execute the drunk.

    This increasingly typical TTAG click bait article about an idiot with no common sense murdering a defenseless naked burglar and/or trespasser taking a shower plays right into the liberal anti-gun narrative and propaganda equating firearms ownership with evil intent; so does the deceptively misleading and lame mischaracterization of this incident as a “home invasion”, when it is evident to anyone with even a hint of common sense or objectivity that this incident was either a residential burglary or criminal trespass with no indication of the use of force and violence commonly associated with the term “home invasion”.

    • The building the broke into wasn’t even a home. It was an unoccupied house. That’s one reason why it was probably criminal trespass and not residential burglary.

      • I agree, I doubt any prosecutor in Texas would pursue a 2nd degree felony charge for burglary of a habitation for this type of incident or even a state jail felony burglary of a building, sounds like a Class B misdemeanor criminal trespass charge to me.

        • I’m sure some would. They overcharge sometimes. The prosecutors in my county aren’t too bad. Their biggest problem is that they believe whatever law enforcement says. Before I started taking criminal cases, I did too. Now I think a good portion of LEO’s are just liars. And the thing is, the one’s I can easily prove are liars are usually lying about something that doesn’t even have any legal significance, other than character evidence.

          A criminal defense attorney’s job is all about preventing the state from railroading the defendant. If the defendant is guilty and the state has the proof, it’s my job to ensure the sentence isn’t unfair. Otherwise, my job is to show them why they should just drop it, and if they don’t, say “prove it” and then, “nah, you didn’t prove it because of these reasons.” Technically, it is to advise the client and then do what he says (oversimplification).

          I recently attended a local CLE where the state (my local DA) charged some guys with murder. The presenters, a local attorney and cell phone detective expert witness, not only proved their guy was innocent, but who did the murder. The cops just stopped investigating when they had probable cause to arrest somebody. The expert witness, who is a retired police detective, sounded like he was personally offended as a former LEO by the job they did.

          A lot of the cops around here suck at the “being a good person” part of their jobs.

        • A LAWYER calling cops LIARS? Thanks for the huge laugh. By the way; why don’t YOU become a police officer and show us all how it SHOULD be done? Put up or shut up.

  35. I should not be surprise people are so willing to cage others for protecting private property. The shooter was in the right. It was a legally stupid move, but why do so many support making crimes of natural acts of would-be free men?

    • Except that the property owner was not protecting anything. If he was concerned about protecting his property he would have not left the scene and instead called 911. Nice try; no cigar.

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