When Christopher Peterson of Inkster, Michigan, had to pull his firearm and shoot his mother’s ex-boyfriend on July 3, he likely had no idea he’d be charged with second-degree murder and have a court fight on his hands.
Thankfully for Peterson, two months after the incident, a district court judge ruled the shooting to be self-defense and dropped the charges against him.
According to police reports, Peterson, 24, was at his home late one evening and got into an argument with 49-year-old Dante Carey, his mother’s ex-boyfriend. The argument escalated to threats, and Peterson pulled his gun and shot Carey several times. Peterson had a license to carry the firearm.
Carey later died from his wounds, and Peterson was charged with both second-degree murder and using a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was later released on a $250,000 bond.
According to Robert Burton-Harris, Peterson’s attorney, Carey had a “lengthy history” of domestic violence against Peterson’s mother and at the time he was killed was on a tether for an unrelated assault with the intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and felonious assault. Still, Peterson was treated like a murderer and was set to go on trial earlier this month on the stiff charges.
But on September 4, Judge Brian Oakley of Romulus’s 34th District Court dismissed the murder charge and the charge of using a firearm during the commission of a felony after hearing some of the evidence in the case during the preliminary examination and determining Peterson shot Carey in self-defense.
While that was welcome news to both Peterson and his attorney, Burton-Harris told the Detroit News that the incident was still an unfortunate one.
“My client, like anybody, is happy to not have the most serious charges hanging over his head, but he is not happy about the situation,” Burton-Harris told the newspaper. “He’s certainly not happy about having to do what he had to do. He understands and acknowledges someone lost their life. It’s a very unfortunate situation.”
Had Peterson been convicted of the crimes he was charged with he would have faced lengthy prison time. The penalty for second-degree murder in Michigan is life in prison without parole, or any term of years in prison at the discretion of the court. The charge of carrying a firearm during commission of a felony is a mandatory two years in prison.
It’s still possible that prosecutors could appeal the judge’s dismissal of the case, but no announcement has been made yet on that matter.
Any time there’s a shooting, somebody needs to get arrested —> arrest the survivor —> sue the survivor.
Workplace protection for criminals, work fare for lawcrats.
Adequate self defense laws are essential to maintaining the blessings of liberty for the people.
“It’s still possible that prosecutors could appeal the judge’s dismissal of the case,…”
Prosecutors better appeal that decision; failure to do so will cost them serious street creds as anti-gunners.
I hate that graphic. Has anyone out there ever actually outlined a body with chalk? Or tape? I never have and I’ve visited multiple homicides with multiple agencies. I mean, really, what for? We’re taking pics of actual body anyway. A more accurate rendition of the scene than chalk. Or tape.
That chalk outline needs a Smiley Face so people won’t hate it…C’Mon Man.
But… they saw it on that tv show…
Australian slang for a fat person — double chalker — ie, the cops would need two pieces of chalk.
Hey, GF, the Possum has been MIA for awhile now, could you please contact him in his burrow to see if he’s OK? 🙂
“I hate that graphic. Has anyone out there ever actually outlined a body with chalk? Or tape?”
Actually, they have. Back in the late 1930’s into the 1940’s some news paper photographers were chummy with local law enforcement in LA so they would be able to enter crime scenes and get pictures their news papers used to scoop others and feed the ‘sensation’ seeking readers. But in most cases the body had already been removed before a newspaper reporter arrived so their pictures would not be as ‘sensational’ and basically useless to grab readers attention. So news paper photographers and law enforcement contrived to place an outline of where the body had been so the news paper picture would be more attention getting ‘sensational’. And the idea of doing it has remained since and appeared in various movies and TV shows, and some people still think its an actual standard official police practice and it isn’t so in reality its a myth.
Its a damn shame what they did to that dog!
Romulus?