Henry Raymond
Fairfax News => Current News & Events => Topic started by: Henry on June 01, 2012, 07:38:05 AM
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A man is dead after breaking into a home in Essex Junction, Vermont.
Police say it happened Friday morning at a home located at 135 Main Street. Preliminary investigation shows the intruder went into the house and a fight broke out between him and a person living there. As a result, the intruder died.
Police say more information will be released Friday afternoon.
http://www.fox44now.com/story/18674613/intruder-dead-after-fight-with-homeowner-in-essex-junction-vt (http://www.fox44now.com/story/18674613/intruder-dead-after-fight-with-homeowner-in-essex-junction-vt)
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More Details:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120601/NEWS02/120601009/Police-Intruder-killed-Essex-Junction?odyssey=mod|breaking|img|FRONTPAGE&nclick_check=1
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Ryan Morton-Lane, 30, of Storrs, Conn., was identified Sunday night as the alleged home invader killed during a confrontation with an Essex home owner early Friday.
Essex police needed to use fingerprints to confirm Morton-Lane’s identity, police said. His ties to Vermont are under investigation, Lt. Ken Beaulieu said in a three-sentence news release.
Beaulieu later told the Burlington Free Press that Morton-Lane’s fingerprints were on file in Connecticut because he has a criminal record there. He said it was “a few pages” and included property crimes.
Confirming the man’s true identity was difficult because he used three street names and was from out-of-state, officials said. Once they had a possible identity police obtained his fingerprints for comparison. After they matched, police needed to notify his family, Beaulieu said.
The homeowner, Shawn Garrett, 40, had no known connection to the dead man, police have said. He received minor injuries in the scuffle at 135 Main St. shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.
Garrett reported he woke up to find a stranger in his house and confronted him, police said. They said the two men battled, and the fight continued onto the front lawn.
Garrett’s 13-year-old son phoned 911 summoning Essex police from their station a few hundred yards away at 81 Main St. Garrett was holding the man down and the intruder had a stab wound in his chest.
Essex Rescue took Morton-Lane to Fletcher Allen Health Care, where he was pronounced dead from the single stab wound.
“This case remains under investigation,” Chittenden County State’s Attorney T. J. Donovan told the Burlington Free Press on Sunday night.
Donovan said he would provide a specific timetable on making a decision about the case, but said he would try to resolve it promptly.
Donovan said he would confer with Essex police today to learn the latest and determine what, if any, additional avenues they had to follow.
“This is every homeowner’s worst nightmare,” Donovan said.
Donovan said Garrett has been cooperating with the investigation. Garrett, after an initial statement to police at the scene, retained Burlington lawyer Kurt Hughes, who was continuing the discussion with police.
Hughes could not be reached for comment Sunday evening.
Police have said they found two knives at 135 Main St., but the ownership of each was unclear.
An autopsy showed the stab wound pierced his heart, Chief Brad LaRose said at a news conference Friday. The chief said as police tried to determine the man’s identity, they learned of an aggravated assault and robbery that had not been reported to police.
Essex police obtained search warrants for two locations: the Garrett residence and also one unit at an apartment complex at 119 Main St., which is where Morton-Lane was possibly staying.
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Shawn is a good friend of mine. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. I have never seen him lose his temper or sense of humor. He's the kind of guy that rescues bunnies and is upset when he hits a bird with his van. True stories. He is an intelligent and extremely hard worker that started his own appliance repair business a few years ago that is doing very well. Which is what made him a target of this scumbag career criminal. Luckily Shawn protected his family, otherwise they could have ended up like the Curriers. You have to wonder with the proximity of the crimes if this guy had anything to do with them going missing.
I know we have a couple of members on this forum that represent us in Montpelier. I would like to request legislation be put forth to allow some sort of castle doctrine, or "stand your ground" law here in Vermont. With the increase of home invasions, not having a law of this sort is putting law abiding homeowners in a bad situation. At 1am, with an armed stranger in your house, you should not have to worry about going to jail if you kill them. Even if a person isn't charged, they are obligated to pay thousands of dollars for legal consultation to guide them through the process, otherwise they could easily be railroaded into jail.
What do you need from us? A petition to get it on a ballot somewhere? I am willing to do my part, please just let me know what you need. The tax paying, law abiding citizens need this protection so that we can protect our families without worrying about losing everything.
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Where do I sign that petition?
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Agreed.
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I agree with you too Travis - I have heard nobody mention that this guy should be charged as I think most people agree that he did have to defend himself.
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I think that the homeowner should be honored for rehabilitating a criminal at no cost to the taxpayer or supporting him in jail
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Henry, I haven't heard anybody say he should be charged either but every news article or broadcast mentions that he could be charged. Shawn is afraid of that too. According to the law in Vermont, a person has to meet a few criteria in order for it to be justified self defense. Was the person's life in danger? Did they retreat after the immediate danger? Was the force used justified? All of these questions are subjective, and a homeowner defending his family at 1am may have a different opinion than the police officers and prosecutors that are investigating after the fact.
Proper legislation would protect the homeowner. Instead our current laws seem to favor the criminal by putting doubt into the mind of the homeowner. In the heat of the moment, if you aren't thinking through the legalities, you could easily end up in jail. This is wrong on so many levels and we need it fixed.
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Agreed 100% Travis!!! This is a perfect opportunity to address the issue too, the fact that someone has to second guess a decision to protect himself or their family is unacceptable. If we have to get some signatures let me know I'll go door to door to help out.
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I will happily sign that petition!
Corm
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Me too. The homeowner should not have to worry that he will be charged. He was protecting his family and home from harm. I applaud Mr. Garrett.
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I tend to think very basic but here it goes. If you come into MY home to steal or whatever your intention is you should be shot. If I come into your home without being invited, I should be shot. If people knew that they could be shot and killed for enterring someone else's property maybe this nonsense would stop. What is yours is yours. It is not for the taking. We can not allow people to be violated in this way anymore. It is ruining us. Not only that but people are living in fear. I am very frustrated and know that if someone came into my home they would be shot. No questions asked. We would not take the time to figure out if they were a good candidate for rehabilitation. I would also sign that petition and help circulate it.
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electronic signature ;)
Has anyone had a gentleman come to their door to discuss natural heating alternatives? My wife had a visit from a guy on a bicycle of all things discussing this and I was very skeptical. It can all be legit but I wanted to see if anyone got the same visit? We live off of Chaffee Rd. Thx
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We live on 128 in Westford, and last week I had a young woman on a bicycle stop to talk about the alternate home heating thing as well. They did the same thing last year, and it was a young man in that case, again on a bike. I do believe that in this case they are legitimate, they even handed out the same pamphlet both times. But back to the subject, I am all for signing a petition to protect your home and loved ones from this increase in home invasions. It is very scary and does need to stop.
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Yes, I had a young lady on a bicycle stop either last night or the night before around 5 p.m. She told me she was from VPIRG and would like to talk to me about the environment - I told her I burn fuel oil and at my age am making no plans to make any big changes - I believe they are a legitimate group and she did mention that they would accept donations. I told her I was not interested - She offered to leave me some literature, and I told her it would just go out in the recycle this Wednesday, so she left and headed up the road towards Fletcher.
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Great thank you, this will put my and my wifes mind at ease, thank you again and again for this site Henry
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Anyone not familiar with the Castle Doctrine and the Stand Your Ground laws, I encourage you to watch this explanation by expert Massad Ayoob.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/EsQeTKnD_f0 (http://www.youtube.com/embed/EsQeTKnD_f0)
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I'm still waiting to hear back from Chris and/or Carolyn. I think I just sent Chris a message. I could have done it wrong though...
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http://www.vpirg.org/ (http://www.vpirg.org/)
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I would gladly sign that petition Travis!!
This poor man, protecting his family is the most important thing and like most people, not a mean bone in his body until his family is in danger.
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I too know Shawn. He's a super cool guy.
I really hope that everything works out for him and no suits are filed against him.
The fact that something could happen to him for defending him family really disturbs me.
We have to do something.
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VPIRG also stopped here, nice young man.
Educated him a little and sent him on his merry way.
He had lots of literature, but I guess dishonest folks could too.
Thanks for the message, Travis, it worked.
We would need a lawmaker to introduce legislation (a Bill) on this.
It would probably go to a committee, Carolyn could answer more than I on this.
If it comes out of committee, it would go to a vote in the House and Senate.
If it passes both, it would go to the governor for signature into law.
We have one announced candidate for House this November, John Mitchell.
I'll give him a call today and see if he'll post his thoughts on this here.
I'll give Randy Brock a call too to see what he thinks.
Our current governor put out a press release recently telling us we were safer now.
Rod thought that was funny.
In fairness, Shumlin said he would cut correctional costs if elected.
We got what we voted for.
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Thank you for your reply Chris.
If no bill is put forward, can we as citizens force the issue with a petition? There is very strong support for this among us common folk, and I don't want to see this disappear in Montpelier.
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I recall Brian Dubie gathering 52,000 signatures for Jessica's Law after the Brooke Bennett tragedy.
That didn't work.
The same sex marriage law also gathered many signatures for a referendum vote (Let the people decide),
but that didn't happen either.
Randy Brock was against the referendum and raised an interesting point.
He stated that we might get onto a slippery slope with referendum votes,
where every issue becomes a ballot issue. That's very costly,
he continued that we elect people we trust to make the right decisions.
Brock has an Issues section on his website, but I haven't visited it yet.
He's been stopping by the Santee house since Colin was 11,
so I know where he stands on most issues.
I believe we would be fortunate to have him as our governor.
But that's a little off topic.
What the heck, as long as I'm off topic......
Go Lady Bullets !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I'm surprised no one's brought up 2 points:
1) - What about the guy last year in VT who was sleeping and heard something in his house. When he emerged from his room he found a dude in his livign room who'd broke in. The intruder ran from the house and the guy popped off a few shots AT HIM while he retreated. This was in the islands and if i recall correctly he wasn't charged... probably becuase the intruder wasn't stupid enough to come forward to press charges ( damn!) and no one was hurt.
2) in regards to the suggestion of introducing a castle or 'stand your ground' law-2 words come to mind there 'Trayvon Martin'. So someone suspects mischief, goes off their property to investigate, is instructed to NOT pursue a suspected wrong-doer but does anyway, gets in a tussle where they feel their life is threatened, and they shoot an unarmed individual dead.
Some one here mentioned 'some sort of Castle or Stand your Ground law' - a well thought out, worded, and situationally covered law i WOULD back... not one that was so vague it allowed interpeters to possibly NOT bring charges when an obvious abuse of the law transpired.
Castle law would be more fitting in our case - as in terms of protecting one's family, not knowing what an intruder is capable of, and immersed in the heat and adrenaline of the moment - someone defending their famiy should not have to consider jailtime in doing so.
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2) in regards to the suggestion of introducing a castle or 'stand your ground' law-2 words come to mind there 'Trayvon Martin'.
Not to start an off topic debate but those 2 words aren't holding much weight now that it looks like he will be getting cleared. Seems everything we heard in the media was a flat out lie!!
But I agree the law should be limited to ones property and their property only. The whole "stand your ground" law as a coverall seems like it could be abused by the criminals in my opinion.
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that 911 call wasn't a lie - where they told Zimmerman NOT to pursue. HE PUT himself in Danger - no one approached him and endagered his life. The boy did not pull a gun out, let a lone a knife - any basic self-defense law states you're not guilty if you use the same force used against you.
actually, he still is being charged and will be tried for 2nd degree murder.
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Chris, once again thank you for your response. I will email our legislators and senators directly. I found their email addresses. I do agree that we should elect people that we trust to make good decisions, but there are instances when the will of the people is not being carried out and that is why we have the ability to petition. Yes it is costly for ballot initiatives, but the way I see it, it is costly because in those cases our representatives are not listening to their constituents. This is what democracy is all about. I feel strongly enough about this issue that I will pursue it until all avenues are exhausted.
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With regards to Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman, there are a few things to think about.
One is that the 911 operator did not tell Zimmerman not to pursue Martin. The exact words were "You don't need to do that". That isn't exactly a lawful order to not pursue.
Another thing to think about is disparity of force. Yes Trayvon Martin was unarmed, but an unarmed person can kill. It happens every day. People get beaten to death. Zimmerman's injuries prove that he was being beaten. The wounds on the back of his head are most damning. A little harder and it could have killed him or caused brain damage. Also how physically capable is the victim? I'll use myself as an example. I'm a 41 year old male that appears healthy. But if you take a closer look, you'll find someone with several herniated and bulging discs in my spine, broken ribs that healed crooked and cause pain to move, and a busted shoulder that causes weakness and numbness in my primary arm. This is why I found a job that I could work from home. I could not hold my own in a fight for my life against many people right now. I don't normally let people know this stuff, but as I said in a previous post, I feel very strongly about this issue.
I believe a person should not have a duty to retreat in their own home or while they are protecting their family. If it is proven that Zimmerman chased down Trayvon Martin, then he should go to jail. Every state that has a Castle Doctrine law says that you cannot be the aggressor. And if you chase someone down outside of your home, you are the aggressor. But if he did not and Trayvon attacked him, then he should be free. He was being seriously beaten and his life was in danger. Whether he caused that danger by being the aggressor is the question that will be decided in court.
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Good points Travis. We'll have to see what the accepted facts are. The storyline goes that Zimmerman supposedly saw this yougn male acting suspiciously. he cofnronted him and the male took off, he gave chase while on 911.
his domicile was not being broken into nor his family being threatened. I suspect his role as Neighborhood watch Captian prompted him to act in the best interest of others in this case and he probably figured he was somewhat in the position of power with a loaded gun on him. we'll see how in plays out.