Intruder Dies After Breaking Into Essex Junction Home

[Henry]

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.

[CLach]

Great thank you, this will put my and my wifes mind at ease, thank you again and again for this site Henry

[Scott]

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

[Travis]

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...

[Suzy]

http://www.vpirg.org/

[mkr]

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.

[Scott]

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.

[Chris Santee]

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.

[Travis]

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.

[Chris Santee]

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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Loctavious]

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.

[Stand Alone Defense]

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.   

[Loctavious]

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. 

[Travis]

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.

[Travis]

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.