Sunday, December 29, 2013

Banging on Doors in Detroit

Related: Don't Go Knocking on Doors in Detroit 

Especially drunk at 4:30 in the morning.

"Mich. porch shooting victim called confused" by Ed White |  Associated Press, December 19, 2013

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. — A young drunk woman fatally shot on a man’s porch in suburban Detroit was hurt, scared, and confused a few hours earlier when she crashed her vehicle into a parked car, a witness testified Wednesday.

Carmen Beasley provided details about the hours preceding the death of Renisha McBride, 19, who was shot in the face by a 54-year-old homeowner in the early morning of Nov. 2.

A Dearborn Heights judge is holding a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to send Theodore Wafer to trial on a second-degree murder charge. Defense lawyers say he feared for his life, but prosecutors say the shooting was not justified. 

It's only justified when it is AmeriKa's security forces blowing someone away.

Beasley said she heard a crash outside her Detroit home about 1 a.m. and discovered that her car had been hit. She called 911, went outside, and found McBride, who had walked away but returned to the scene. McBride was bleeding and pressing her hands to her head, Beasley testified.

‘‘She couldn’t find her phone,’’ Beasley said. “She was patting her pockets. . . . She just kept saying she wanted to get home.’’

She didn't care about the crime or her condition, she just wanted to get away. I've been there. It's why I'm stone sober and here every damn day.

Beasley went back into her house to call an ambulance, but McBride had walked away again by the time help arrived.

How long was that?

McBride was discombobulated and appeared to be in a “confused state of not knowing where she was and not being able to give a phone number or anything,’’ said Beasley, who believed the young woman was drunk.

Certainly the coroner did blood tests to determine if alcohol was present, right?

There was no testimony about where McBride went during the next few hours, as rain fell and temperatures dipped to the 40s. But she somehow ended up blocks away, on Wafer’s porch in Dearborn Heights. Around 4:30 a.m., he called 911 to report that he had shot someone who had been banging on his door.

Detective Sergeant Steve Gurka said Wafer’s Mossberg shotgun was found inside near the front door with a spent shell still inside. A gun case was found on the floor in another area of the house.

Dr. Kilak Kesha, who conducted the autopsy, testified that McBride was shot in the face at close range. He said that her blood-alcohol level was about 0.22, more than twice the legal limit for driving, but that it was probably even higher before she was shot, as levels drop over time. He said she had also been smoking marijuana. 

Look, this is an absolute tragedy and I blame the hedonistic agenda-pushing media and the inculcating culture in which we swim. The point I'm trying to make, though, is how would you feel if some drunk woke you from a sound sleep by banging on your door at an ungodly hour. I'm trying to think how I would. Do I pretend no one is there? Do I ask them what they want? Do I holler at them to go away and warn them? What if they don't go away and continue?

During cross-examination, defense lawyer Cheryl Carpenter focused on alcohol, drugs, and a possible head injury from the car crash.

‘‘Could a person get more aggressive after a brain injury?’’ she asked.

‘‘That’s possible,’’ Kesha replied, later saying McBride ‘‘absolutely’’ could also have been quiet and withdrawn while drunk.

In the courtroom, McBride’s supporters wore shirts bearing her image and the message: ‘‘Don’t shoot. Call 911.’’

They said they wished Wafer had called police instead of shooting McBride from inside his home.

Related: Police take an hour on average to answer calls 

How long you gonna wait? Until they have busted down your door and damaged your property? How much fear and terror must one live with?

--more--"

"Murder charge upheld in shooting; Self-defense argument rejected" by Ed White |  Associated Press, December 20, 2013

Now if he were a cop, he gets absolved and never even gets to trial.

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. — A Detroit-area man who fatally shot a drunk, unarmed woman on his porch will stand trial for second-degree murder, a judge said Thursday, rejecting a self-defense argument for the killer’s ‘‘bad choice.’’

So fear for your life is no longer self -defense -- unless you are a member of AmeriKa's security services.

There is no dispute that Theodore Wafer shot Renisha McBride, 19, through the screen of his front door in the early hours of Nov. 2. His attorneys said the 54-year-old man feared for his life, but Dearborn Heights Judge David Turfe said there were other ways to protect himself, including a phone call for help.

Related: Police take an hour on average to answer calls 

How long would you wait, judge? Or is being a judge mean when you make the call there is never a wait, huh?

‘‘This court recognizes you can’t automatically penalize someone for making a bad decision when pressed to react quickly,’’ the judge said. ‘‘But at the same time we can’t allow one to use a bad decision as a shield to criminal prosecution.

Only if you are part of the elite, a banker, or a credit ratings agency can it be used.

‘‘The defendant made a bad choice when there were other reasonable opportunities,’’ Turfe said.

Like what, wait out the drunk pounding and hollering until they break the door down?

The standard for a court to order someone to trial in Michigan is not as high as beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the common, traditional threshold to win a criminal conviction. Prosecutors must show only a portion of their evidence at this stage. Indeed, Wafer apparently made a one-hour recorded statement to police, but it was not introduced, despite efforts by his lawyers.

I'm not convicting the guy at trial, so you can count it in the loss column, Mr. prosecutor. That'll help your career advancement.

Defense attorney Cheryl Carpenter said Wafer did not intend to kill McBride, only protect himself. She referred to Michigan’s 2006 self-defense law.

‘‘If someone is breaking into a home there is a presumption that a homeowner can use deadly force,’’ she argued.

‘‘You don’t know how many people are out there. . . . There’s violent banging on the front door. We have a man alone in his home,’’ Carpenter said.

But Wayne County prosecutor Danielle Hagaman-Clark said it’s ‘‘ridiculous’’ to believe that Wafer was deeply afraid yet still decided to open the door and fire instead of first calling Dearborn Heights police.

Maybe he knew how long the response time was! That is not ridiculous, ma'am! 

‘‘He shoved that shotgun in her face and pulled the trigger,’’ Hagaman-Clark said.

You are saying he opened the door first? First thing I want to see is if the door has a shotgun whole in it.

Civil rights groups have suggested that race may have played a role in the shooting, but prosecutors presented no evidence to make that connection. Wafer is white, while McBride was black.

I'm not surprised that card is being played after Zimmerman. Still harassing him, huh?

Wafer called 911 around 4:30 a.m. and said he had shot someone who was banging on his door. More than three hours earlier, McBride had crashed her car into a parked car in a residential neighborhood, about a half-mile away in Detroit.

A witness said McBride was bleeding and holding her head. She apparently walked away from the scene before an ambulance arrived.

How long did that take, two hours?

It is still unclear, at least publicly, what she did between the time of the car wreck and her arrival on Wafer’s porch.

An autopsy found McBride had a blood-alcohol level of about 0.22, more than twice the legal limit for driving. She also had been smoking marijuana.

Her best friend, Amber Jenkins, 18, said they had been drinking vodka and playing cards seven to eight hours before the shooting was reported to 911.

--more--"

Next time they are going to kick the damn thing in -- just like the last time!

Related: Don't Knock on Doors in North Carolina

Don't knock on any doors anywhere. 

How is that trial coming?