Authorities announced Tuesday that a Somerset County man who shot and killed an armed rival in front of his Central City home will not be charged after they determined the freshly amended Castle Doctrine protected his right to shoot the man from his front porch.
Tony L. Bittinger, 43, of Salisbury, died almost instantly on the afternoon of Oct. 10 after being struck in the chest with an arrow.
The man behind the bow, a 38-year-old man whom police declined to identify, told police he fired on Mr. Bittinger after he came at him with a 32-inch wooden club.
State troopers said the spat stemmed from Mr. Bittinger's romantic involvement with the other man's wife.
Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler said the case is the first in the county to test the controversial Castle Doctrine, which radically expanded a homeowner's right to use deadly force against an intruder. Though the man may have been cleared under the old law, "the new law makes it clearer," he said.
State police said Mr. Bittinger had called and threatened the man before. He became angry after the man's wife stopped returning his phone calls and left a voice mail on her phone saying that he was coming to "put a hole in [the man's] head."
Trooper Joseph Drzal said Mr. Bittinger, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 at the time he was shot, then drove 37 miles from his house in Salisbury to the man's home in the 7000 block of Lincoln Highway. There, state police said, the man told police he watched Mr. Bittinger get out of his car with the club and went back in the home to retrieve the bow and arrow.
In the heated exchange that ensued, the man told Mr. Bittinger numerous times to leave, but he refused, state police said. He came closer and headed up the stairs leading to the front porch. At that point, the man shot him in the chest, killing him almost instantly. An autopsy revealed the arrow, which penetrated 8 inches into the man's chest, entered at a downward angle, indicating Mr. Bittinger was headed up the steps when he was shot.
The new Castle Doctrine expands the areas where it is permissible for homeowners to use deadly force to include "any attached porch, deck or patio," according to the statute. The new law also eliminates a homeowner's obligation to retreat -- going inside and locking the door, for example -- before going on the offensive. In fact, Trooper Drzal said the man did retreat but then came back outside armed with the bow and arrow.
Under the previous law, deadly force could only be used in self defense if it was established that the person believed they were under threat of serious bodily harm, kidnapping or rape and if that belief was reasonable, Mr. Spangler said. But under the new law, anyone who has unlawfully entered a property is presumed to be such a threat and can be fired upon.
Since Mr. Bittinger was not permitted to be on the man's property, he was a presumed threat, Mr. Spangler said.
#2
My dear deceased wife was a Somerset Countian. Pretty much anyone you might meet there would nod knowingly if told this story.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/29/2011 11:59 Comments ||
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#3
This is a little too close to home. Area of contrasts. Atm Machines have been a target. Hook your pickup with a logging chain and drive off. Then a gang of twenty Amish arrested for stealing tractor parts among other things. Then in the recent old days one town of Friendsville near this area was called Dodge City. One metal door is still peppared with buckshot. Storeowner came out into center of street and fired at the varmints driving off. Mostly good people sprinkled with a few unsavory types. Very stable population so you know who doesn't belong and who to keep your eye on.
A real-life Father Christmas has left shoppers in a Devon village bewildered after he secretly handed out £50 notes in a local supermarket.
The generous man, who has not been identified, secretly slotted the cash-filled envelopes into customers' shopping baskets, complete with letters wishing them a Merry Christmas before swiftly disappearing.
It is understood that at least 12 people, including a retired couple, were the lucky targets of the Good Samaritan in the days leading up to Christmas.
The grey haired benefactor, who is thought to be aged in his 30s or 40s, became the real life Father Christmas as he walked through the crowded aisles of a Tesco store in Sampford Peverell.
#1
A gem: NPR reporters have never covered nanotech accurately. Instead, their child-like correspondents and producers focus on overproduced garbage rather than real reporting. (You want grown-ups producing better, in-depth technology coverage without distracting bells and whistles, listen to the BBC).
ANTI-WHALING activist group Sea Shepherd has reported that its scout vessel Brigitte Bardot was struck by a wave that has cracked the hull and severely damaged one of the pontoons on the vessel.
Captain Paul Watson, onboard the Sea Shepherd flagship Steve Irwin, said that they are fighting heavy seas to reach the position of the Brigitte Bardot.
It is expected to take twenty hours to reach the damaged vessel which is 2414 kilometres southwest of Fremantle, Western Australia.
Brigitte Bardot Captain Jonathan Miles Renecle of South Africa was pursuing the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru in six meter swells when the wave slammed into the port side of the vessel cracking the hull. The crack has been getting wider as the seas continue to pound the vessel.
"This is disappointing but these are hostile seas and we have always been prepared for situations like this," Said Captain Watson. "Right now the safety of my crew on the Brigitte Bardot is our priority and we intend to reach the crew and then do what we can to save our ship." I am so filled with conflicting emotions right now.
The conflicting emotions being whether to point and laugh or snicker unkindly.
The ancient Greeks kept a wary eye out for Nemesis, the goddess who struck down those filled with hubris.
#9
Poor shiphandling to take a vessel "not designed for those seas" into those, uh, seas...
Well, yes. Still, there are also ways to reduce the sea effects.
Sea Shepherd has long had a reputation for less than stellar seamanship; even recently utilizing the services of a former USN officer hasn't helped much.
A televised boxing match and a four minute sound bite of a mayoral candidate were sufficient determining factors in overturning a municipal election in Morelia, Michoacan, said a court, according to Mexican news accounts.
The Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federacion (TEPJF) or federal electoral tribunal ruled that ten of fourteen issues raised by Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) surrounding the election of Morelia, Michoacan mayor Wilfrido Lazaro, a Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate, violated Article 41 of the Mexican constitution. The court set aside the results of the contest, and ordered a new election within six months.
Amongst those issue was the November 12th televised boxing match between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao where Juan Manuel Marquez wore boxing shorts emblazoned with the PRI tricolor logo, shown the day before election day.
Another major issue was a local TV news broadcast which featured Sr. Wilfrido Lazaro speaking for almost five minutes.
Santiago Nieto, a judge on the TEPJF panel said the court could not quantify the impact of the two major events as to the impact on the election; only that taken together, those and eight other issues were sufficient to overturn the election.
The ruling only affects Morelia, Michoacan city council and mayoral elections.
The elections in Michoacan, erroneously seen by international press as a bellwether for PRI plans to return to the presidency, were at least one reason for the resignation of Humberto Moreira.
Moreira as governor of Coabhuila -- a post he resigned to become president of PRI -- has been enmeshed in an illegal debt scandal which ballooned Coahuila's state debt to the highest per capita in Mexico.
The results of the election, -- a PRI governor of Michoacan elected by less than 50,000 votes and the failure of PRI to outright capture the state chamber of deputies -- if they were the commonly held bellwether, would more likely foretell an electoral disaster for PRI in 2012.
The court ruling does little to help PRI's plans, and it seems to be a minor victory for PAN. So far, the ruling does not affect the local deputy election or even vote count on the governor's election, but a PAN leader, Juan Molinar, has said he will press to change that and requested the court to set aside the Michoacan gubernatorial election as well.
Mexican elections from city council to the president are tightly controlled and regulated. Every aspect from total bans on "black campaigns" or negative campaigns to limits on the money to be spent are spelled out at least six months before a contest even begins.
PAN party leaders have been fighting hard to reverse literally years of political attacks against PAN president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, which are currently yielding positive results for PRI and their candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, so much so, PRI's return to Los Pinos is all but assured.
One of the outcomes to near constant PAN attacks against Moreira has been severely blunting PRI plans for a last big win in 2011 before the 2012 presidential elections. PRI since 2010 had won stunning wins at the municipal and statehouse elections, particularly in Mexico state, where voters went PRI for governor by nearly three to one over the nearest rival this past summer.
Results in Coauiula were nearly as bad for PAN.
Clearly, PAN president Gustavo Madero sought to reverse the damage, and Moreira and his legacy of debt acquired through fraud was an obvious target.
The Michoacan election were important to all three major parties, PRI, PAN and Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) enough for the leaders to temporarily take up residence in the state. Many in the national and international press had prior to the election, called the contest a test for the PRI for 2012, rather than a test of Moreira.
Once the sheen from expectations in Michoacan had worn off opponents of Moreira inside and outside PRI were calling even more intensely than before for his resignation. Moreira was even facing a severe revolt from some elements of his party for his heavyhandedness in ramming through coalitions with two other minor political parties.
Madero needed Moreira to remain as head of PRI as Moreira was a high profile and cost free means of blunting PRI momentum. Until December 2nd, Moreira appeared all too willing to oblige Sr. Madero.
Then Moreira resigned.
The elections in Michoacan, rather than setting a template for PRI's increasing power, has instead shown the kind of dogfight Mexican voters can expect in 2012.
The pair of pretty faces PRI is showing to the nation in the visages of Nieto and his actress wife, Angelica Rivera, -- the exemplar of a Mexican yuppie marriage -- may not be enough to return PRI to Los Pinos.
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentinas Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease.
It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuelas socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud.
It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... I dont know. Im just reflecting, he said in a televised speech to troops at a military base.
But this is very, very, very strange ... its a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities.
Chavez, Fernandez, Paraguays Fernando Lugo, Brazils Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been diagnosed recently with cancer. All of them are leftists. Doctors say Fernandez has a very good chance of recovery and will not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Her diagnosis was made public on Tuesday.
Details about Chavezs health remain a closely guarded secret, although he now appears to be recovering and is making longer and longer televised appearances. Since his return he has often appeared sporting something of a younger, new look: a dark sports coat over an open-necked maroon shirt, and is hair is growing back after chemotherapy. It is far cry from the green fatigues and red beret that he became famous for wearing for much of his 13 years in power.
They might want to loosen the necktie...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2011 00:00 ||
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#4
Well, I suppose this is one way to put it out...
MURMANSK, Russia- Russia said it had won the battle with a raging blaze aboard a nuclear submarine on Friday by submerging the stricken vessel at a navy shipyard after hours of dousing the flames with water from helicopters and tug boats.Comments indicate the fire was still burning but that efforts to partially sink the submarine at the dock had succeeded in reducing the intensity of the flames.
After hours of trying to put out the flames, officials decided to partially submerge the hull of the 18,200-tonne submarine at the Roslyakovo dock, one of the main dockyards of Russia's northern fleet 1,500 km (900 miles) north of Moscow.
The great old joke: The guy gets three wishes, but the genie tells him, "Remember, whatever wish is granted for you is granted twice over for your worst enemy."
With his third wish, the guy says "Beat me half to death..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/29/2011 22:18 Comments ||
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Finland has removed a cargo of 69 missiles found aboard a merchant ship that docked in the country and allowed the vessel to leave, transport safety officials said Monday.
The Thor Liberty was detained on December 15 in Kotka, southeast Finland, and was later found to be carrying 150 tons of explosive material, as well as the surface-to-air Patriot missiles and missile propellant charges.
"A Trafi check on 26.12.2011 has revealed that the improperly loaded explosive material has been offloaded from the vessel, with the exception of two properly loaded containers, and the detention order has been lifted," the Finnish Transport Safety Authority Trafi said in a statement.
However Trafi noted that the ship was still unable to continue on its journey since Finnish customs had placed the Ukrainian captain and first mate under a travel ban pending an investigation into the missiles. Trafi added that customs had also impounded the explosives still on board the ship in two containers.
The missiles, discovered Wednesday on the British-registered ship, were bound for the Chinese port city of Shanghai, according to Finnish police. Finnish customs are investigating the case as one of illegal export of defence material.
A German defence ministry spokesman said the Patriot missiles, produced by US firm Raytheon, came from the German military and were destined for South Korea. He said it was a "legal sale on the basis of an accord between two states at the government level". He said the transaction had received an official export authorisation and was reported to customs authorities.
However Finland said Friday it had not received the paperwork required from Germany.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2011 10:59 ||
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#1
Germany, sold to South Korea, shipped by the British on the way to China, stopped in Finland. Made in the USA.
#2
Germany, sold to South Korea, shipped by the British on the way to China, stopped in Finland. Made in the USA.
And after they're copied in China [like they're not going delay transshipping /sarc off] it'll be another piece of technology sold by Chinese manufacturers.
#1
As Spengler pointed out, with rising prosperity in Asia, Chinese pigs will be fed before Arab (and Pakistani) children. This is the Darwinian tragedy for cultures that can't compete when the good times stop rolling.
A major foe of anti gun rights efforts, and Tea Party favorite, Illinois Congressman, Joe Walsh, and 20 other co-sponsors have introduced a bill that would strip the United Nations of all United States funding if the UNs Arms Trade Treaty is adopted. Obama's State Department reversed its position against anti Second Amendment Treaties in 2009 after Obama put the United States under his heavy hand. Stripping American taxpayer's funding would be a good step toward sending the UN to Europe and on into oblivion, where it belongs.
The Bill blasts any treaty that would pose a threat to national security or infringe or abridge the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms or any other Constitutionally protected rights of our citizens. Citing the Constitutions Supremacy Clause, the Bill specifically forbids American United Nations funding if such a restrictive treaty is adopted.
However, on the unlikely chance that the bill is passed by the House and Harry Reids Senate, its a sure thing that Obamas veto pen will be full of ink when the bill hits his desk.
Anti Gun Non Government Organizations such as IANSA, and domestic gun rights control groups are giddy with the prospects of the complete world ban of semiautomatic firearms and high capacity magazines. You know who these domestic terrorists are. IANSA works closely with the United Nations in gun rights control lawmaking.
#5
Someone said that the best way for evil to win was for good men to do nothing, and good men can DO NOTHING if they cannot arm themselves and defend themselves against evil doers.
I don't think this thing will fly in the ME, because I think everyone in Iraq has an AK in their attic or under the front seat of their car.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/29/2011 22:11 Comments ||
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#6
I suspect that they're just going to pass for trying to enforce it in Iraq or Iran.
ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: The Kurdish region's government set the 27 September of 2012 as the date for the provincial elections.
In a statement issued by Kurdish premiership media office, received by Aswat al-Iraq, the date was set following consultations with the Higher Independent Election Authority to arrange the preparations for these elections.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/29/2011 00:00 ||
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While it may appear that the government's document-leaking case against U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is strong, the defense could have some surprising leverage with prosecutors and force plea negotiations.
Prosecutors may in particular find it difficult to prove the 24-year-old Manning intended to provide the information to enemies of the United States such as al Qaeda, and that the information was helpful to them, legal experts said.
Manning faces 22 charges of participating in the largest leak of classified government documents in history, including the accusation that he had unauthorized possession of information related to national defense and that he stole records belonging to the United States.
At a hearing that concluded last week, military prosecutors presented evidence that Manning downloaded thousands of classified or confidential files that later made their way to the WikiLeaks website. In his closing summation at the hearing, Captain Ashden Fein, the lead prosecutor, said Manning was a well-trained soldier who "used that training to defy our trust."
"He gave the enemies of the United States unfettered access to these documents," Fein said.
Manning's case is being reviewed by investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Paul Almanza, who will make a recommendation by January 16 on whether or not the military should court-martial Manning.
A court-martial, which could be a few months away, is not much different from a civilian criminal trial. The charges against the accused in a court-martial must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, just like in civilian court.
The biggest difference is that jurors in a court-martial consist exclusively of members of the military. There were about
1,900 Army courts-martial in fiscal year 2010 and about 60 acquittals, according to U.S. military justice statistics.
If convicted of all counts, Manning would face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonorable discharge, the Army says. The charge of aiding the enemy is a capital offense, but the Army has indicated it will not seek the death penalty.
'SKY IS NOT FALLING'
Although legal observers agree the government's case is a good one, some speculate that prosecutors could have a tough time proving the most serious charge that Manning gave information to the enemy.
During the preliminary hearing, Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, sought to demonstrate that the audience for the leaked information was not foes of the United States, but the American people, and that the country was not put in any danger due to the leaks.
"The sky is not falling, the sky has not fallen and the sky will not fall," said Coombs.
Some military law experts also question whether the government will be able to prove that Manning intended the information to reach militant groups such as al Qaeda. Merely proving that he intended the information to be displayed on the WikiLeaks website may not be enough to convict him of that charge, said some experts.
It could also be difficult for the government to prove that the information was particularly valuable to al Qaeda, said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School.
"What is it that he has told al Qaeda indirectly that is of value to al Qaeda? Is everything that is hurtful to the United States in the eyes of the world of value to al Qaeda? I don't think so," Fidell said.
By underscoring those uncertainties, Coombs may have paved the way for a more favorable plea deal, said David Velloney, a military law expert who is a professor at the Regent University School of Law. In the best-case scenario for the defense, Almanza would recommend that Manning not face the charge at a court-martial of giving information to the enemy. Such a recommendation, made to a higher-ranking officer, is not binding. But it could convince the military prosecutors to drop the charge.
"If you can win one battle there and have the government say, 'Nah, that's not such a good idea we go forward on that charge,' then that's a windfall for the defense before the trial begins," Velloney said.
Coombs has signaled he also has some cards to play at any potential sentencing. At a court-martial, there are two stages -- one to determine culpability and the other to determine a sentence. During the sentencing stage, the defense can offer extenuating and mitigating circumstances that would justify a lighter sentence than sought by the government
Throughout the hearing to determine whether a court-martial is appropriate, Coombs attempted to portray Manning as emotionally unstable with gender-identity issues who should not have had access to sensitive government files.
Combs cited emails and memos showing that Manning's superiors were aware of his gender issues and his need for therapy. But no effective action was taken, Coombs argued. The same arguments about Manning's unit could be presented at any potential sentencing.
"They're going to air all the government's dirty laundry," said Velloney. "It potentially softens the government in any plea deal."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
ANTI-WHALING activist group Sea Shepherd has reported that its scout vessel Brigitte Bardot was struck by a wave that has cracked the hull and severely damaged one of the pontoons on the vessel.
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentinas Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease.
ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: The Kurdish region's government set the 27 September of 2012 as the date for the provincial elections.
