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Merritt Landry Allies Developing Narrative of Innocence

Merritt Landry Allies Developing Narrative of Innocence

It is perhaps inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between the  recently completed murder/self-defense trial of George Zimmerman in Florida and the just beginning travails of self-defense shooter Merritt Landry in New Orleans.

Indeed, I’ve already begun to do so myself (see “Zimmerman Redux: The Breaking Louisiana Self-Defense Case of Merritt Landry”).

Landry Hat

More interesting than seeing how the two cases compare, however, will be seeing how they contrast.

How will the two opposing sides in the Landry case draw lessons from  Zimmerman and adopt different tactics and strategies in pursuing their desired ends?

New Orleans Police Chief “Got the Memo”

We saw one such “learning” within hours of the New Orleans shooting when Landry was swiftly arrested and charged.

In the Zimmerman case, you will recall, George was not arrested and charged for some weeks after he shot Trayvon Martin in lawful self-defense. Until that point, local law enforcement and prosecutors had declined to charge Zimmerman with a crime based on the facts in evidence strongly supporting his claim of self-defense.

There, it was not until the racial agitators came to town and brought political pressure to bear that the evisceration of Zimmerman’s due process rights was begun, starting with the travesty of an affidavit of probable cause. The fallout of this lawlessness was the resignation of the region’s top prosecutor, the firing of the local police chief, and the demotion of the department’s chief investigator to patrolman.

The police chief of New Orleans clearly got the memo. He wasn’t going to lose his job because he appeared to be “too slow” in bringing “justice” to Merritt Landry. Landry was swiftly overcharged with attempted second degree murder, booked, and released on $10,000 bail.

Zimmerman Defenders Were Caught Off-Balance, Overwhelmed by Disinformation Campaign

Fortunately, it is not just the forces of the State and racial agitators who have learned lessons from the Zimmerman case. So have the pro-self-defense forces and friends and allies of Merritt Landry.

In the Zimmerman case, George’s many friends were caught off-balance by the sudden shift in prosecutorial aggression. Their voices in defense of George were simply overwhelmed by the tsunami of myths, lies, and disinformation provided to the mainstream media by the Martin family lawyers in their ravenous pursuit of “justice” (read “money”), and happily excreted by that media at ever opportunity. Indeed, on several occasions the media itself generated anti-Zimmerman propaganda, such as by creatively editing audio or video evidence.

Racially Diverse Landry Supporters Swiftly Organize in His Defense

Landry’s supporters are not about to be caught similarly off-balance.

From the first moments following the shooting one of Landry’s neighbors (and a good friend) provided the police with security camera footage of 14-year-old trespasser, Marshall Coulter, scaling the iron fence surrounding Landry’s yard–and, as importantly, made sure that the public was aware of the video’s existence by immediately speaking of the video to reporters.

In another sign of lessons learned by the pro-self-defense crowd, yesterday a group of them met in support of Landry at a meeting organized by the Home Defense Foundation of New Orleans (HDFNOLA). There a racially diverse group of homeowners met to coordinate their support of Merritt Landry and to voice their support to attending reporters.

As reported by WNGO, the local ABC affiliate, Benjamin John, a black man and local resident told reporters, “If it happened to me, somebody jumped over my fence, I live with an eight foot fence around where I live, I wake up in the morning and somebody’s inside my fence, they would be killed.”

Benjamin John

Benjamin John

Another black attendee, civil rights activist Nadar Enzi, also known as Captain Black, stated “If we can move past the racial narrative and just say New Orleanians are suffering, New Orleanians are dying, and New Orleanians are being victimized by other regrettably other New Orleanians, I think that it would put our community in a much better place.”

Nadar Enzi, civil rights leader

Nadar Enzi, civil rights leader

Also present to coordinate the meeting in support of Landry was Mike Weinberger, a white man and leader with HDFNOLA.

Mike Weinberger, HDFNOLA.org

Mike Weinberger, HDFNOLA.org

Landry Attorney Explicitly Positioning Defense Narrative of Innocence

Another particularly interesting comment was made by Landry’s attorney, Tanzanika Ruffin.  Those of you who have read “The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition,” will recall how much emphasis I place on the importance of the defense being able to construct a “compelling narrative of innocence,” to counter the efforts of the State prosecutors to build a “compelling narrative of guilt.”  At the end of the day, it is that narrative presented to the jury and made up of the facts in evidence, the law of self defense, and each side’s rhetoric that leads to a verdict.

Here we can see Attorney Ruffin explicitly recognizing the strategic importance of the narrative.  When asked if she thinks that Landry was justified in using deadly force, she responds, “I think time will tell, and the facts, the narrative will speak for itself.”  By which, I presume, she means she’ll be hard at work at her rhetorical forge hammering together the facts and the law into  a compelling narrative of innocence.

Landry attorney Tanzanika Ruffin

Landry attorney Tanzanika Ruffin

We can only wonder how the public narrative that surrounded George Zimmerman would have differed had there been any similar forces on his behalf to counter the massive disinformation campaign waged against him with the eager collusion of the media.

In the developing case of Merritt Landry we will have the opportunity to see what happens when the forces of racial agitation and hatred are confronted early on by the forces of truth and lawful self-defense.

Keep your eyes right here at Legal Insurrection for our fact- and law-based coverage of the Merritt Landry case moving forward.

–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense


Andrew F. Branca is an MA lawyer and author of the seminal book “The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition” now available at www.lawofselfdefense.com as well at Amazon.com, as either a hardcopy or in Kindle version, and at Barnes & Noble as hardcopy or in Nook version.

You can follow Andrew on Twitter on @LawSelfDefense and using #LOSD2, on Facebook, and at his blog, The Law of Self Defense.

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Comments

I look forward to this coverage.
It is sad that we have reached this deplorable state of race relations, but it is uplifting that there are Americans of all races willing to do the right thing.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Rick. | August 7, 2013 at 3:26 pm

    The kee-jerk cowardice this prosecutor has demonstrated is a frightening sight to behold.

      Landry was arrested the night of the shooting by NOPD detectives; based upon their investigation, evidence, and at least one witness’s statement of events. The DA has a period of time to develop his case and does not have to go through a grand jury.

      Quote:
      “Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro says he is waiting to receive the NOPD’s report on the shooting of a black teenager by a white homeowner in the Marigny a week ago.”

      “From a legal perspective I think there are some very, very sort of high powered legal issues, especially with regard to the justification,” Cannizzaro said Thursday”

      Read more: http://www.wrno.com/articles/local-news-135361/da-awaits-nopd-report-on-marigny-11534980/#ixzz2bNsbOf9r

        sequester in reply to DriveBy. | August 9, 2013 at 5:44 am

        Translation. I am not sure the evidence is there and I don’t want to get caught up in a hurricane.

        The young man holder the robbers bicycle (other witness) has the potential to be the next Dee-Dee.

NC Mountain Girl | August 7, 2013 at 9:59 am

Louisiana isn’t a swing state and Obama won’t be on the ballot in 2014.

I’ve been following this case myself on my own – just like Zimmerman, there is absolutely ZERO actual evidence to support a (attempted, in this case) 2nd degree murder charge.

A manslaughter prosecution I still think is unreasonable, but you can justify moving forward.

There seriously needs to be a legal avenue for victims of prosecution that massively overcharges their case for publicity.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Olinser. | August 7, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    This was not manslaughter. Just as in the Zimmerman case, the only crime committed was that by the original aggressor.

    The original victim was the homeowner. The thieving loser scumbag who invaded the property of a man with a pregnant wife and sleeping daughter got less than he deserved. If things were right in this world, and Landry’s aim had been truer, this thug would be in dead felon storage and we wouldn’t hear a peep from any prosecutor.

      Quote:
      If things were right in this world, and Landry’s aim had been truer, this thug would be in dead…”

      He shot the kid in the left back side of his head. The kid was approximately 30 feet away from Landry at the time and he was not trying to enter Landry’s home. LA does not have the “curtilage” law.

      Seems to me that Landry made a bad decision to take aim and shoot at Coulter when he was trying to get away from Landry by jumping the fence. Coulter’s friend likely confirmed that to the detectives.

        V.McCann in reply to DriveBy. | August 9, 2013 at 1:50 am

        “The kid was approximately 30 feet away…”

        Being a good shot is not a crime.

        sequester in reply to DriveBy. | August 9, 2013 at 8:14 am

        Shootings are dynamic events. It is not surprising that the thief was not shot through the forehead. People move.
        The thirty foot assertion was in the rather inchoate statement of New Orleans Police Detective Nicholas Williams. It is easily challengeable. You have been repeatedly told that shell casings fall at some distance from the spot where the firearm is discharged. Williams also said in his statement that the thief did not pose an “imminent threat” to Landry. Perhaps that is based on the flawed thirty foot notion. Andrew Branca refers to a self-defense concept called the Tueller Drill. The upshot of the Tueller Drill is that an assailant can close a distance of 21 feet and deliver a mortal blow in 1.5 seconds. So the statement that the thief did not pose an “imminent threat” is puzzling.

        So the thief presumptively a threat.
        Detective Williams spoke to an unidentified witness who story differed from Landry. If that witness was the accomplice holding the bicycle, the statement must be viewed as self-serving and a good investigator should seek corroboration.

        Detective Williams made a quick arrest without completing his investigation. He has not provided the DA enough to evidence to convict for attempted second degree murder. That’s why the District Attorney is awaiting a full report before proceeding. The DA pointed out some legal problems. The applicable self-defense statute is LA 14.9 . That statute permits reasonable force to be used against a mere trespass. The statute gives the shooter the presumption that the use of force is justified if the thief was in the process of unlawfully and forcibly entering or had unlawfully and forcibly entered the dwelling.

        The legal case against Landry is very tenuous.

Interesting that several of the people rallying to his defense are black. The race-baiters haven’t gotten to them, or maybe they’re just sick and tired of being victimized and realize they need to stand up for the right of self defense for everyone.

But here we go again… this definitely highlights something Andrew talks about in his book… if you own a gun you better do some real soul-searching ahead of time and make up your mind if it is ‘worth it’ to use it and under what circumstances. This guy’s life is now officially screwed.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Paul. | August 7, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    If the thief had been white, there would be no case.

    The drive behind all of this, starting with obastard and Holder, is to teach whitey to just take the beatdowns and thievery and rapes lying down, don’t fight back, let the blacks prevail.

    Black Liberation Theology 101.

    That whites knowingly or unknowingly participate in it is beyond reprehensible.

You need to add a chapter or two for the next revision of your book, Andrew: if you’re white and shoot a black in self defense make sure you quickly get a black lawyer to defend you.

Midwest Rhino | August 7, 2013 at 10:32 am

I personally know three men that have been shot (not killed) by underage black kids in New Orleans … in broad daylight, two in their own front yard. There is no way Landry should have assumed the kid would not have a gun.

The third guy was being robbed and figured he could talk sense to the kid … oops.

The memo seems to be: “Even if charges can’t be defended, make any (white male) that uses a gun (against a minority) suffer an unjust trial”.

One client bought a nice home a block off St Charles expecting further gentrification, but it just wasn’t happening and they had troubles. They moved to the quarter (near this incident) and they were completely walled in with their own courtyard. The walls had spikes on top. When someone gets in those back yards, they have serious intent, they’re not chasing a frisbee.

    Spiny Norman in reply to Midwest Rhino. | August 7, 2013 at 12:21 pm

    Even if the charges are wildly inappropriate, the excruciating and very public ordeal for the defendant will be such that the rest of the “herd” will back down. Even if the state loses at trial, overt intimidation of everyone else has been achieved. Such over-charging in even an obvious case of self-defense is still a no-lose situation for government power.

    Uncle Samuel in reply to Midwest Rhino. | August 7, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    In a seemingly predominantly black Atlanta suburb neighborhood (Ghana Drive, Lithonia, GA) a resident (21 yo) shot two 14-15 year olds who were breaking in his home while another under age driver was sitting outside in a stolen vehicle. Two were wounded and the third guy ran away from the vehicle but was caught.

    The neighbors backed the shooter, saying he’d been burglarized before. Lot of burglaries in that neighborhood evidently: http://therightscoop.com/two-teens-attempt-to-burglarize-home-instead-leave-in-ambulance-with-gun-shot-wounds/

    Schools need to teach Crime and Consequence (as well as Sex and Consequence and Drugs and Consequence) as a mandatory class in both middle and high schools.

      Rick the Curmudgeon in reply to Uncle Samuel. | August 7, 2013 at 2:16 pm

      Teaching “Crime and Consequence” to kids is difficult to say the least; at that age, every one of them thinks he is bulletproof.

      Catherine in reply to Uncle Samuel. | August 7, 2013 at 3:28 pm

      For the sex & consequences class the students should be taught that they can conceive a child during their first sexual experience. Part of the class should empower women to say no to guys who expect sex on the third date.

“The police chief of New Orleans clearly got the memo. He wasn’t going to lose his job because he appeared to be ‘too slow’ in bringing ‘justice’ to Merritt Landry. Landry was swiftly overcharged with attempted second degree murder, booked, and released on $10,000 bail.”

Seems like the police chief ought to lose his job for charging an innocent man. No, change “seems like” to “Is certain”. Not only does he deserve serious punishment for such an abuse of power, but he should be made an example of.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to pst314. | August 7, 2013 at 3:49 pm

    What’s really galling is that Landry has been placed on administrative leave WITHOUT pay.

    He’s been convicted of nothing.

    This alone, without even considering these ridiculous charges, is an outrage.

    But whenever one of these leftwing bastard toadies is accused of something, they’re placed on administrative leave WITH pay. Teachers, school bus drivers, etc., always get paid while their actions are being investigated.

    I hope Landry and his attorneys are fully engaged in the administrative appeal process as we speak.

      Especially galling as Major Nidal Hassan continues to draw full pay and allowances.

        JackRussellTerrierist in reply to gospace. | August 7, 2013 at 5:52 pm

        CS obastard wouldn’t have it any other way. He’d never let one his muzzie brethren go without income. It is especially enjoyable for him that the pay is coming from the taxpayers of America, most of whom are white entrepreneurs.

First, you have to be nuts to live in or visit NO. I lived there for 4 years in the 70’s and was never happier to be out of a town. The chance of being assaulted is higher there than most anywhere in the world (they don’t report most crime). Then there are the cops, they are just as bad, if not worse than the criminals.

Where the guy made a mistake was in not waiting fro the kid to open the door. Our sheriff tells us to shot and make sure to drag the body into the house.

    Rick the Curmudgeon in reply to david7134. | August 7, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    “…drag the body into the house”?

    Go ahead, and your “murder/manslaughter ‘maybe’ trial” will be dropped in preference to “‘definite’ tampering with evidence conviction.”

    It is very difficult to explain drag marks pointing in the wrong direction.

      JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Rick the Curmudgeon. | August 7, 2013 at 3:56 pm

      Do it fast. Drag him in, let him bleed on your kitchen floor a minute or two, then drag or carry him back out to where he was standing when shot. Why? You didn’t want the SOB bleeding all over your house. 🙂

      Did you understand the part were I said it was the sheriff’s suggestion? It was a tongue in cheek statement to indicate to those present that the body needed to at least partially be in the home. It is not my suggestion. Besides, the VP already said it was ok to fire both barrels of a shotgun in the air, if the kid was in the way, then you are at least doing what the second to the president said to do.

      The other thing is that the only statement you make to the cops is that I feared for my life. Then let the lawyers talk.

    Phillep Harding in reply to david7134. | August 7, 2013 at 3:37 pm

    “Drag them inside” might have worked back then, but it would cause all sorts of trouble now. “Tampering with evidence” would be just the start of it.

      JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Phillep Harding. | August 7, 2013 at 4:03 pm

      I agree that it’s better to let them attempt entry before shooting. It gives the victim of the break-in an easier, point-blank shot to the head. At worst you buy a new door or window and turn it into your homeowner’s insurance. A killing shot is so much cleaner and cheaper than the taxpayers having to pay the medical and prison costs for these feral savages.

      The more examples these savages see of their brethren-in-crime getting blown away by whitey, the fewer of them will make the attempt.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to david7134. | August 7, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    The three S’s are even more effective – Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup. 🙂

    NC Mountain Girl in reply to david7134. | August 7, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    I stayed with some working class whites in their house near the quarter in the mid 70s. I was sick from too much sun one night and decided to stay in while everyone else went out to catch crabs on a nearby waterway. My hostess handed me a loaded 12 gauge and instructed me they would loudly call my name before reentering the house. Should I hear anyone else trying to get in, I was advised to use both barrels first, then call the police.

    The city contained an odd mix of genteel charm and horrendous crime and corruption back then and it doesn’t sound like it has changed much since. That said, I didn’t see anywhere near the same racial animosity in New Orleans I saw a few years later in Chicago. So yes, I can see law and order blacks supporting Landry while liberals of various hues will go ape about gun violence and try to make Coulter into a saintly victim.

Hi, I’ve come over from TalkLeft. My former boss (many years ago) wrote about this case, with comparison to the GZ case. I left him a lengthy comment. Thought y’all might be interested. http://theadvocate.com/columnists/6676040-55/james-gill-in-your-face-impropriety

    MouseTheLuckyDog in reply to SuzieTampa. | August 7, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    I saw the column too, but decided not to leave a comment. ( As It seemed like casting pearls before swine. )

    The comment you left either seems to have not yet been approved from the moderation process they use or it has been removed. Can you please repost it here?

    well your former boss is totally full of it. He makes one really HUGE error regarding the Zimmerman case. That error happens to be the compelling evidence of self defense.

    Your former boss needs to go read up on all of the facts, and instead of being a pontificating idiot himself, he needs to actually look at those facts with an eye that is not prejudiced against a man who is NOT white Hispanic but is in fact of mixed AFRO-Peruvian-American race.

    I don’t know the facts as Mr. Gill presents them but his claim that “stand your ground” was used as a defense in the Zimmerman trial makes me think that Mr. Gill doesn’t know much. Stop lying Mr. Gill.

Charles Curran | August 7, 2013 at 11:06 am

On the bad news side, I’m sure that no one has forgotten the cops who chased and shot the blacks crossing the bridge. The chief had to act quickly before the rev and jesse could get to NO and fan the flames. Also agree that it is really good that there are many blacks in support of Landry.

Being a blog primarily for the legal profession, it is no surprise that its threads are largely directed to legal tactics and strategies. However, in the Zimmerman case, and in similar cases across the country, the bigger issue is how there is a lessening of professional standards, if not their total absence, among more and more prosecutors. As was painfully shown in the Zimmerman case, charges should never have been proffered in the first place. In the Landry case, where charges might be applicable, Landry has been seriously overcharged.

A similar problem has occurred in law enforcement circles, beginning, largely, in the 1980s. In that time period, it became acceptable to arrest a person on “probable cause”. This is fine, if the probable cause for the arrest is solidly based upon all the evidence. But, in many cases it was not. It was simply a CYA procedure to avoid being pilloried by the media for not doing something. It became so bad, with regard to the arrest of people who used lawful force in self defense, that it led directly to the changes in the law in Florida, in 2005, which protected those people using force in legitimate self defense from being arrested without having sufficient PC to disprove self defense.

Now we have these two cases. And they should bring home the problems, for everyone, which exist in the criminal justice system. There was no reason to immediately arrest Landry. He was not likely to skip town during the investigation and a $10,000 bond is hardly likely to insure his remaining there should he decide to leave. There should be no reason for a defendant to launch a media campaign to prove his innocence, that is what a court of law is for. And, the precipitous arrest places a financial burden on the defendant which is both unwarranted and onerous.

The Sanford PD and the prosecutor for Seminole County, much maligned by the media as being incompetent and even racially biased, should be the poster children for competent law enforcement and criminal prosecution. They did their due diligence and acted in a legal, and more importantly, honorable manner. And, it was proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were correct when they decided that George Zimmerman’s use of force was lawful. If only we had more law enforcement agencies and prosecutors of this metal.

    myiq2xu in reply to Mac45. | August 7, 2013 at 11:45 am

    Politically motivated prosecutions are nothing new.

    Phillep Harding in reply to Mac45. | August 7, 2013 at 3:41 pm

    Nooooo, the problems you think are new, are not new. They are just more likely to be exposed due to the internet.

    Then we have people like “Driveby” who tries to twist the evidence.

    I have not decided if he is just a contrarian jerk, or if he is a disinformation agent.

      What evidence of Landry’s innocence do you have that I do not?

      Why was Landry arrested by (highly experienced) detectives the same night of the shooting? Why does Landry’s statement(s) differ from another witness? Why is it that Landry shot Coulter in the back left side of his head, and he shot even though Coulter was not trying to enter Landry’s home?

      On different note, but similar in that there are so many pieces of “evidence” that none of us has: I am curious what type of weapon Landry used. In the dark, at that distance (30 feet), he may have used a rifle. Do you know what type of firearm he used?

        Mac45 in reply to DriveBy. | August 8, 2013 at 11:58 am

        I never said that he was innocent. What I said was that he was overcharged and was arrested long before a complete competent investigation was done.

        These are the reported facts, at the time of the arrest.
        A teenager climbs a locked, 6′ gate in a wall surrounding a private home, in which he did not reside and in which he knew none of the occupants, in the dead of night. He is confronted by the home owner, awakened from sleep by his intrusion, in a dimly lit driveway area. He is shot in the head, with a pistol. The homeowner, states that upon seeing the intruder inside his yard, the intruder turned toward him and reached to his waistband. The homeowner, fearing that the intruder was armed, fired, striking him in the head. The intruder is in a coma and can not speak. There are no witnesses, with the possible exception of the intruder’s companion/friend/accomplice who may have been across the street [highly impeachable witness there]. No weapon was found in the intruders possession. The home owner was a city employee who owned the home and had no prior criminal record. The intruder had a prior criminal record for theft, at 14 yoa. And, no autopsy was available at the time of the arrest.

        So, based upon these facts, what possible reason is there to discount the resident;s story that he did, in fact, fear for his life and that he acted in a reasonable fashion? The account of the unidentified witness [who is likely to turn out to be the criminal’s accomplice]? I know of no factual evidence that disproves the resident’s statements.

        There was no reason for NOPD to summarily discount Landry’s statement. There was no evidence that he was a flight risk. There was no reason why a complete investigation could not have been done and charges filed, either by the District Attorney or the Grand Jury, and an arrest made at that time. Instead, the NOPD charged Landry, within hours, with attempted 2nd degree homicide.

        This was an automatic “arrest the shooter and let a judge sort it out” arrest which has become the norm in most places today. It was this type of arrest that has led to the enactment of “stand your ground” laws and specifically defined laws regarding arrest in cases where self defense is a viable defense.

        Think about it. Should everyone who uses force against another person simply be arrested and forced to post bail and pay for a defense if self defense is a viable factor in the case?

          DriveBy in reply to Mac45. | August 8, 2013 at 1:14 pm

          I think that you replied to my post accidentally, because it was a reply to Philipe Harding.

          Anyway, you can get away with some serious stuff in Louisiana, like this guy that killed a college student in his driveway; the kid was going to a Halloween Party and went to the wrong address:

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Hattori

          Quote:
          At the trial, Peairs testified about the moment just prior to the shooting: “It was a person, coming from behind the car, moving real fast. At that point, I pointed the gun and hollered, ‘Freeze!’ The person kept coming toward me, moving very erratically. At that time, I hollered for him to stop. He didn’t; he kept moving forward. I remember him laughing. I was scared to death. This person was not gonna stop, he was gonna do harm to me.” Peairs testified that he shot Yoshi once in the chest when the youth was about five feet away. “I had no choice,” he said. “I want Yoshi’s parents to understand that I’m sorry for everything.”

          Go to the Wiki-link and read what happened and how the police refused to file charges, initially.

          So with that in mind, Landry’s actions and the evidence MUST point to something other than he genuinely feared for his life and the lives of his family in the home, or else NOPD would not have arrested him on the spot! I guarantee than. That is a bad neighborhood with lots of crime, he cops know that and take that in to consideration. But a reasonable family man in a similar circumstance would likely call 911, turn on the outside lights, turn the dog outside to check things out, while he maintained safety for himself and his family – unless a person tried to gain entry to the home. The shot to the back left of the kid’s head stands out to me! And the 30 foot distance between the two people. I wonder how close Coulter was to the gate/street – was he turned trying to escape/run? We shall see.

          sequester in reply to Mac45. | August 9, 2013 at 8:58 am

          Excellent posts Mac. DriveBy seems to be the resident gadfly. He talks of experienced detectives. Yet these “experienced detectives” made an arrest of a man who was not a flight risk based on an incomplete investigation. So incomplete that the DA is awaiting more information from the police before proceeding further.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Mac45. | August 7, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    Well said, excellent post.

Zimmerman’s wife still faces charges. Her trial will begin shortly. Isn’t it scheduled for mid-august?

Seems the government is making a claim that Shellie lied at the bail hearing because she didn’t know how much had already come in from strangers to help out with George’s defense. (The sum may have been higher than $100,000?) But all Shellie said was that Robert (George’s brother) knew.

On the Merritt case … If I had to guess, YES, he is innocent. But there’s also something else at play. The media lusting for a story that zooms to the top of the headlines the way Zimmerman did.

The State of Floriduh didn’t make the case “big.” The public’s reaction is what gave this story all the sunlight it received.

You even know when George Zimmerman was stopped by a cop for speeding in Foley, Texas, that five minute spot also zoomed up to the top in news stories. Drudge ran with it. The Daily Beast ran with it.

But I haven’t seen the Merritt story gain this sort of traction. Maybe, it will. You have to hope the judge on the case isn’t as stupid as Farley Ridiculous Half Nelson.

    MouseTheLuckyDog in reply to Carol Herman. | August 7, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    BTW John Guy is the one prosecuting, Shellie. You would have thought the judge ( after being requested by the defense ) would require him to step down. He is supposed to be representing the states interests, not pursuing his own agenda.

    As for the cop that stopped Zimmerman, he was investigated. Why? Seems that some lefty heard him snap a picture ( he did–to send to his supervisor ). Nevermind that the picture would have captured the same image the police cam did.

    Now they are going after the judge who let Landry out on bail because he didn’t make him stay the weekend to make sure all the paper work on his bail was correct. This when his wife is about due to give birth.

    Shellie next appears in court on the perjury charge August 21.

    I presume John Guy’s theory of the case will be as emotive and fact-free as usual.

    Shameful.

    –Andrew, @LawSelfDefense

      MouseTheLuckyDog in reply to Andrew Branca. | August 8, 2013 at 1:28 am

      Does anyone know anything about the judge ( Marlene Alva )?

      Is she likely to be heavily pro prosecution? My understanding of Nelson was that she never grants JMOAs, what about Alva? If Shellie is convicted what kind of sentence is the judge going to hand out? Is jail time, given the at best ambiguous nature of the perjury and the fact that she is I believe a first time offender, even in the picture?

      BTW what is the word on the sanctions hearing? The only thing I heard is that Mark OMara gave a speach where he said he would pursue to the fullest.

Many people don’ realize the violence that goes on within NO. When Katrina hit, I heard rumor the frustrated police when around whacking bad guy as “looters” because that was the only opportunity they had to clean it up a little. The reason why is NO is corrupt beyond redemption. A study of what is laughably called a justice system will make most of you just shudder and thank God you don’t live there.

I was told by a former resident that NO is a nation unto itself in a sense, as the laws in LA don’t apply there. They have their own set a rules.

That said, if the homeowner shot an unarmed thief inside his yard, the question will come down to was the thief trying to get into the house- at which point too bad for the young hoodlum. If not, then the question comes down to can the homeowner articulate fear- given the totality of the environment of NO.

We saw what happened when a man killed a black kid who was beating him to death. I can’t see this going better unless the race baiters are just worn out from the last one.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to archer52. | August 7, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    The race industry suffered a humiliating defeat in the Zimmerman case. Yeah, sure, they tried to turn it into a big ‘cibil’ rights brouhaha when GZ was acquitted, but they didn’t get much response. Why not? Because most could see that Trademark was the guilty party, even though they won’t admit it out loud, so they went back to their X-boxes, malt liquor, beating, robbing and raping. Of course there will be diehards who say that GZ was the bad guy blah blah blah but that’s not because they give a flick about Trademark. They are just stone-cold anti-white racists hanging onto a racist theory that gives them an opportunity to bang on about cracker-assed white men.

    If you think back, the last time they got up a good head of steam was the Duke lacrosse case. That didn’t work out for them, either. There had been no crime committed at all against Crystal Mangum (now on trial for murder), and they wee humiliated when it was shown, by a DEMOCRAT AG (Roy Cooper), that the complainant was a drug-addled, nutburger street whore, declared that no crime at all occurred (except Mangum’s filing of a false police report), and that the Duke boys were 100% innocent of anything. That was 6-7 years ago. It took the anti-white race-baiters six years to give it a hard go again in the Zimmerman case. So I think they are indeed humiliated again because it shows. The other difference in this case is that this little thug is on video jumping a fence at 2am to commit a crime and has a criminal history, now publicly known even though he’s a juvenile. His own brother said he was already on the docket yet again for theft/burglary. The personal histories of crime and depravity by the so-called “victims” in both the Duke and GZ cases were sheltered by the media and their activities at the times of the alleged crimes against them were nebulous. Not so in this case. This feral savage was in the commission of a felony when he was shot. Given their defeat in the GZ case, and given that it’s known this “victim” is a thieving thug by his own brother’s voluntary public statement, and given that he’s on video committing a crime against the person who shot him, it seems less likely that we’ll hear from Al and Jesse or that the buses of paid protestors will be arriving anytime soon.

    Besides the travesty of justice against Landry, the only other two problems I see is that the thug survived and the cops and prosecutors, in an outrageous display of cowardice and fear of Al, Jesse and the vicious, race-baiting media parasites, rushed out to ruin this man’s life, threaten his freedom, and deprive him of the ability to make a living and live in peace.

    Landry should get a medal (and some free practice time at a firing range). Instead, in this cowardly society that has somehow reached a point where institutions and white people in general shudder at the thought of the race card, we prosecute white people for defending their home and a vulnerable family. We should all be ashamed. I say let them play the race card, and let it fall on deaf ears. Ignore them and the parasitic media whores who feed off them. That’s the only way to neuter these greedy, manipulative bastards and their mouthpieces.

      This criminal’s life is saved. The Ft. Hood shooter is saved.
      Yet, we get Obamacare.

      They are just stone-cold anti-white racists hanging onto a racist theory that gives them an opportunity to bang on about cracker-assed white men.

      And Oprah’s last statement just proved your case – when she said that the Trayvon Martin case was just same as the Emmett Till case.

    mariner in reply to archer52. | August 7, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    New Orleans:Louisiana::Chicago:Illinois

The image link below, shows a remarkable resemblance to the dudes picture on the back of A BOOK, recently purchased by a DUDE named Andrew Branca…Umm, by any chance were YOU in Missouri recently? 🙂

http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=931256

    Ah, yes, the middle-aged white guy with a receding hairline. Some people say we all look alike. 🙂

    I’m been in Missouri, but long enough ago that I had a very full head of hair. Was there working as a Safety Officer on one of the early IDPA Nationals. Good times.

    –Andrew, @LawSelfDefense