Man Who Set A Trap To Kill 17-Year-Old Intruder Invokes Stand Your Ground-Like Defense | ThinkProgress
Seventeen-year-old Diren Dede lost his life Sunday, while in Missoula, Montana on a high school exchange program from Germany. He was shot dead at the home of Markus Kaarma, after Kaarma set a trap for intruders by intentionally leaving the garage open and placing a purse in clear view.
After motion sensors detected someone in the garage, Kaarma shot Dede. And while he has since been charged with first degree murder, he is already invoking a Stand Your Ground-like defense.
Kaarma is not the first to claim he was justified in killing someone after setting a trap. A Minnesota jury rejected Byron Smith’s argument that he was standing his ground when he made it look as though he wasn’t home, and waited in the basement with food and water until two teen intruders descended, and he shot them dead. Audio recorded by Smith depicted him toying with the victims after he shot them, according to the New York Daily News, saying “you’re dead.” He also likened them to “vermin.”
Like we didn't see this coming.
Its a shame that we value things more than we value human lives.
I don't want my belongings stolen but no way is my TV worth more than a human life.
I don't think you grasp this...
It's not a matter of "my TV is worth more than a life".
It is a matter of civil society, and the rule of law over the criminal element, being worth more than a criminals life.
Now granted, I would prefer chopping off hands myself. There is where the right-wingers are horrified and run away from me. That's fine, I'll stand on this position alone. I think we should cut off people's hands for stealing.
You get a fair warning. You lose one hand. You lose the other hand. Suddenly theft is a thing of the past.
Here's the problem with you people on the left. What you don't grasp, is that nearly all major criminals, are people who got away with little criminal acts in the past.
People don't just wake up one morning, and think "Hey I'm going to be gangster hit man, and kill people".
These people started by picking up someone's MP3 player at school. Then shop lifting at Walmart. Then broke into someone's car to get the stereo. Then stole cars. Then broke into homes. And later then end up shooting some poor girl at the quick mart.
The vast majority of people who are life long criminals started why back when they were just snatching nick nacks, and you idiots say "don't do anything to them, it's only a purse".
You people following that line of thinking are exactly why we have so many murders in our country. If we laid down the law when they were shop lifting and snatching MP3 players, we wouldn't have an epidemic of homicide.
I'll never forget at College, there was a woman there in her 30s. I was working at a Caddy dealership, and she asked me if I could get a Cadillac emblem for her to give to her son. I told her those were fairly expensive to buy, and she looked at me like I was nutz and said "no, I just mean get one... you know, one they won't notice is gone".
I just sat there completely stunned.... realizing what she was saying is that she wanted me to steal from the people who paid my wages.
We MUST change this culture. The best way to do that, is to make theft extremely risky and painful, and enforce the laws ruthlessly. Think how that kid is going to grow up, this his mother teaching him these morals?