Student kills burglar with samurai sword

[Neil]

The kid's toast.  You heard it here first.

No shit.  Well-off white person kills a black person in self-defence in a place where the spooks elect the local justice types?  He'd have better luck being a farmer in Rhodesia.

[Caliga]

Jimmy Carter's going to call you a racist. 

[DisturbedPervert]

The kid's toast.  You heard it here first.

No shit.  Well-off white person kills a black person in self-defence in a place where the spooks elect the local justice types?  He'd have better luck being a farmer in Rhodesia.

He's gonna have a wonderful time in prison too

[jimmy olsen]

The latest news on the subject.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/309462.php

Police: Md. student swordsman didn't mean to kill
By Ben Nuckols
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.17.2009

BALTIMORE — Baltimore homicide detectives don't believe a Johns Hopkins University student had "the intent to kill" when he used a samurai sword to confront an intruder behind his home, a police spokesman said Thursday.
John Pontolillo, 20, a junior chemistry major from New Jersey, killed the man with a single blow early Tuesday after police said the suspected burglar lunged at him.

Pontolillo has not been charged in the death of Donald D. Rice, 49, who had a long rap sheet of burglary arrests and was released from jail just two days before the altercation. Prosecutors will determine whether charges are appropriate after consulting with police, a process that could take weeks.
"We do not believe he went down there with the intent to kill somebody," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said of Pontolillo. "We're looking to see if he was the aggressor, and so far the evidence doesn't suggest that."

When Pontolillo saw Rice, he raised the sword and yelled for his roommates to call police, Guglielmi said. Rice lunged at the student, who backed up against a wall. At that point, Pontolillo struck Rice once with the sword, nearly severing Rice's left hand and causing a severe wound to his upper body. Rice died at the scene.

Guglielmi said Thursday that when the student found Rice, he was was hiding in the small, fenced courtyard between the back porch and the detached garage behind Pontolillo's off-campus home. Police had initially said Rice was hiding inside the garage.

Police also revealed that Pontolillo and his three roommates, all Hopkins students, had been warned by a city officer and a campus security officer late Monday about a suspicious person in the neighborhood just east of campus.

At that point, the students told the officers that Pontolillo's XBox video game console and two laptop computers had been stolen from their home earlier that night. Police investigated and found no signs of forced entry, according to police reports about the thefts.

After the officers left, Pontolillo retrieved the sword and decided to perform a more thorough search, including the garage and his car, Guglielmi said. The officers heard the screams during the encounter with Rice and rushed back to the scene, he said.

Pontolillo has not returned calls seeking comment. A man who answered the phone at the home of John A. Pontolillo of Belmar, N.J., said he had no comment.

Rice's sister, Peggy Rice, told WJZ-TV in Baltimore Wednesday that her brother did not deserve to die and that the student should be charged.

[CountDeMoney]

At that point, Pontolillo struck Rice once with the sword, nearly severing Rice's left hand and causing a severe wound to his upper body. Rice died at the scene.

He came down with the sword at an angle;  it went through the hand, and then down to the neck. That means the hand was up, above the neck.  That's a defensive posture, and that's why he's going to get charged.

[Strix]

At that point, Pontolillo struck Rice once with the sword, nearly severing Rice's left hand and causing a severe wound to his upper body. Rice died at the scene.

He came down with the sword at an angle;  it went through the hand, and then down to the neck. That means the hand was up, above the neck.  That's a defensive posture, and that's why he's going to get charged.

A defensive posture? That's iffy. He could have been reaching for the student (or sword) with both hands. If the sword had cut through the forearm (as in a block attempt) than I could see a defensive posture.

[Jaron]

This dead mans legacy is going to be that he got his ass killed by some xbox nerd with a japanese anime fetish.

[Tonitrus]

Baltimore homicide detectives don't believe a Johns Hopkins University student had "the intent to kill" when he used a samurai sword to confront an intruder behind his home, a police spokesman said Thursday.

At least the cops are hoping that, at worst, he only gets manslaughter charge.

[CountDeMoney]

At that point, Pontolillo struck Rice once with the sword, nearly severing Rice's left hand and causing a severe wound to his upper body. Rice died at the scene.

He came down with the sword at an angle;  it went through the hand, and then down to the neck. That means the hand was up, above the neck.  That's a defensive posture, and that's why he's going to get charged.

A defensive posture? That's iffy. He could have been reaching for the student (or sword) with both hands. If the sword had cut through the forearm (as in a block attempt) than I could see a defensive posture.

We should get Martinus to figure it out.  He's good with swordfighting.

[Jaron]

Tummy sticks!

[Alatriste]

I wonder what I would have to face under German law if I killed a burglar.

I think killing someone to avert burglary would not fall under our self defense laws. It's not proportional.
So you probably be charged with manslaughter.

That proportional thing kills me; is there a chart you have to carry around to make sure you don't defend yourself too much?

Very much. If someone called you an asshole, would you kill him? The 'proportional thing' applies every time we interact with other persons. Above all if they are assholes...

And you are happily mixing burglary with assault in your answer...

[ulmont]

That proportional thing kills me; is there a chart you have to carry around to make sure you don't defend yourself too much?

The US, generally speaking, has a proportionality requirement as well.  Non-deadly threats, including threats to property rather than to persons, can generally only be met with non-deadly force; only in the case of a reasonable fear of death or serious injury can deadly force be used.  Even if you look at the "castle doctrine" states, all they do is remove a requirement that you must flee rather than use deadly force if you could flee in reasonable safety (which not all states ever accepted under the common law, anyway).

[derspiess]

This dead mans legacy is going to be that he got his ass killed by some xbox nerd with a japanese anime fetish.

Holy crap, you said something that made sense.

[Jaron]

This dead mans legacy is going to be that he got his ass killed by some xbox nerd with a japanese anime fetish.

Holy crap, you said something that made sense.

ooga ooga booga ooga? *chucks a spear*

[Barrister]

29 prior convictions?   Wow.

Pfft.  That's nothing.

I had a guy with 53 just last week.