Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty “Totaly Badass”
A fellow bar taker today pointed out that during his post-study TV watching, he found himself laughing like a giddy child a jokes he probably wouldn’t normally enjoy quite so ebulliently. I notice myself doing the same thing, so I warn that my sense of humor may be totally off at this point. In addition, this video is about the law, so who the hell knows if it’s even the least bit entertaining.
Oh, by the way, that had some NSFW language. Sorry about that.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:31 am
i am the law.
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July 26th, 2008 at 7:10 am
hey – do you think celebrities have the right to invoke castle law if a papparazzi trespasses on their property?
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July 26th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Ha, no. Sadly.
While the local laws are different on that stuff in every state, the basic rule is that you only get to use deadly force if you have both an objective and a reasonable fear that you or someone else is about to be subject to an attack that threatens death or seriously bodily injury.
Generally, if someone busts into your house, you can presume that they’re intending to cause you death or serious bodily injury, so you can respond in kind.
In many states, however, you have a duty to retreat from a conflict if you are able to safely do so. So, if you can either fight back, or walk away, and there’s no danger in walking away, you’re bound to walk away.
The Castle Doctrine modifies this rule and says that if you’re in your home, you never have to walk away regardless of how easy it is to do so.
That doesn’t mean, however, that you get to kill whoever walks into your house; you still need to be under the reasonable belief that they’re there to cause you harm. If you’re Matthew McConaughey, and a reporter takes one step onto your property, you can’t just start shooting since you know he’s not there to murder you.
Now, if a reporter sneaks into McConaughey’s house and is skulking around a corner, McConaughey probably COULD respond with extreme violence.
On the beach, however, McConaughey’s out of luck in the “violent reprisal” game.
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July 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
It was actually some local surfers who attacked the papparazzi. And as I understand it, they sort of considered this particular beach their turf and the papparazzi were invaders, so it could be considered a misguided attempt to apply the castle doctrine. Not that I object with the result.
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July 26th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Nobody is at all likable in the surfer story (except for McConaughey). The surfers were aggressive, jock-y jerks and they swung the first punch. The photographers are bad people and a general nuisance, though they probably don’t deserve to be beat up for it… at least not in this situation where they were just hanging out on a beach taking pictures of someone surfing.
On the other hand, it was pretty great seeing the surfer swing the monopod at the photog!
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July 26th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
matthew mcconaughey is never likable. even in hypotheticals.
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