Haunted House Shooting
 

This is an interesting article from Columbus, OH area. Any thoughts about the legality of this?

Man Indicted in 'Spooky House' Shooting
Aug 31st - 10:25pm



COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A grand jury indicted a man Thursday on charges of felonious assault in the shooting of a teen who along with her friends was sneaking around outside his house on a ghost hunt.

Each count returned by the Franklin County grand jury against Allen Davis, 40, carries a sentence of three to eight years in prison. He is accused of firing a rifle from the house at a carload of girls after hearing them outside the night of Aug. 22. They considered the house spooky.

One of the girls, Rachel Barezinsky, 17, was shot in the head and critically injured but had improved to fair condition Thursday night at Ohio State University Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said.

Davis remained at the Franklin County Jail on $500,000 bond Thursday night. His arraignment was set for Friday morning.

In jailhouse interviews, he has admitted firing the rifle but said he didn't mean to hurt them. He said they were juvenile delinquents and shouldn't have been trespassing at the 66-year-old house, which sits across from a cemetery.

The girls and other high school students have gone out to cemeteries to hunt for ghosts before, the girl's father, Greg Barezinsky, has said.

...Legality of what? Shooting the girl in the head?

yeah. The guy was on his property and arguably 'defending' his home but he comes out shooting? It's kind of a sticky wickett. Maybe he thought he was being robbed? I don't know. Just kind of interesting. I've done similar things when I was young--trespass on 'haunted' property, it seems like the kind of thing a lot of kids do...no one ever got SHOT though.

And I wonder if this will make the house even MORE haunted and irresistable?

Oh, right, it was his property... I guess technically he could say he was defending it, but he KNEW it was just some annoying but harmless kids...

I thought some of the gun enthusiasts here would have an opinion about this. Guess they're all out shooting their guns!

Did he fire at them while they were in the car? The description of the actual incident isn't clear. A "carload" of girls, "after" he heard them "outside"

According to an earlier article, he said he "aimed at the tires." The girl who was shot was shot while she was IN the car---she had been on his property but got spooked and jumped back into the car. I guess you really can't call that 'defending your property' can you?

Well if she wasnt on his property, then... he's A.) a fuckhead and B.) in deeeeep shit.

So, if he shot "the tires" out, they wouldn't be able to leave, and then what ???

Well, if Teen Scream movies have taught us anything, it's that he would drag the victims back into his house for a night of terror that may involve a chainsaw.

Free him. Everyone knows teenaged girls are the ultimate evil.:shotgun:

If they were already off his property when the girl was hit then he's screwed, no two ways around it. But if they were on his property then he was within his rights to do what he did, we now know that it was teenage girls engaging in random acts of stupidity and illegality (tresspassing) but he could argue that it wasn't apparent at the time. Perhaps he's had problems with vandels and assumed it was more of the same, who knows. Property rights are property rights though, stay off the turf! :meanface:

i don't think you're allowed to shoot someone for trespassing. not in america, anyway. that's kind of frowned upon. I'm pretty sure they have to be inside your home and threatening you or your family for self defense to hold up. this guy? 'eees foooked.

I don't think they have to be inside, threatening you in your yard should be sufficient. :confused:

Depends on the state. Most states require that for use of deadly force you to be in fear of your life. Some states require that you retreat before shooting, showing that it was a "last resort."

There are states that allow for the assumption of danger from any intruder onto your property.

Ohio's Castle Doctrine law is still in committee.

A lot depends on what the girls were actually doing before the homeowner started shooting. If they were merely being annoying and were in a vehicle on the street, dude was guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. However, I do not know if the news story is accurate in describing the circumstances.