From: mark@unicorn.com
Date: Wed Jun 09 1999 - 09:17:13 MDT
Michael S. Lorrey [mike@lorrey.com] wrote:
>The proper response would have been
>a) call the cops, b) only shoot if the intruder attempted to break the door
>down. Seems like a clear cut case of manslaughter or negligent homicide to me.
Seems as though the juries agreed with you:
>From http://www.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=409105959&fmt=text
---- Begin Included Text ----
So what was the real story? After researching the media and court records
via Lexis-Nexis, I found the basic facts:
On the night of the incident, Hattori and host-brother Webb Haymaker were
going to a Halloween party on the other side of town from where they lived;
Hattori had found that another Japanese exchange student lived in Baton
Rouge, had contacted her, and was subsequently invited to the
aforementioned party. Hattori, a vibrant and gregarious youth, spoke little
English and, alas, had a habit of rushing up to friends to greet them. Both
Hattori and Haymaker were in costume, Hattori in a white suit to imitate
John Travolta, and Haymaker as an accident victim, with a neck brace,
bandages, and fake blood.
Accidentally transposing two numbers in the address, the two boys went to
the wrong house (6 houses down from the actual party). They went up the
path to the front door, where Haymaker rang the doorbell. One of Peairs'
three young children started to answer the door; his mother stopped him,
and instead herself, dressed in a nightgown, opened the carport door,
tentatively, to see who was calling this late. Haymaker heard one of the
children looking through the blinds near the
dimly-lit carport, and so went there when Bonnie Peairs opened the door.
When she opened the door, she saw a youth dressed in bloody bandages
and a neck brace ask "where's the party?"; at about the same time, Hattori,
hearing Haymaker speak, came around the corner and rushed up to the
carport door.
Alarmed, Mrs. Peairs slammed the door shut. No one but her knows exactly
why she panicked to the degree that she was, but panicked she was, and
she shouted for her husband to come. Outside, the two boys walked down
the driveway; Haymaker was convinced now that they were at the wrong
house, and started to try to explain this to
Hattori, who did not yet understand. Inside, Rodney Peairs was
introduced to the situation by hearing his wife, in a state of panic, tell him
there were two strange men outside, and that he should get his gun.
Trusting his wife's judgment, he got the gun and went to the carport door; the
door was ajar, apparently having opened again at the force of it being
slammed.
It was here that Peairs made his greatest error; instead of closing the door
and defending from the inside, he stepped out into the doorway. It was on
this point that the civil court ruled against him; but with a high crime rate and
slow police response, Peairs claims he was doing what was necessary to
protect his family, which a criminal court agreed with him on. (BTW, it took
police 40 minutes to arrive after Hattori was shot.)
The two boys heard Peairs come to the door; they had been standing behind
a vehicle in the driveway, meaning neither party could see the other initially.
Hattori stepped out from behind the car.
Peairs raised his gun and shouted "freeze!" Unfortunately, Hattori either did
not understand it at all or even perhaps misunderstood the word as "please";
compounding the misunderstanding, Hattori was nearsighted and was not
wearing his contacts; therefore he could not see the gun in Peairs' hands.
Thinking a friend was at the door, he started running towards the figure.
Peairs saw an intruder who'd frightened his wife to panic emerge from behind
his car, ignore a raised gun, ignore his warning, and rush towards him
quickly. In Hattori's outstretched hands was a dark metallic object which, in
the dim light and rushed circumstance, Peairs thought was a gun (it was a
camera). When Hattori was five feet away, Peairs shot him.
Now, put yourself in Peairs' place, see the situation as he saw it. Two
intruders have scared your wife; to protect yourself, your wife, and your three
children, believing the police will be no help, you go to confront the intruders.
You present a gun, shout "freeze!" and yet one of the intruders rushes at
you with what you believe is a gun in his outstretched hand. I am personally
anti-gun and
anti-violence, but I must admit that at this point I would -not- be thinking,
"oh, this might be a Japanese exchange student who lost his contact
lenses and greets his friends by rushing towards them."
Can you honestly say you would never have reacted the same way? In light
of the facts, what Peairs did was certainly an awful
mistake, but nonetheless an understandable one.
---- End Included Text ----
This is the best I've found so far on the Net, and I don't see any particular
reason to disbelieve it. Assuming it's correct, the jury decisions make
perfect sense.
Apologies if the formatting is screwed, and hopefully that link works; the
dejanews.com folks seem to be trying real hard to screw their system up
lately.
Mark
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