Ersland Found Guilty Of Murder

[guitar man]

-- The jury has found pharmacist Jerome Ersland guilty of first degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Antwun Parker during a botched robbery at the Reliable in 2009.

Ersland faces life in prison without parole.

All evidence has been presented in the case and both the prosecution and defense have presented its closing arguments.

The prosecution said Ersland "made himself judge, jury and executioner when he shot 16-year-old Antwun Parker while lying unconscious and unarmed at the Reliable Pharmacy."

full story:

http://www.news9.com/story/14733747/erland-case-now-in-the-hands-of-the-jury

[slackmaster]

1. "...shot 16-year-old Antwun Parker while lying unconscious and unarmed"?!?!?

That's a pretty good trick!

Auto-Unrec for painfully poor and unintentionally funny writing.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Real hilarious.

It sounds like the guy executed the kid.

(Figures, someone would think it's funny).

[Sonoman]

4. The funny part is it was a prosecutorial statement.

Do students still take English classes?

I've always held on to my belief that schooling should be an alternative to real-life learning.

I attended one day of First Grade and never went back. The kids in my class couldn't read a lick.

Sonoman

[slackmaster]

5. It's about as funny as a fart in a space suit, a sad testement to the state of education in the USA.

When someone makes such a blatantly malformed statement, I have to wonder if he or she really knows much about anything.

[Hoyt]

11. Most folks easily figured out what he meant -- some gunner murdered a 16 yo kid.

That'll happen more if we keep promoting guns in public.

[petronius]

3. Sounds like the right decision, if this account is accurate:

Jacobson said the suspect who ran away from the pharmacy was armed, but no gun was found near Parker.

"Ersland shows no concern for his safety as he walks by Parker, and turns his back to Parker as he walks behind the pharmacy counter," Jacobson said. "Ersland is then seen to put the pistol he is carrying on the counter, and retrieve a second pistol from a drawer."

Ersland used this pistol to shoot Parker on the ground, the detective said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,522461,00.html

[pacalo]

6. It sure looks that way. Looking at how menacing the robber with the gun

came into the store & aimed at the pharmacist, it's not hard to imagine how rattled the pharmacist was at the time. That's not an excuse to shoot someone lying on the floor once, much less 5 times.

Here's the surveillance film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHshsgpsxFg&sns=em

[petronius]

9. Yeah, that would certainly rattle me. I'd say he did good right up until when he chased

the gunman out the door, and what he did when he came back in was murder. Wonder why he got the second gun - did he empty the first while outside?

This is obviously hyper-Fristian, but it seems to me that the body language of the two robbers is distinctly different - I kind of get the sense that the killed one didn't want to be there...

[eqfan592]

12. I was getting similar vibes actually.

The kid that was killed did not have the body language of somebody that had done that sort of thing before, and/or certainly didn't want to be there. I didn't remember reading if he had a previous record or not. Anybody know? I also agree that what the guy did was fine up until he chased the guy out.

Sad story. We have GOT to do something to make sure these kids aren't turning to crime!!

[pacalo]

13. He must have gotten the second gun because he ran out of bullets. He was so

shaken up I get the impression he must have shot the first one until he ran out of bullets.

I dvr'ed a movie similar to this story called "Felon" last night about a home invasion. The homeowner chased him out of the house & caught up with him on the neighbor's frontyard, then hit the robber hard on the head with a baseball bat & killed him. He was convicted of murder & sent to prison. This is a sketchy description because I didn't pay close attention to it since I knew I'd see it later, but that's the gist of it.

[Logical]

7. This sounds like a valid verdict. No need to continue shooting a unconscious person. But....

I wonder if a police officer would have got the same treatment.

[PavePusher]

8. I can't help but wonder how much crime might drop....

if this sort of thing was legal.

Hmmm....

[Logical]

10. I can't imagine how much anti-gun feelings would take hold if this was legal. It would hurt and ....

not help the cause.

[guitar man]

16. I agree

I'm a strong RKBA advocate. Rights come with responsibilities. He was within his rights to fire that first shot and if he had stopped there I would have backed him 100%. If the kid had tried to get up and attack him again and he shot him, I would have backed him. But going and getting that other gun and shooting him while he lay there helpless, 5 more times. Sorry, I can't get behind that.

When gun owners are in the right the law needs to be behind them and when they are in the wrong they should be prosecuted, and that includes law enforcement . That's just the way I see it.

[Logical]

19. Great post and you are spot on! n-t

[eqfan592]

14. Not enough to justify it.

There are better ways we can go about lowering the crime rate than unloading on criminals that are already down, incapacitated AND unarmed.

I'd much rather we catch kids like this one when they are young and keep them out of the situations that lead to them into becoming criminals in the first place. It's damned heart breaking.

[Logical]

17. I agree. n-t

[rrneck]

18. [phone]. Can't be said enough. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

15. This can sometimes be a result of fear.

People who fear prosecution, perhaps irrationally, for using deadly force in self defense.

The old cliche statement 'drag the body inside', or 'make sure there is only one story to tell', etc.


I don't know if that kid would have survived even if he hadn't been shot in the torso, but the pharmacist was wrong to do it. Good conviction, but sad circumstances.

[liberationforever]

20. The real major issue

I seem to be the only one who thinks that even though the pharmacist was wrong to fire the additional shots, the charge and the sentence against him were outrageous so he should be pardoned. A life threatening situation causes people to be overly cautious and extremely emotional. He had no way of knowing if the robber was playing possum and also thought he was armed. It wasn't first degree murder or even manslaughter. Also, if the first shot that was legal had killed Parker, the other illegal shots could not have killed Parker as he was dead, so his only crime would have been shooting at a corpse. Moral of the story: only buy bullets that kill on the first shot I guess(I don't know much about guns).

A crime's severity should depend on the circumstances in which it was committed. In these life-threatening circumstances, paranoia does occur and there isn't time to think rationally. Parker created that situation for Ersland and WAS MOVING. The information going around isn't completely accurate. Dr. Choi, chief pathologist who reviewed the autopsy, concluded that one of Parker's movements while unconscious could rationally be seen as a threat! And the pathologist is untrained in the psychology of life threatening situations. Also, the wound from the first shot was potentially fatal and they don't really have conclusive proof that Parker was anymore alive than a chicken with its head cut-off after the first shot.

I say commute to six months max, restore the license, and suit against Cleta Jennings because her juvenile son caused the psychological pain and suffering.
Ersland got life in prison. If he were an illegal immigrant who was refused by his country of origin, he'd be walking the streets freely after 6 months even if he butchered a bunch of preschoolers and ate them alive(see Zadvydas v. Davis). Ersland did not commit murder because there's a limit to how accountable you are in a life-threatening situation.

[lawodevolution]

21. Guess they'll have to let a child rapist/killer out to make space for this danger to society

This guy should have read some of Massad Ayoobs stuff first.