He was denied bail. He had to go through a lengthy and I’m sure expensive appeal process while he was sitting in jail. He won the appeal. A high bail was set. Seems to me he probably would have received bail in the first place if it wasn’t a high profile case. Bail is not supposed to be a punishment. It is to ensure the defendant does not flee the jurisdiction. The judge put proper safeguards in place to ensure his appearance. He has no prior record. Ties to the community. He is elderly with health issues. There is no reason to not give bail.
I just have a really bad feeling about this
Don’t claim powers,Just doesn’t feel safe.
You know who else was barred from contact with firearms? This guy, former Brunswick County Sheriff Ron Hewitt.
Unless you text in a movie he happens to be attending. Also it is disingenuous to claim he is innocent. From a legal standpoint, of course he is, but no one is disputing that he pulled out his gun and fired it killing a man. He may be found Not Guilty (and I predict that he will) but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a killer.
His bail conditions prohibit that. He’s allowed to go to the doctor, to church, and to his court hearings.
Let’s see: opinion, fact, opinion, fact… that last statement is neither opinion nor fact, tho.
Or do you not consider the people at the grocery store “the public”? Perhaps, in your opinion, the people on the roads as he drives from his house to those places are not “the public”? :dubious: I’ve seen people text while at a red light; I hope this asshat doesn’t use the deadly weapon he’s driving to “hurry them up” or something. I’ve also seen people text in line at the grocery store; I hope that doesn’t set him off.
I’m not convinced bail was the wrong thing to do, but I’m far from convinced it was the right thing to do either.
…and the grocery store. Don’t forget the (possibly crowded) grocery store.
What exactly are you suggesting the court should have found? That he’s an out-of-control maniac who even while being under house arrest on bail on a charge of second degree murder presents the likelihood of using his shopping cart as a weapon at the Safeway? If he’s that level of nuts, I should think the court would have noticed, and also that he would be working on a decent insanity defense.
Thanks for the bump. I’m interested to see how this plays out. I don’t see any way he will get away with it but you never know when it gets into the jury’s hands.
Perhaps not if you are an old white male ex-cop.
But pal, I’ve got two words for you:
Rikers Island.
did we ever hear how this turned out?
On Friday, both sides made closing arguments and the judge is expected to issue a ruling sometime this week.
Fascinating. I just happened on the thread while looking at some old threads and wondered what happened; had no idea it was still ongoing.
So, this wasn’t the trial, if I understood the article? It’s a question of whether he has immunity under “stand your ground”? if the judge rules that immunity doesn’t apply, then he goes to trial? is that right?
That’s what I’m reading. This article tries to answer the question of why the case is taking so long to get to trial.
And he’s going to trial:
‘Stand your ground’ defense rejected in Florida theater-shooting case
Apparently in the mind of the accused, popcorn is a deadly, life-threatening weapon; the judge disagreed.
I’m quite surprised. I thought the legal threshold to prove fear of great bodily harm was quite low?
Elderly man
Darkish theater
Very angry and big man, heard cursing loudly over the previews.
His violent actions caught on video
Seems like a fearful situation to me. GBH could easily occur in those circumstances. I’m only approaching sixty and would have pissed my pants. That was one big SOB that was acting extremely irrationally. Who the heck flips out like this in public? All because he’s asked to put up his cell phone?
But, I ain’t da judge. 
The beer yesterday was good, but I had only two, not three. Guinness is the way to go!
This morning I got up early to bake cookies and little meatballs in sauce. I’d signed up to do the refreshments for after the second service at church. You should see the people at my congregation eat!. As long as you keep putting stuff out they keep eating. The meatballs were a hit, next time I could even make them a leetle smaller, to go further.
I want to assure some members of the MMP that the cookies were not in the meatball sauce.
What kind of cookies were they?
So Baker’s moved to Florida, has she? 
I think it was the two beers.