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A bad idea, sure. But (2.) I doubt you’ll find many people who think it was a wilful criminal act.
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I count exactly one, and that was me- and I even admitted that I thought the kid was stupid. I suppose you could count kambukta, too, but he/she didn’t address the kid’s actions, just the dad’s (which, assuming he knew the kid, pretty clearly constitute battery).
It most certainly was willful. Was he controlled by a brain-leech or CIA microwave satellites?
It most certainly was criminal. Trespassing at the very least.
It was also_certainly_very, very stupid and he got his ass kicked for his stupidity.
Sometimes stupid should hurt.
Shut off the “angry dad” subroutine for a second.
Obviously I meant his intent was not specifically to commit a criminal act but to see his girlfriend.
Just because some or most people don’t think it’s a criminal act, doesn’t make it any less so. Judging by the loosely worded law in Ohio, the article was correct that he can face burglary and assault, and at the very least, criminal trespass. Assuming the article is true, imo, he has met the elements of the law. He should be so lucky nothing more happened to him, and depending on statutory sex offender laws in OH, he’s lucky he’s not facing more charges.
Zatafact? Sometimes when I respond to a post, I actually address the post in question - not the entire thread, regardless of what you think I ought to be doing. And yeah, if he was after nookie or just murmuring sweet nothings, and if it’s possible that he was there with the daughter expecting him, that’s kinda different to a random breaking and entering.
Having a son myself who will probably be 18 one of these days and possibly hornier than he is smart, I’m just as glad that round here most householders neither keep a gun nor think it admirable to blow a kid away on spec.
Thing is, it’s not always particularly easy to judge whether the person (who, at 18, may or may not be a “kid” in an emotional sense but almost certainly is not one in the physical sense) climbing in your window is there to sneak some nookie from your daughter or for more nefarious purposes. This is particularly so if you know your daughter to be out of the house for the night, and thus unlikely to be receiving late night visitors.
Or even worse, that the intruder thinks she’s there and is intent on rape. The kid is lucky the dad didn’t respond with enthusiasm. Hope the kid gets jail time in addition to his lumps. Burglary is a felony, after all.
I really wish this was in the Pit.
Did you read the original story? Are you fully awake? For all you know, he may well have been invited; that would make it not trespassing.
Where the ridiculous non sequitur about burglary came from I can’t imagine.
Know your law before you shoot your mouth off. Burglary is defined in this state at least as entering any building or structure with intent to commit any felony or grand or petit theft. He’s 18, she’s 15. That’s Stat. Rape and a felony, so he can be charged with burglary. Even if he was invited in by his girlfriend. I’m not saying it would fly in court, but it seems to meet all the criteria for the crime. Otherwise, take it to the Pit if you want.
Sorry for the abrupt departure, work interferes.
Anyhoo, in response to Justin_Bailey, around here, many high school freshmen turn 15 around the end of the school year, as is the case with my own. I’ll overlook the moronic comment, and just say that I respect your experience, but in my own humble observation, the seemingly slight age difference still gives the older kid more life experience relative to their young age. Of course, since we’re all just speculating, you may be right and she landed one she could feel superior to. I’ve seen it happen a couple of times myself.
To finish my response to Really Not All That Bright, given the implied secrecy of sneaking in a window at night, I personally have a hard time buying that the boy was just looking for companionship. The sneaking implies that whatever he was doing there he didn’t want the parents to know about. I’m not saying the girl wasn’t a party to it (if so, it was really inconsiderate of her not to tip him off that she wasn’t going to be attending, and if I were him I’d have some words to say to her about that). I wouldn’t advocate beating the snot out of the kid, but would think there’s some middle ground between that and just saying “Oh well, teenagers will be teenagers”. That kind of reasoning can aid in bringing on a case of grandma/mommy. (add usual caveats about communicating about birth control/STD’s and other things young people sometimes don’t think about during times of hormonal upheaval.)
And BTW, damn, this is much more heated than I expected from the headline. Cool!
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They aren’t in “this state”. They’re in Ohio. Not even close to California - I’ll link to a map if you like.
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Ohio revised criminal code, § 2907.04 (B)(1)(2):
So even if he did intend to enter the building to have sex with the girl, which is in question (which you’d know if you read the thread), he wouldn’t be committing a felony, and you’d still be wrong.
I just wanted to point out that part of the “romance” associated with this sort of act springs from the real risk undertaken by the person who does it.
If the kid were invited why exactly was he doing this on a night when the presumptive inviter (the girl) wasn’t home and in fact was at a scheduled outing elsewhere? I dunno about you, but when I was a teenage girl, I never invited people over when I knew I was going to be somewhere else.
And really, at the time of the beating, the father might well not even have known who the hell had just broken into his home. I’ll point out to Malacandra as well here that what the story is reporting is someone hearing suspicious noises late at night in their home, going to investigate, seeing some guy breaking into his daughter’s room and giving the guy a whack. It’s not like Dad came across the kid sitting on his daughter’s bed reading Tolstoy and or playing video games. I know that if it were me, I for one wouldn’t stop to inquire as to the identity of the person breaking into my house. With my kid staying somewhere else for the night, I’m sure as Og made little green apples not going to assume they’re an invited guest. Hell no - I’m going to assume they’re up to no good.
Hell, even if I had recognized the kid, chances are good I’d give them a whack upside the head for scaring me like that and being a total moron. And then the discussion I mentioned before about why breaking and entering isn’t a good idea or ever an appropriate response, even if you are in lurve.
All true. I conceded earlier that the kid was stupid.
I just find the flood of “little bastard should be shot” and “I hope he goes to jail” responses ridiculous, and perhaps a little disturbing. He got a black eye and learned an important lesson, and we got a chuckle. Everyone seems to think he’s some sort of evil predator though. :rolleyes:
Missed the edit window for my previous post - it comes off a lot more snarkily than I intended, so sorry, silenus.
Well what do you know. Seems like **Really Not All That Bright ** is right. I still think the little punk deserved what he got. Any father would be justified in reacting the same way.
RNATB, forget it. No hard feelings. We all fire off responses that can be snarky. Mea culpa, believe me. 
True enough. So in his way, I guess you could say that Dad was just doing his part to supply the consequences without which a future generation of window-sneakers would be taking no real risk, thus imbuing the act with its characteristic romantic undertones.
Dad’s a romantic!
No kidding. I saw this post before you edited 
Oops! :smack:
I deny it completely! You can’t prove anything! WHY ARE YOU PERSECUTING ME?
That’s the puzzling thing. The only real scenario I can think of is that his night visits were a common thing, and coming over unannounced was normal for their relationship.
I’m not on the side of wanting him shot, but I’ll be on record as saying that if someone did shoot him I’d have a really hard time blaming them for it. Not in the “shot him after we realized who he was and shot him for tryin to ravish our baby” circumstances but in the “shot a presumed burgler and it turned out to be my daughter’s brainless boyfriend” circumstances for sure. What I’m saying is that the idiot is lucky he didn’t get shot - and that if he had, he’d pretty much only have himself to blame for it. And while his legal infraction wasn’t a jailing offense, if it were me I’d be pressing charges for illegal trespass (or whatever was available). But my decision to do so wouldn’t have a damn thing to do with his relationship with my daughters or the particulars thereof. But then I’m also aware that something like this is likely to be a misdemeanor punished by a whopping fine or community service, both of which this kid richly deserves. I’m not writing him a pass for being a total fucknut because he’s dating my daughter - he screwed up, he gets to take his lumps.