# Son shoots at fleeing car after the driver shot his mother ... Should he take a plea? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 16, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853 "2015-02-16T20:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/41 "2015-02-20T03:35:14Z")
This case is whacked. I highly suspect that it will turn out that the shooter had a relationship with someone in the family and the relationship ended badly. It is all over the news out here and the story keeps changing. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/42 "2015-02-20T04:13:28Z")
As to the original hypothetical, based on earlier knowledge of the case, I’d say that in the scenario where the son possibly fired at the suspect who was fleeing it wouldn’t be necessary to take a plea. This is materially different than the guy who shot the German foreign exchange student (a man who was essentially lying in wait and several witnesses testified he had pre-meditated staging his garage to entice burglars), or the guy who shot the two burglars in his basement (a guy who admitted on taped interview with police that he “finished off” the female burglar after she was incapacitated by shooting her execution style in the head as she was prone on the ground), namely in the following ways: 1. Defense would argue the shots were fired in the heat of the moment and in self-defense, and would argue he didn’t shoot at a fleeing car but at a car someone was shooting from (evidence would be too murky to establish this one way or another–good for the defense.) 2. We had no indication anyone in the car was hit. 3. The hypothetical about the son being charged with manslaughter or felony murder would be a major stretch, it’s pretty dissimilar from the sort of situations where that can occur. 4. Both of those cases involve deaths, a perpetrator who was lying in wait and acting in a way you couldn’t successfully call self-defense in any State in the country. The German foreign exchange student was killed in a State with all the big pro-gun laws. Strong gun culture, strong castle doctrine, stand your ground law on the books etc. But you still can’t admit to lying in wait to kill someone and get off on self defense. FWIW the family has a new story that has a big hole in it as far as I’m concerned. The dad said the media jumped to conclusions by saying his wife and son went out “looking” for the guy who shot his wife. Instead, he says that his wife drove home with his daughter, daughter gets out of the car and the wife gets the son because she is scared and is “going to take the car and hide it somewhere.” The reason being, they don’t want this person to find their house based on seeing the car in the driveway. Okay, I can actually accept all of that, if this had been a random crazed road rage person it is legit you wouldn’t want to leave your car parked in front of your house if you had genuine worry the guy may be out looking for you. But, the dad’s story also involves him saying they know this kid well and that he has a reputation as a “bad guy” in the neighborhood, but he was unaware he was “bad enough” to be involved in something like this. Okay, so those two things conflict massively, if they knew the guy then it doesn’t make sense that they were trying to hide the car. The guy didn’t need to see their car parked in the driveway to find their house, he was a neighbor and would’ve known where they lived anyway. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/43 "2015-02-20T04:29:51Z")
Police are searching for a second suspect. > **[Marijuana-loving teen Erich Nowsch arrested in 'road rage' killing of Las...](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/suspect-caught-road-rage-shooting-las-vegas-mother-article-1.2121795)** > > The gunman who blasted a Las Vegas mother during a fatal road-rage showdown lived just down the block — and he had help, police said. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/44 "2015-02-20T11:33:13Z")
For all those saying the family’s story is bullshit and keeps changing, remember you are only hearing news reports. I’m sure the investigators involved have been reading reports thinking “where the hell did that come from?” For all we know the information given to the police was complete and consistent from the beginning. Every investigation I have been involved it that hit the media has been reported incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/45 "2015-02-20T12:39:55Z")
I’m assuming drugs. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/46 "2015-02-20T19:29:18Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks the whole story (minus the shooting itself, of course) is bogus? > > Why would the mother be teaching her daughter to drive at 10-something at night? On a school night, at that? Sure, it’s possible. But believable, no. > > Why would it occur to the mother to think she’d even be able go back and find the driver that confronted them? If the car was speeding, it was heading to a destination. Logic would suggest that the driver would be long gone, not sitting there waiting for this lady to double back and confront them. > > Related to the above: its awfully convenient that the driver did indeed hang around the area, just as the lady had illogically predicted they’d be. And not only that, but they hid themselves just so that they could stealthily follow her back home and ambush her. Almost as if they knew she’d come all along and had devised a plan to get back at her. Because being beeped at made them _that_ mad, yo. > > I won’t be surprised if it comes out that this was a drug deal gone bad or something. I had the same thought(s) when I saw this whole shitfest of events in the news. Who the hell goes out armed to look for another driver they had a tiff with? They would be long gone. Then they can’t identify the car or driver they hunted down? The other driver was laying in wait? Bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/47 "2015-02-20T21:04:37Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > For all those saying the family’s story is bullshit and keeps changing, remember you are only hearing news reports. I’m sure the investigators involved have been reading reports thinking “where the hell did that come from?” For all we know the information given to the police was complete and consistent from the beginning. Every investigation I have been involved it that hit the media has been reported incorrectly. ↑ ↑ ↑ This and many other subjects. 😃 Also love the way the editing they do much of the time that completely changes what a person says. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/48 "2015-02-20T22:28:48Z")
New details. 22 shots??? Do they make a expanded clip for a .45? How many clips did that guy use? Maybe three or even four? Geez, who carries that many with them? [http://news.yahoo.com/police-teen-neighbor-suspected-vegas-road-rage-killing-080512466.html](http://news.yahoo.com/police-teen-neighbor-suspected-vegas-road-rage-killing-080512466.html) > [@](#): > > The suspect in what has been described as a road-rage slaying boasted about the shooting and told friends that he emptied several clips from his semi-automatic handgun in the gunbattle that killed a Las Vegas mother of four, a police report released Friday says. > [@](#): > > Nowsch also told friends he fired 22 shots from his .45-caliber gun outside the Meyers home, according to the report. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/49 "2015-02-22T00:11:36Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > For all those saying the family’s story is bullshit and keeps changing, remember you are only hearing news reports. I’m sure the investigators involved have been reading reports thinking “where the hell did that come from?” For all we know the information given to the police was complete and consistent from the beginning. Every investigation I have been involved it that hit the media has been reported incorrectly. well alrighty then, somebody’s sure takin’ their Moderating gig seriously ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853/50 "2015-02-26T14:57:53Z")
CNN is reporting that Meyerses (?) son pointed his gun first, and the suspect decided that would be a good time to open fire. That comes from the suspect’s lawyer. The lawyer for the suspect says there was no road rage incident, and is poking hole after hole in the entire wild story. Description given to police was of a six foot individual, his client is five feet tall, and so on. The D.A. is admitting there are “certain nuances” in the case, lol. Oh yeah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-shoots-at-fleeing-car-after-the-driver-shot-his-mother-should-he-take-a-plea/712853.md?page=2)