This is not exactly your standard police report in Miami. A homeowner came downstairs and found an intruder in his home and shot him. What was a bit less common was the fact that the intruder was naked and in the process of strangling the homeowner’s pet Rottweiler when he was shot.
The homeowner came down at 5 a.m. when he heard the dog barking. He fired twice and hit the suspect once in the leg. The man then tried to bite the homeowners, police, and medical staff. Obviously drugs are suspected.
What is interesting about this case is that a dog is considered chattel and torts law bars the protection of property with force calculated to cause serious bodily injury or death. However, even without the so-called Castle doctrine laws, homeowners have a privilege of self-defense and jurors rarely question such privilege when encountering a man in a home. With the Castle Doctrine, such homeowners are allowed to use lethal force as a matter of statutory law.
The homeowner opened fire twice, hitting the suspect in the leg once. The homeowner held the man until the police arrived. The suspect will reportedly be charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault, animal cruelty, resisting arrest with violence and lewd and lascivious behavior.
Source: NBC
Take the wife, leave my dog alone….. I wonder if Floridas insurers have determined that possession of the Rottweiler will void homeownership coverage….
the things people do.
Held him down to the police came? KILL HIM! Or he will be back with some friends in 18 months (after jail and his probation is up) now that he knows that you don’t have an AK-47.
Trying to strangle a Rotweiler indicates an upcoming insanity defense.
And doing so nude is corroboration of insanity. Those gonads would be swinging low in hot Miami, making an obvious target for a riled and hungry Rotweiler…Miami Beach Oysters.
The old “war on drugs” has worked out so well…
Welcome to Florida. Strangle a Rottweiler? This guy had a death wish.
Insane? Or just one tough son of a b***h? Reminds me of the joke about the guy whose initiation to a club required having sex with an eskimo woman, and killing a polar bear with his bare hands. After completing half of the task, he returned and asked where was the eskimo woman he’s supposed to kill…
In New York City, the City of Bloombergs, they would prosecute the homeowner for having a gun, loaded or unloaded, in his home.
On the Eighth Day God created Dog to watch over the humanoids. “Watch over” the Rottweiler did. His Pal should get the Dog Pal of The Year Award. [Note: no dog dares call his Pal an "owner"-- the rest of the pac would strangle such a dog.] The perp was sent by the Devil. Find out his lineage.
“a dog is considered chattel and torts law bars the protection of property with force calculated to cause serious bodily injury or death.”
I don’t doubt that is the law. But as a person with an interest in dogs, I would probably feel justified to protect my dog as my family.
And as a hypothetical juror I think I would have some concerns convicting someone who had used force to protect their dog.
I am not claiming that concern for dogs should rise to the level that we have for humans. But my guess is that many would feel that the view that dogs are nothing more than property needs to change.
One has to wonder what kind of drugs they are distributing in Florida. Attacking a dog now. A few months ago wasn’t there a case that involved an attempt to eat someone’s face?
My next trip to Florida, I think I will stay in the hotel bar.
AC, Great joke. I’ll steal that one inserting non pc ethnics for the “guy.”
It would have been better if the person was having sex with the rottweiler rather than strangling the rottweiler. Being naked all by it’s self is not bad.
This also raises a question for me:
Suppose this was in a park when the attack occurred.
What steps would I have to take to justify shooting to either wound or kill?
Would multiple shots mattered?
Let me get this straight. The guy breaks in and the Rottweiler doesn’t utter a peep until the perp tries to strangle the dog … and then it starts barking? Was the dog on sleeping pills or trained not to set off a barking alarm when strangers entered the house at night in the dark? Only then the dog barks, rouses the homeowner who pops a few at the perp. This is a strange scenario
If the dog had chomped the guy’s dangling participle, would the homeowner have been charged with keeping a dangerous animal?
The guy should really thank the homeowner for shooting him and saving his mountain oysters from that dog.
As for the dog not barking, many guard dog trainers teach guard dogs to not bark before attacking. A watch dog is different from a guard dog. A Pug for example, is probably the least likely dog to bite somebody, but they can raise a racket at the smallest sound or movement that is not supposed to be there. None of the local police K-9 dogs growl or bark before being turned loose to search a premises or go after a bad guy. Barking and growling wastes energy that will be needed in case of an attack.
Justifiable use of force by the homeowner.
I can tell you that a doped up naked man who is displaying violence such as this is a great threat. Such a man murdered a deputy sheriff in King County many years ago. One person is not going to be likely to take him down himself. When they take their clothes off like this, it is a sign of a deranged mind bent on violence.
I don’t think this is any different that he was displaying violence to the dog as being an issue with the dog being property rather than another object it is the propensity for violence that is the threat to the homeowner. I don’t feel the homeowner should have to risk being maimed or killed by this burglar before the homeowner may use force to defend himelf.
Being shot in the leg, the burglar should have considered himself lucky and if the homeowner chose to shoot the burlgar in the leg, he used a lesser force than what could have been lawfully used. I could see a double-tap to the head being done by many other homeowners.
Darren,
I wonder if the shot to the leg was due to stress and bad aim, or deliberate. Had it been me, I would have aimed for center mass.
I am not a Navy Seal. When the Seal shot bin Laden’s wife in the leg, that was deliberate use of less than deadly force. I don’t think I would ever be that good under stress.
When she gets home, I am going to show this story to my daughter and ask her opinion. She is a critter person, and a crack shot. I pity anyone who tried to hurt one of her animals. Her ultimate goal in life is to be a K-9 officer.
Otteray:
It could be either way, bad shot or lesser use of force. It is a bit noteworthy that the article mentions the burlgar was charged with resisting arrest, that is after being shot then being confronted by the police he continued to be violent. Pretty dangerous.
One thing that will help with the stress issue would be to go through one of the Firearms Training simulators a few times, the ones that use video and are linked electronicly to a semi-real type of pistol that records where the hits were made. It does help. Breathing exercises help calm the adrenalin.
Darren,
I notice the homeowner fired twice, hitting the perp once in the leg. My guess is he is only an average marksman. However, I have been around Rotties quite a bit, and anyone who thinks they can strangle a full grown Rottie bare handed better have really big hands. It is a miracle the Rottie did not remove the perp’s “gene pool,” thus making him eligible for a Darwin Award.
OS,
This perp was already pretty low on the gene pool totem pole!
raff,
Are you trying to say that when the Nobel laureates are announced, we don’t need to look for this guy’s name on the list?
I’d like to say for the record that I don’t own a pool. Too much maintenance, especially when Rotts and/or drug crazed lunatics get caught in the filter. What a mess!
Oh, wait, um, never mind.
Bottom Line First:
AFAIK a naked burglar, choking the resident’s dog (the one with ears and four legs, NOT the one depicted in a former Congressman’s Tweet) are irrelevant to determining the lawfulness of the victim’s actions. That’s bonehead criminal law. But since you mentioned nudity, pets, and strangulation:
Amendment to My Irrelevancies:
– As I’m sure you’ve heard, some people have pet chickens, that they let have the run of the house. Imagine the confusion at the prosecutor’s office if the police report read:
“The homeowner came downstairs and found an intruder in his home. The intruder was naked and choking the chicken. The homeowner shot him in leg.”
– PSA Fantastique: A naked man strangling a dog would make a fantastic public service announcement for one of those “This is your brain on drugs” spot on TV. This would be gobs more memorable than an eggs sizzling metaphor.
– Isn’t Miami where that face-chewing-off guy committed his heinous act?
- The state that’s having a Burmese python hunt?
- The state where the glove-dropping-guy chose to live (you know, “the wrong OJ”, aka “The Juice”).
- Speaking of OJ, I’m now even questioning buying Florida orange juice. My paranoia is complete.
Just In From My Thought Bubbles: I have self-declared myself persona non grata at all border entry points to Florida. Since my papers are no longer in order to travel to Florida, I won’t.
(cont.)
doggie style auto erotica?
talking dog is conspicuous in his absence. is he a rottweiler?
Just in: An example of when in your residence why you are allowed to defend yourself, with deadly force if necessary. This happened in my town two days ago, January 12, 2013:
“Police in San Francisco have arrested a 25-year-old man who allegedly broke into a Telegraph Hill apartment on Saturday night and assaulted a woman who lived there.
The suspect–later identified as Jovan Jones, of Marin City forced his way in, forced the victim to the floor, demanded money and property, and sexually assaulted the victim.
A 911 call from a neighbor alerted police. Jones was found hiding in the backyard of a residence on Green Street at about 9:20 p.m. Jones was arrested for burglary, robbery, making threats, rape, false imprisonment and aggravated assault.”
Being naked is not a sign of having a deranged mind bent on violence. It is the devil; in his soul not being resisted.
On the topic of self defense and the right to use deadly force for self defense:
The dog was part of homeowner’s self defense and the dog was being attacked. Homeowner can kill the perp in self defense. It is the same as if the perp was beating the homeowners sword in homeowner’s hand. Attack on dog in home is attack on homeowner’s person. Ya dont have to get to the Castle Doctrine.
The naked guy was also violating the law of the jungle. One does not enter a home naked. Or someone’s back yard. That is a violation of the law of the jungle. Violators are subject to being killed by the homeowner. The Law of The Jungle trumps any statute or common law. It is natural law. It is thus incorporated into the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. One has a right to arm bears, be secure on one’s home, have equal protection of the law, due process, and a right to a fair trial, due process under the Fourteenth. The Ninth Amendment secures homeowner of a right of privacy in his own home and yard. El Sicko violated that by coming in naked and attacking the pooch. If I cant shoot a schmuck who comes into my home naked and who attacks my dog then I am moving to Cuba. And, I say this both as a dog in the present life and a humanoid from a prior incarnattion when I was a pacifist.
IF, homeowner had an armed bear guarding his house, instead of the dog. Then the bear could have killed the naked perp and the homeowner would be protected from criminal charge or civil action under his Second Amendment rights.
ConLaw Dog: Is it the right to bear arms or arm bears that is set forth in the Second Amendment?
” IF, homeowner had an armed bear guarding his house… protected from criminal charge or civil action under his Second Amendment rights.”
Of course your are referring to his Second Amendment right to ‘keep bears’ … right.
Or did I misunderstand your?
Otteray Scribe wrote:
It is a miracle the Rottie did not remove the perp’s “gene pool,” thus making him eligible for a Darwin Award.
~+~
And a coup de grâce for that lineage.
Justice Scalia, who predicates all of his judicial view upon what he perceives to be the intentions of the Framers of the Constitution has said at a lecture to some law students that the Framers were on this one occasion dyslexic and in the Second Amendment “intended” to say “The right to Arm Bears…”
Just thought I would throw that into the discussion.
That naked strangler learned to be what he is by not observing what the right actions are not being taught that we have to live peaceably now to live peaceably forever. Jesus came to give us a forever. I order for people to value forever peace, and joy one must give it now. Society created the encounter of strangler, and shooter. The false power of the human hand,and false power of the gun. The human hand that strangled made the gun. Both is perceived by us as being power. Religions have not taught us that they are not power. Real power bad life. Have people prepare for what is not at this time seen will help people be better people that are seen.
It could be that the guy was not strangling the dog at all. Could it be that the owner over reacted? More than likely that would be a yes. What was the dog male or female?
OR maybe it was intended to be this: we should bare or arms and all being bare them grin, and bear it.