Texas is proud of its laws allowing citizens to shoot and kill intruders into their homes under so-called Castle Doctrine or “Make My Day” laws. However, critics have charged that these laws have encouraged homeowners who are predisposed to use violence as the first response to intrusions as in the recent cases of Joe Horn and other homeowners. Those critics may have another case in Sheila Muhs, 45, and her husband, Gayle Muhs, 45. The couple did not wait for a home intrusion before allegedly killing seven-year-old Donald Coffey Jr. and seriously wounding Patrick Cammack, 30. Five-year-old Destiny Coffey and her father and Donald Coffey Sr. were also wounded. The family (including a 5-year-old sister) were off-roading when they stopped to allow the kids to go to the bathroom.
The Muhs live in a small house with rebel flag flying from the roof and a sign that reads: “Trespassers will be shot. Survivers will be reshot!! Smile I will.”
The boy was hit in the head.
It is not clear that the off-roaders were actually trespassing. Sheila Muhs reportedly fired once with a 12-gauge shotgun and then handed it to her husband, who also fired once. Sheila told a dispatcher that “They’re out here tearing up the levee, so I shot them.”
What is notable is that with a shotgun, they could not have been too far away to cause this level of injuries — close enough to see the children. By handing over the gun, they also showed obvious pre-meditation.
For the full story, click here.
I notice here an aversion to the death penalty often on the basis of vengence.
Well, in addition to deterrence, punishment and justice, what’s wrong with vengence?
If somebody has wronged not only another individual, but society as well by KILLING another human being, why the allergy to public as well as private vengence?
I think such vengence is cathartic to me as well as society, even if we have no personal loss in the victim’s death.
However barbaric it may seem, when I witness the killing of a heartless, intentional murderer, I feel that the universe has been made a better place by that sheer execution, and I think we all do whether we admit it or not.
“Are you still opposed to the death penalty for these 2 people…”
Yes, life without parole if the charges get changed and that becomes a sentencing option if found guilty. That’s the ethical path imho.
Ha, I guess even experienced lawyers must sometimes sit back and shake their heads when there just aint no good answers..
I would not recommend the death penalty for these two. It would be akin to mercy killing. I suggest an exile. They are too monstrous to release back into the wild, and too dangerous to contact other felons like drug dealers and armed robbers. I suggest a small island in the Bearing Sea with enough food and supplies flown in annually; a little electronic ankle bracelet and a restocking of sharks around that little paradise. Hell, throw in a rebel flag for the igloo too.
Mike Appleton:
“Maybe the kids inadvertently peed on the Muhs’ poke salad.”
****************
hey, that’s poke salit…
Poke salit Annie, gator’s got your granny…Chomp, Chomp…Chomp
Maybe the kids inadvertently peed on the Muhs’ poke salad. The fallacy of the law is in its assumption that people like the beautiful couple pictured above can be trusted to have a lick of sense when it comes to protecting their property. Bad assumption. It encourages a shoot first and ask questions later mentality, sort of like our recent president.
A note to roycommi: you can’t be “as liberal as it gets” and support the death penalty. The death penalty has nothing to do with removing evil elements from society. We do that every day without killing people; it’s called prison. I do agree with you that executions should be public events; I would even favor televising them. People should be forced the witness the results of their choices. Perhaps then the public would gradually come to understand that the death penalty it not the dispensing of justice but the exaction of vengeance. Most people, however, prefer to deal with the death penalty much like Peggy Noonan prefers to deal with the knowledge of torture, to ignore it and just “walk on.” As a society, we lack the courage to confront our own dark side.
Most likely the Muh’s will be imprisoned (at minimum) and hopefully for the rest of their lives, so they don’t do any more harm to anyone. The Muh’s seem to be a throwback in terms of evolutionary development, one can only hope they never created any offspring, so that their genetically flawed line dies with them.
Here is a little more of that story,that deals with the question of trepassing.:
Authorities said the couple fired after they mistakenly thought the group was trespassing on their property.
Bishop said the area includes a dirt road, trees and overgrown brush and that it wasn’t uncommon for people to go off-roading there. The Houston Chronicle reported that a sign in front of the suspects’ home reads: “Trespassers will be shot. Survivers will be reshot!! Smile I will.”
Liberty County Chief Deputy Ken DeFoor said Sheila Muhs fired a 12-gauge shotgun once, then handed it to her husband, who also fired once.
DeFoor said Sheila Muhs then called 911 and told the dispatcher: “They’re out here tearing up the levee, so I shot them.”
DeFoor said the levee belonged to the subdivision and was not private property.
Bishop said there was no indication the unarmed victims did anything threatening toward the Muhs.
I am as liberal as it gets but i support the death penalty. I think all executions should be public and televised so all citizens see what the state does in our name. Further i believe that murderers of children should get a bypass on the cruel and unusual clause… to take the life of the most vulnerable and defenseless among us speaks to such a deep and profound level of evil.
I firmly believe we should be able to rip that element out of our society.
Jill said:
“I am still against the death penalty. There is no murder that isn’t horrible. My aim in opposing the death penalty is to foster a less violent society.”
______________
Prison is an extremely violent place.
More replies later…still fighting for public information from the durn government…both State and Federal…’theys’ all corrupt!
FFLEO,
My opposition to the death penalty still stands and for the same reason. It is a punishment with no final redress, or redemption. The fact that if I was the boy’s father I might kill them myself and I say that sincerely, doesn’t make the probability of legal justice, especially in Texas, any higher. These people are obviously scum, but they could easily be mentally deranged scum. Also too, its’ possible that they don’t have IQ’s higher than 80 and sincerely believed this much vaunted law gave them the right to do this.
You mention with this the destruction caused by many off-roaders and I agree, though not living in that type of area, that they have at times become menaces and are laden with an unfounded sense of entitlement. This I assume holds true for Snow Mobile and ATV riders. I love to drive and could probably drive any vehicle well. However, the idea of taking a capable vehicle off road and barreling around a countryside doesn’t appeal to me. This is for the same reason I won’t ride a motorcycle anymore. As a good driver, I like to know my environment and going up and down hills and over dunes doesn’t lend itself to that. My last motorcycle ride came more than 30 years ago in Sturgis and I had the bike come down trapping my leg after passing over some sand on the road that wasn’t visible. If I owned considerable rural property though I could see the utility of it.
I went on so long about the off-roading because in it I see similarities in viewpoint with this threads story. To me there is a sense of entitlement that resides with some people, in that sense they don’t understand that their “rights,” must be taken in context with everybody else’s rights. This has characterized the NRA lobbying (I’m a 2nd Amendment supporter), the Off Road lobbying, the attempt to politicize and enthrone religion as state sponsored and the protection of the very wealthy from paying taxes. It is why I think the conservative movement has gone off the rails.
True conservatism is cognizant of both rights and responsibilities, as I’m sure you will agree, today’s fake
conservatism de-emphasizes the responsibility and only supports the rights of certain interest groups to run roughshod over others. If the issues of today were being debated by people who were true conservatives and liberals
(not doctrinaire scolds), while we might not reach agreement, we would have much more civility and possibility of compromise.
Yes, FF LEO, I’m still opposed to the death penalty, even in this case. It’s difficult to find a rationale that doesn’t look like society is simply taking the role of the Muhs in the next killing.
I would not be opposed to them being imprisoned for life and I think there’s good cause to say they should never again be allowed near anything with lethal capacity.
But the death penalty is simply lethal vengeance. Has nothing to do with deterrence or justice.
FFLEO,
I am still against the death penalty. There is no murder that isn’t horrible. My aim in opposing the death penalty is to foster a less violent society. If we can’t stop being so violent, which includes state sponsored killing, then we don’t have a chance of creating a less violent society in the future.
Texas must be the real “Island of Dr. Moreau.” Naw, even animals won’t kill the helpless offspring of their own species for no good reason.
Remember folks, this is Texas and nothing is a *given* within the Texas system of ‘jurisprudence’.
Again, those who are generally opposed to the death penalty; are you still opposed to the death penalty for these 2 people if they are found guilty of the level of murder that carries with it the potential penalty of death?
40 yards? Who sees a 7 year old through their shotgun sights and pulls the trigger?
That’s murder, plain and simple.
Texas.
Seven
years
old.
Yep. Even your dumbest of prosecutors should be able to distinguish between a rightful shooting under the Castle Doctrine and murder.
Probably came upon the hidden meth lab and had to quite em down some way.
Are y’all still against the death penalty if this case is fully adjudicated as a murder conviction?
I am not opposed to the current Texas law regarding self-protection during home invasions/intrusions. However, that statute and the criticisms of it do *not* apply here.
Off-roaders are a huge problem throughout the western states, they do not respect public lands or private property rights, and they exact great damage to the environment while breaking many laws. However, the private property owners here exceeded all reasonable force and it appears the off-roaders were not trespassing on private property.
If all of the facts of the case clearly and unequivocally demonstrate that the Texas couple murdered the 7-year-old boy, then they should receive the death penalty.