Bizarre, Criminal law

Illinois Homeowner Kills One Burglar and Tackles Another In Latest Pandemic Crime
Mugshot for Bradley Finnan, 39, of Chatanooga, Tenn.

I am in Chicago to assist with my 92-year-old mother who is in failing health. Much of the local news is about an outrageous crime where two armed robbers wore medical masks and gloves to break into a home. With people suffering in this crisis, these two individuals saw a criminal opportunity rather than human empathy. The problem is that they picked the wrong house. Not only was the crime captured on Ring, but the homeowner in Arlington Heights fatally shot Larry Brodacz, 58, and chased down, Bradley Finnan, 39.

The homeowner tackled Finnan who was able to run away but was later captured by police. The doorbell video captured the two men in their criminal act. As reported by WGN-TV, the police reported that “Fearing for his life and the lives of his wife and children, the homeowner discharged a round from the family handgun, striking Mr. Brodacz in the abdomen.”

Finnan met Brodacz at a car dealership job and reportedly told police that Brodacz told him that he once saw $200,000 in boxes in the home, but that was 20 years ago.

Finnan has been charged with felony murder due to the death of his co-felon. Such charges have been long criticized by defense counsel but are now routinely brought against those who participated in a crime leading to the death of a fellow criminal.

This crime is not unique as we have been discussing during the pandemic, including the spike in burglaries in New York and the recent horrific murders in Michigan. As I said before, crisis rarely changes people. It merely magnifies what is already in a person. Good people can become incredible heroes while bad people can become truly demonic. This seems a case of the latter.

111 thoughts on “Illinois Homeowner Kills One Burglar and Tackles Another In Latest Pandemic Crime”

  1. Do I understand this scenario?

    The dead man’s status is moot, bereft of standing or admissibility.

    The accomplice committed burglary.

    The homeowner committed justifiable homicide.

    Next case.
    ________

    God kept it to Ten Commandments, of which three are applicable here:

    – Thou Shalt Not Covet

    – Thou Shalt Not Steal

    – Thou Shalt Not Kill (Wanton)
    ________________________

    Why do 50 states and America need more than God’s Ten Commandments?

    Oh yeah, because the Founders’ restrictions on the vote have been removed – the vote has been diluted into incapacity – and the unconstitutional “Reconstruction Amendments” and the American Death Warrant, the 19th Dumbmendment, were improperly ratified and imposed on America by the then progressives which, by now, have progressed into full communism.

    The inmates have taken over the asylum.

    1. The correct translation of the commandment is not thou shall not kill. It’s thou shall not murder.

        1. A better translation from the Hebrew should read ‘Thou shalt not murder.’

  3. Professor………I’m sure your mother feels better having you home. You’re a good son.
    Best of health to you and your family.

  4. “Finnan has been charged with felony murder due to the death of his co-felon. Such charges have been long criticized by defense counsel but are now routinely brought against those who participated in a crime leading to the death of a fellow criminal.”

    That seems profoundly unfair. He did not murder his fellow burglar. The guy who died initiated the idea to rob the house and participated of his own free will. It is not like he was in a car being wildly recklessly driven such that other passengers might die if it wrecked.

    Felony burglary is sufficient.

  5. They should charge the other one with an additional crime due to National Emergency/Lockdown. There must be some added charges they can tack on that would stick

  7. If they break into your house you can shoot em dead.
    The one who ran away should be put in a well 200 ft deep with no rope or ladder to get out. When he crooks get his body out so it doesn’t spoil the water. Burn the body in public at his own front yard. Mister Peetard is out in the yard.

    1. Liberty, any sick loser can think of horrible punishments to inflict on criminals. It honestly takes no genius to think of these things.

      I remember watching an interview with a psychopath who said he forced his prisoner to drink bleach. The psycho probably fancied that bleach torture as highly creative. But again, any sick mind can think of these atrocities.

  8. Also, a word about mortgage forgiveness. If you are considering pursuing this route, make sure you know if your bank is going to add it to the end of your mortgage, or require it after the forgiveness period.

    If your mortgage is $1500, and you get a 3 month forgiveness period, the bank can either:
    A) Add $4500 to the end of your loan, extending your payments by another 3 month, or
    B) Require $6000 on the 4th month, $4500 in skipped payments plus the next $1500 due, at a time when you have not been able to work or save. This would be a gambit to foreclose.

    So know what you’re getting into.

  9. Anyone who breaks into a home during the pandemic knows there is a high likelihood the residents will be at home. The homeowners was entirely justified in killing one burglar and trying to apprehend the other. Lord knows what would have happened to him and his family had he not been armed.

    Here in CA, criminals are having a hay day approaching Thunderdome. The state has placed a higher value on criminals than law abiding for years leading up to this. Sanctuary cities protect those who break federal immigration law, and even prevent convicted rapists and murderers from being deported. No crime is too great to be allowed to stay.

    The threshold for felony theft was raised to $950. People routinely shoplift, sometimes bringing a calculator just to make sure they stay within their budget. Police can’t do anything about it.

    The state already emptied jails out to relieve crowding. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 10 that ended bail. Bond companies fought to get a referendum through, which will go on the ballot in Nov. It’s a deep blue state so it’s safe to assume Democrats can get just about any wish list item through that they want. And apparently, what they want is for criminals to hold sway over law abiders.

    Once the pandemic hit, it became almost a free-for-all. They emptied the jails even more. Police pursue anything but the most serious offenses, because they’d just be let out of prison anyway. Robberies have gone up. The homeless in the neighborhood of my husband’s work have now constructed some sort of fort. It looks like an episode of Mad Max.

    An issue of concern is that this pandemic could finally be the launch pad for the Democrat presidential platform of promising free stuff the country cannot afford. So many are out of work. The few remaining cannot fund the incredible smorgasbord of taxpayer-funded goodies of the Democrat Platform, Pre-Pandemic. Lord knows what they’ll add to it now. It was unaffordable and would have plowed our vibrant economy into the ground at its height. Now that we’re struggling, it would ensure we descend into a third world country. A push for more socialist policies tends to appeal to people in need. They don’t understand that it will only increase their deprivation. Our voters do not appear to be too savvy, as it is. I worry that squeezing the remaining workers will snuff out our chances at recovery.

    Aid should be temporary, and the business climate should open up. We need to make it easier to start, or restart a business to create more jobs as soon as possible, and get people back on their feet. If we make unwise decisions, and squeeze the remaining taxpayers so hard that people cannot afford to start, or restart their businesses, those jobs will not materialize.

    No more of this crap, where one government agency regulation requires a bakery door to open in, while the other requires it to open out.

    https://youtu.be/JFsAkxzTFEs

    1. I disagree with the felony murder charge for the surviving bank robber. First, the man was not “murdered.” He was an assailant killed in self defense.

      Charging someone for aiding and abetting is one thing, but it seems unjust to charge a surviving criminal for his partner’s death, that occurred in the course of their crime. He should be charged with breaking and entering, and any other crime that he actually committed, aided, and abetted.

      You can charge the getaway driver with bank robbery, but not for the killing of the robbers by police.

      1. Another way to look at it is this:

        If you drive recklessly and kill someone, even your passenger, you can be charged with manslaughter (or more) even though you didn’t intend to kill anyone.

        If you fire a gun into a building and kill someone, (even your roommate) you can be charged with murder even if you did not intend to kill someone.

        If you and another break into a home with evil intentions it is far more reckless than either of the above because you knowingly accept the risk that somebody will be killed. Makes no difference if it is your co-hooligan. You chose to accept that your actions could, or will, lead to someone’s being killed. Good thing it was your fellow criminal. Murder seems the appropriate charge looked at that way. You were prepared to murder.

  10. As bizarre as that felony murder charge is, at least it’s aimed at the guilty party instead of their intended victim.

    Having to shoot someone to protect yourself sucks, but that’s the way to go. Anybody see the interview with Anthony Smith from earlier in the week? Smith’s a top ufc fighter who woke up to a home invader this past Sunday. Despite his impressive physique and training (6’4″, 205 lbs of solid muscle), he only barely restrained this intruder ’til the police arrived. Said it was the toughest, most terrifying fight he’d ever been in.

    Here’s the interview for anyone who’s interested:
    https://youtu.be/cIam1mMEYKM

  11. Well, in this new Woke Age, I don’t know how I feel about this. A few years ago I would have said “serves ’em right!” But you know we live in different times now, and intersectionality. .Sooo, I need more info.

    How did Finnan and Brodacz identify gender-wise? Were either of them identify as women? Because men aren’t supposed to be violent toward women.

    Were either Finnan or Brodacz gay at the time? That would also make them members of a protected class.

    Did either Finnan or Brodacz self-identify as People of Color?

    Were either Finnan or Brodacz illegal immigrants, ooops – I mean undocumented workers?

    Were they armed, because we learned from George and Trayvon that you aren’t supposed to shoot unarmed people even if they are banging your head into a concrete sidewalk?

    Were either Finnan or Brodacz aspiring rappers or aspiring aeronautical engineers, because if they were that would make the shooting look bad?

    What were Finnan and Brodacz attempting to steal the money/stuff for? Was it to buy food, or maybe Swisher Sweets cigars?

    And that whole “gun” thing – you know gun violence is bad and stuff, and in some places they will arrest you for shooting burglars and home invaders.

    I really do hate to ask all these questions, but things are not as easy as they once were, particularly if you are Woke. . . I mean there are sooo many dimensions to things today. Sooo, I am just trying in my humble way to be helpful to everyone in analyzing this situation. 🙂

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. Squeeky – are you planning on working for the defense or the prosecution? Excellent analysis.

      1. Thank you PaulCS!!! I am glad you like it. And I forgot to ask whether either of them were Hispanic. There is such a thing as Black Irish, who were linked back to Hispanic sailors who got was overboard from the Great Armada, and Finnan sounds like an Irish name.

        Or maybe they are like Elizabeth Warren and part Native-American???

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

        1. I feel a mass extinction event looming; likely to arrive immediately subsequent to the legalization of and liberal wackjob advocacy for NAMBLA. There’s something so wrong, one just knows civilization as we know it can’t go on like this.

    3. Squeaky, you’re overdosing on rightwing media to the point where you want to break-down every incident and explore them beat-by-beat with an emphasis on dissing every angle that an over-the-top liberal caricature would cover.

      That’s a distinguishing feature of rightwing media: projecting what an over-the-top liberal caricature would say. The liberal in Sean Hannity’s butt bears no resemblance to any real liberal. But viewers of Fox scarcely know the difference.

      1. Seth/Peter Shill:

        Can you tell me that if either Finnan or Brodacz identified as a woman, that they could not compete in a Women’s Track Meet or Women’s Wrestling Match.

        Because I don’t think you can, gratuitous FOXNews smear notwithstanding.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

        1. Having gone through his homophobic rant (suspiciously overdone) and his everyone and everything is racist phase, Seth now accounts for right wing media propaganda as the reason why people do not agree with him.

          Those aren’t the reasons, Seth.

          1. Young, we know this country is seriously polarized. That should come as no surprise to you. Trump,’s presidency is all about polarization; that’s what he promotes. We know that on any given day rightwing media is broadcasting significantly different versions of events than mainstream media. So what are you denying???

            1. Trump,’s presidency is all about polarization; that’s what he promotes.

              Waal, the opposition is rabid in its insistence that the immigration laws not be enforced (or, indeed, any law if the demographics of the prison population are not what they want), in its insistence that they have a free hand to stuff the ballot boxes, in its insistence that the IRS and the security state be given carte blanche to harass the opposition, and in its insistence that any public policy measure they don’t care for is unconstitutional. Oh, and believe Christine Blasey.

              We have polarization because there is still resistance to viciousness and lunacy.

              1. Absurd, over time you have repeatedly asserted that Democrats are ‘stuffing ballot boxes’. So tell us where the 5 most fraudulent counties or cities are. If you really know what you’re talking about, you should have no problem naming trouble spots and explaining why no prosecutions were successful.

                SPOILER ALERT: Thd ‘ballot harvesting’ myth relies on the contention that no Republican Party exists in California.

            2. Seth– You missed the President’s statements that he wants us not to be polarized. He certainly has come through. Several Democrat governors have praised him for his help and cooperation. A Democrat state representative has gone against the headwinds of her crazy governor to praise Trump for saving her life. She was dying of the virus but heard Trump talk about chloroquine on television and begged her husband to get it for her. He did and within hours she was recovering.

              You say you live in the Hollywood Hills. I imagine you as a Kato Kaelin type in a backyard shed drenching your mind in the far left fake news coming from CNN and MSNBC. Seems like.

                1. Absurd, what does that link have to do with anything?  Are you ‘Bi-Curious’ like Crazed Idiot??  It certainly appears that way.

                  Real guys don’t keep expressing interest in gays unless THEY’RE INTERESTED.  And you keep expressing interest!  One suspects you’re Bi-Curious in some little town where locals imagine you as a great intellectual.

                  1. Seth, considering your hostility to behavior that seems gay, why do you love Obama so much? Have you seen him throw a baseball? Ride a bike? My niece looks less girlish on both those activities.

                    By the what did he do to get the Nobel Prize?

                    2. Book, beware, I’m beginning to strongly suspect that Young is Crazed Idiot (Es*vir) with yet another new name. Do you remember Young from more than 3 weeks ago? It seems like Young sprang out of nowhere in the somewhat recent past. And now he wants to echo all the smears Crazed Idiot was lobbing.

                    3. Seth, he’s light as air and his posts just as memorable.

                      Fun to slap down but not worth much else.

                  2. I thought Absurd’s video was interesting because of the horrible depression the man suffered.

                    Gay part didn’t register with me one way or another.

                    That gay thing is your obsession. A video about a person who is so depressed that he tries 4 times to kill himself before he succeeds and your takeaway is that he is gay? Kind of sick, Seth.

                    1. Young, how did that video relate to Squeaky’s post or Turley’s column?????

                      I’m beginning to think you’re none other than Crazed Idiot with another new name.

                    2. SETH– How does that video relate to your homophobia?

                      Keep up with these rants and you will be kicked out of the Progressive knitting circle.

                    3. I bet he was depressed because he was gay. When you are not normal and want to pretend you are, that is hard work. He had to go to bed every night thinking about the horrible degenerate things he did..

                      If he had walked away from the gay life earlier, he would have probably been happier.

                      Squeeky Fromm
                      Girl Reporter

              2. Young, Trump wouldn’t be Trump without the polarization. His base loves him for the fact that liberals hate him. Every issue pursued by Donald Trump has an element of polarization. Amid this pandemic Trump refuses to expand Obamacare when millions have lost employer based insurance. Trump has no alternative to offer those in need of healthcare. But his main thrust as president is dismantling everything Obama did. That’s polarization!

                1. SETH:” Dismantling everything Obama did. That’s polarization!”

                  No, Seth, it is restoration.

                  SETH: “Every issue pursued by Trump has an element of polarization.”

                  Does that include giving Democrat governors everything they ask for and more?

                  Polarization is when the media attacks a drug that has helped many people survive just because Trump said it might help.

                  Babylon Bee had a cute article about a liberal with the virus who was taking chloroquine but still hoped he would die so he could prove Trump wrong.

                  It’s funny because it fits very close to the truth.

                  If Obama had spoken for it first the media would be praising him as a blend of Fleming and Salk.

                  1. Young: Obama’s media coverage was not always positive. There was a long period where so-called ‘Fiscal Hawks’ were allowed far more press coverage than they deserved. Fiscal Hawks were those Republicans deeply concerned about the National Debt (but only during Obama’s presidency). Since Trump took office, Fiscal Hwks have made no peeps whatsoever about the National Debt. That debt, however, has soared under Trump largely because of the 2017 Tax Cut.

                    You say Trump is only ‘restoring’ policies to pro-Obama levels?? One should note Obama won 2 decisive victories. Whereas Trump’s ‘victory’ was highly suspect and controversial. So what gives the right to dismantle everything Obama????

                2. Mr. Shill, is polarization anything like illegitimate and generational welfare-cum-reparations or compassionate repatriation? Who the —- wants to begin “fundamentally transforming” the U.S.? Moses had the Israelites out of Egypt before the ink was dry on their release papers. Whatever happened in America? The need grows – incessantly. Was it a failure of leadership or genetic dependence? Wait. I know. It’s the “white man’s burden,” right Mr. Marx – more like Groucho.

      2. The liberal in Sean Hannity’s butt bears no resemblance to any real liberal.

        The reality is worse.

  12. Not hard to imagine what would have happened to this family if the homeowner had not been able to protect himself.

    There have been quite few saves like this but the media is often reluctant to cover them lest we get the ‘wrong’ idea’.

    With prisons and jails being opened in California even traditional, leftist, anti-gun folks are rushing gun stores to buy their first weapon.

  13. Yes JT, there are many criminals working in the world right now. The worst ones are at the highest levels of every society.

    I am not seeing you talk about the powerful criminals destroying our Constitutional rights, lying to us and attacking the people through police state tactics. When do you get the courage to call out the powerful criminals attempting to take over this nation? Have you ever asked your good friend Bill Barr why he needs indefinite detention w/o trial to handle Covid 19? Have you ever questioned authorities about how crime tends to increase when people are unable to feed themselves?

    We are for sure, (this is on tape) be forced to be tested and retested, vaccine or not, before being allowed to work or leave our homes. I would think a professor of Constitutional law might speak up about that?

    Please go to off-guardian twitter and link up to some actual information concerning the Covid-19 virus. I would also recommend listening to what this economist says before there is still any free speech left.

    https://youtu.be/8LYjOEib9iI

  14. Colorado has a Make My Day Law.

    Our Decorative Steel door is always locked. The decoy car in the driveway has Vietnam Veteran’s license plates, we fly the American Flag 7/24. The homeowner is always armed.

    When the dogs say no; perhaps you should just move along.

  15. Another example of how guns keep people and their families safe.

    The left wants no charges against robbery of less than a certain amount, wants sanctuary cities that protect illegal criminals, wants jails empty, and wants to tie the hands of law enforcement. Yet they wish hard working honest Americans left defenseless,

  16. What’s needed in this savage land is a masked lawman who goes by the name “The Lone Ranger”.

  18. Even criminals wear masks to protect themselves from the virus.
    For the first time the banks want their customers to wear masks.
    Passing strange, it is.

  20. As soon as masks became ubiquitous I saw this coming. Imagine being a bank teller or convenience/liquor store clerk.

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