OH: Controversial murder and obstruction charges

[seamusTX]

In Masury, Ohio (Youngstown area), a woman is charged with murder and her cohabitating boyfriend is charged with various felony offenses related to the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy.

The bare facts are that a carload of teenagers, one of whom had been dating the man's daughter, confronted the man outside their home around 2:30 a.m. The woman says that she discharged a .22 rifle into the air to scare the teens. One of them ended up dead of a shot to the head.

Their attorney claims that the couple was being attacked by teens armed with tire irons and baseball bats.

No charges have been brought against the surviving boys.

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.d ... l?nav=5021" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local ... 20249.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/aug/21/h ... ?newswatch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[casingpoint]

The bare facts don't support prosecution, much less conviction.

[seamusTX]

I don't know anything about Ohio deadly force law.

This case is a stark illustration of "the first to call 911 wins."

If the couple had called 911 when the confrontation began and reported that they were being attacked by a group of armed teen boys, they would have a much stronger self-defense case.

As it is now, they have the two defendants saying that they were attacked, and possibly the three teens saying that they were just having a polite conversation.

Furthermore, saying that you shot to scare someone who was killed by a shot that you fired never works. It is a confession to manslaughter if not a more serious form of homicide.

- Jim