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Age 65 now, Bernie Goetz (the 'subway vigilante' of 1984) has been arrested for trying to sell $30 of pot to an undercover officer on Friday.

I never liked the term 'vigilante' being applied to him...

Vigilante: a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate

Ok, so the Guardian Angels might be vigilantes, but this guy (in my humble opinion) was no vigilante. He was a guy trying to live his life, and was forced by four criminal thugs to become one of the early pilot cases for 'stand your ground' type laws. He was facing four men armed with screwdrivers, and he fired his pistol in self-defense.

He was arrested, tried, and acquitted of the crimes, but later convicted of 'criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree'. So he wasn't allowed to have the gun, but using it was not a crime. "Stand Your Ground", personified, if you ask me.

While he was a polarizing character (not nearly as much as Zimmerman, I believe), he definitely raised awareness to the need for a right to self-defense in the sewer (AKA subway) of NYC.

Here's my favorite user comment to the article:

I think Bernie is a hero. He was like a Fleet Enema for the NY Subway.

Vol Texan wrote: . . . He was arrested, tried, and acquitted of the crimes, but later convicted of 'criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree'. So he wasn't allowed to have the gun, but using it was not a crime. "Stand Your Ground", personified, if you ask me.

While he was a polarizing character (not nearly as much as Zimmerman, I believe), he definitely raised awareness to the need for a right to self-defense in the sewer (AKA subway) of NYC.

Here's my favorite user comment to the article:

I think Bernie is a hero. He was like a Fleet Enema for the NY Subway.

As a somewhat unwilling resident of the State of New York at the time, I was very politically active. Bernhard Goetz (he did not like to be called "Bernie") did indeed become a "poster child" for self defense rights in NY State. Up until that time previous NY case law held that the victim had the duty to retreat and the Goetz case let the camel's nose into the tent.

He was initially charged with a whole bunch of violations, including just about everything in section 265 of the NT Penal Law, which happened to included charges that just plain could not apply. The NY City prosecutors were being just a tad overzealous and the first Grand Jury didn't even indict except on the lower weapons possession charges. The moans of agony when they were defeated in court were louder, at least within NY, than anything heard since, even including Zimmermen. There were marches on the state capital, being cheerfully hosted by Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch and of course attended by Al Sharpton and all his minions.

The criminal case that existed was assigned to Judge Stephen Crane, who was then pressured by Cuomo and Koch (and various national level politicians) to allow a second grand jury to be convened, partly because the prosecutor said he had a new witness, actually just two of the robbers who had not testified the first time around. This grand jury, in our opinion hand picked, indicted for attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and weapons possession as expected and the prosecutor crowed his victory loudly, only to be resoundingly defeated a second time when Judge Crane allowed a motion by Goetz' attorneys to drop all of the new indictments due to defective instructions by the prosecutor (Goetz could NOT be charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd Degree) and perjury by witnesses against him (public statements by them indicated that had Goetz not responded by giving them money, they were going to just take it.)

Crane's dismissal was overturned by an appeals court that was firmly in Cuomo's pocket partly because of the long standing duty to retreat in NY. They held that self defense was not justified by Goetz' "subjective" belief that he was in danger, but that a "reasonable person" test would have to be passed and they knew that a reasonable person would not need to defend himself from the street thugs. They also held that Judge Crane's dismissal of the testimony of two of the thugs testimony as perjured was speculative and reinstated it.

The criminal jury acquitted Goetz of the murder and assault charges and convicted on lesser included charges. Goetz appealed the conviction (partly because "CPW 3rd" also did not apply, and the same appeals court as above not only denied his appeal, they actually increased his sentence in punishment for his actually appealing the conviction.

Goetz was not then, and could never be, the ideal poster child for the campaign to do away with NY's duty to retreat, but his was the case on which that change was anchored, and it did change.

Goetz admitted to racism in later interviews, and was a Marijuana and PCP user even before all this went on. Goetz filed for bankruptcy, partly to avoid paying a civil judgement of $42 million, and the bankruptcy judge held that he could not avoid that payment. there is no record that Goetz has ever paid a cent.

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I do get a kick out of CBS' own pejorative language (and I do realize my own above is obvious) in their characterization of the subway incident: That the four teens merely asked him for money, and that they were not armed, the screwdrivers, which they had in their hands, were merely the tools of their trade; ie, burglarizing an arcade. Also not mentioned is CBS' article is the fact that the appeals court increased his sentence from 6 months to 1 year.

According to a friend in NY, Goetz was hanging out in the park when he was approached by a female undercover officer (Goetz has been a target of multiple "stings" over the years) who was portraying a prostitute. After soliciting Goetz, he then offered to share some pot with her, and after he went to his apartment and got the pot, she gave him some money and then arrested him. My friend is a retired NY (upstate) LEO who keeps in touch, and I'll bet his information is closer to the truth.

I grew up in NYC and was in college upstate in '84. I remember the "Subway Vigilante" case well (although not as well as Jim ). NYC was a cesspool back then. It was impossible to drive into Manhattan without having your window spit on and "cleaned" by the bums living at the tunnel exits begging for drug money. Times Square was not a place to wander after dark, unless you were a druggie or porn consumer. Mickey Mouse was most definitely NOT a Times Square resident back then. Goetz was a flashpoint. He was definitely guilty of UCW (per NY law). I'm not sure I ever heard him say whether he felt that all the fuss and jail time was worth it. It's unlikely his life was in danger. There was a LOT of "give me your money" on the subways (and streets, my father was mugged outside Radio City Music Hall around this time, and beaten when he resisted), but not a lot of related murder.... Giuliani did a fantastic job cleaning up NYC. I didn't care for his tactics as US Attorney, but I give him singular credit for making NYC into a decent place to visit again. It pains me to know (with the same certainty I had about Obama in November 2008) that DeBlasio is about to destroy what Giuliani restored.

It's too bad that Goetz was such an imperfect "victim"... As is evidenced by his continued association with drugs and prostitution.

RoyGBiv wrote:It's unlikely his life was in danger. There was a LOT of "give me your money" on the subways (and streets, my father was mugged outside Radio City Music Hall around this time, and beaten when he resisted), but not a lot of related murder....

Statistically, there aren't a lot of tellers killed by armed bank robbers "asking" for money as long as the tellers comply, but I wouldn't go so far as saying their lives are not endangered by bank robbers.