[Ramrod]

Originally posted by Graham
Is it Panto Season already?

No, I was replying to your questions .

Tony Martin was originally charged and convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. This was later reduced to manslaughter on appeal.

If you're going to argue, it's better to do it with the facts.

fact: the conviction was reduced to manslaughter, therefore he is not guilty of murder but manslaughter.

Has anyone actually *mentioned* challenging the intruder first? No.

Did Tony Martin challenge the intruders? No?

afaik he did challenge them.

Perhaps the neighbour in the scenario I presented was worried there may be burglars still in the house so didn't want to attract their attention in case they attacked him (or maybe he was planning on exacting a little bit of "righteous justice" himself)

The fact is it is not, by any means, an *impossible* scenario.,

though rather unlikely that the neighbour wouldn't speak up if you challenged him....."don't shoot graham, its just me, the neighbour, theres some a**hole burglar in here as well!"

Consider this one:

You come out from a supermarket having done your shopping to see someone leaning in through the open door of your car.

What do you do? Grab them? Thump them?

I would say "what are you doing in my car?"

Well, it happened to a friend of mine, who was about to yell at them when she suddenly realised that someone had parked a car which was the *same* model and the *same* colour right next to hers!

Unikely, maybe, impossible, clearly not. But if you'd made a "split second decision" you could have ended up in deep... trouble.

.... in deep trouble if you happened to be carrying a shotgun in the supermarket car park.

The jury, however, seemed convinced by the Prosecution's arguments that it was *not* a "split second decision in the dark" hence twelve good people and true convicted him of murder.

....and were later found to be wrong......he is guilty of manslaughter. Can you not understand that?

Replace "Martin" with "Saddam Hussein" and say that again...

wtf?!...You are the one who said that wright and wrong are not constant. I think that they are.


btw.....please comment on my examples of what the probation officer and police would have done in similar circumstances.