Retired Green Beret shoots intruder, gets court

[sfc_darrel]

Retired Green Beret shoots intruder, gets court
> martial
>
> BREVARD, Jan. 19, 2008 - Retired Army Green Beret
> James T. (Smokey) Taylor got his court martial this
> weekend and came away feeling pretty good about it.
>
> Taylor, at age 79, is one of the oldest members of
> Chapter XXXIII (The Larry Thorne Chapter) of the
> Special Forces Association. He was placed on trial
> by fellow Chapter XXXIII members under the charge of
> "failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber" in
> the shooting of an intruder at his home in
> Knoxville, TN, in November.
>
> The court martial, of course, was very much tongue
> in cheek. The event itself was deadly serious.
>
> Taylor had been awakened in the early morning hours
> of November 5, 2007,when an intruder broke into his
> home. He investigated the noises with one of his
> many weapons in hand.
>
> "It was just after Halloween, on Monday morning at
> 4:30," Taylor said. I heard this commotion at the
> door and grabbed my fishing gun, a little .22
> revolver, to see what was going on. I got to the
> front door and this fellow had ripped my security
> door out of its frame. He said, 'you're going to
> have to kill me. I'm coming in.'"
>
> When a warning to leave went unheeded, Taylor
> brought his .22 caliber pistol to bear and shot him
> right between the eyes.
>
> "I was about four feet away from him when I shot,"
> Taylor said. "Looking back now, I'm glad he didn't
> die, but that boy had the hardest head I've ever
> seen. The bullet bounced right off."
>
> The impact knocked the would-be thief down
> momentarily. He crawled out of the house then got up
> and ran down the street. Taylor dialed 911 and
> Knoxville police apprehended the wounded man about
> 200 yards away, hiding in a hedgerow.
>
> Complicating the case, as well as the court martial,
> the offender was released on bail but failed to
> appear for his court date. Knoxville police said the
> man was homeless. They did not know his whereabouts
> or why he had been given bail.
>
> The charges brought against Taylor by his fellow
> Green Berets were considered to be serious. He is a
> retired Special Forces Weapons Sergeant with
> extensive combat experience during the wars in Korea
> and Vietnam.
>
> "Charges were brought against him under the premise
> that he should have saved the county and taxpayers
> the expense of a trial," said Chapter XXXIII
> President Bill Long of Asheville, NC.
>
> The trial was held at the Hampton Inn in Brevard,
> part of the group's regularly scheduled quarterly
> meeting. Long appointed a judge, Bert Bates, a
> defense counsel, Jim Hash, and a prosecutor, Charlie
> Ponds. All are retired Special Forces
> non-commissioned officers with extensive combat and
> weapons experience.
>
> Ponds outlined the case against Taylor, emphasizing
> that the citizens of Knox County were going to be
> burdened with significant costs to again apprehend,
> and then prosecute and defend the would-be burglar.
>
> "Proper choice of a larger caliber gun would have
> spared the citizens this financial burden," Ponds
> said, "while removing one bad guy from the streets
> for good. He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22
> just wasn't big enough to get the job done. Hash
> disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing
> in choosing to arm himself with a 22.
>
> "If he'd used a .45 or something like that the round
> would have gone right through the perp, the wall,
> the neighbor's wall and possibly injured some
> innocent child asleep in its bed. I believe the
> evidence shows that Smokey Taylor exercised
> excellent judgment in his choice of weapons. He
> clearly remains to this day an excellent weapons
> man."
>
> Hash then floated a theory as to why the bullet
> bounced off the perp's forehead.
>
> "He was victimized by old ammunition," he said,
> "just as he was in Korea and again in Vietnam, when
> his units were issued ammo left over from World War
> II."
>
> Taylor said nothing in his own defense, choosing
> instead to allow his peers to debate the matter. The
> jury, consisting of all the members of the Chapter,
> discussed the merits of choosing a larger caliber
> weapon as well as the obvious benefits to society of
> permanently deleting the intruder so he would never
> again threaten any private citizen.
>
> The other side of the coin, that of accidentally
> causing injury to a completely innocent citizen if a
> more powerful gun had been used, also gained
> considerable support.
>
> Following testimony from both sides, Judge Bates
> determined the charges should be dismissed. The
> decision was met with a round of applause. In fact,
> there was strong sentiment expressed that Taylor
> should receive an award for not only choosing wisely
> in picking up the 22, but for the accuracy of his
> aim under difficult and dangerous conditions.
>
> After the trial Taylor said the ammunition was
> indeed old and added the new information that the
> perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out the
> door.
>
> "I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if
> it had gone through his forehead," Taylor said. "It
> was good for both of us that it didn't."
>
> Meanwhile, back in Knox County, the word is out:
> Don't go messing with Smokey Taylor. He just bought
> a whole bunch of fresh ammo.
>
> Tribune Editor Bill Fishburne is a member of the
> Larry Thorne Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces
> Association.

[Packo]

What a great story! Laughed the whole way through. Some homeless scum thinking he was going to take advantage of "an old guy".

Airborne!

Pack

PS One of Sid's buddies?

[exlrrp]

I didn't keep any guns while my son was small and growing up, didn't want to have them in the house. When I was a kid, a kid in my school shot his brother with his father's gun..

it was New years morning, 1984 and me and the 2d wife had been out partying untill 1:00 AM, while my mother in law watched the kid.

I woke up to the sound of splintering wood about 0500. Now, there's just no circumstance where splintering wood is a good sound.. My wife said: it must be Daniel throwing his blocks around and got up to check. You bet I was really REALLY hoping it was that.

All of a suden I hear her saying What are you doing here? what are you doing here? real panicked. I mean I got out of that bed like I was shot from a gun, my feet were running as soon as they touched the floor. I came out of that door, naked with only one thought in my mind: Jeezuz Effing Christ I'd give my left nut for a .45 right now.

I ran into the living room and there he was, the door hanging by the hinges. he goggled at me, I goggled at him and he says: Holy Shit, I'm in the wrong house!! I say: you sure as fuck are and some other stuff--my mother in law says I was cussing a blue streak, she never heard such words.

I just ran at him, picked him up by the shirtfront and threw him out the door. Then I shoved the door back in place and leaned against it, panting. And then I saw red. I don't know how it was for you other guys, but there was times in combat when my fears subsided and all of a sudden the the moment got real big and it seemd like I wasmoving mecahnically, like I was watching myself in a movie. Then I was a soldier: then I could run at people and kill them.

I actually saw red, a mist coming down before my eyes and all I could think was: By God, I'm not lettting that sonofabitch walk away from here!! I ran into the bedroom, threw on the first pair of pants I could find, grabbed my baseball bat and ran outside.

I caught up to him about a block away, looking the other way and gave him a Reggie Jackson shampoo: BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!! 4 home runs in one ball game! He went down like a poleaxed ox and wasn't moving. and I was about to give him some more when the cold reality hit me: Oh God, Ive killed this fucker.

And right behind that was the thought: "Oh yeah, I hit him officer, here in the house, and he staggered outside." Its legal to do it in your house---outside: not so much. A fellow in Petaluma was charged with exactly this ( charges were dropped but the burglar wound up suing!)

I went back to the house and called the cops. They asked me if he was in the house, I said, no I hit him and he staggered outside. 22 mnutes later (I timed it) a cop showed up. By that time I was doing pushups, the adrenaline was flowing so much.

The cop comes in, looks at the door lying there off its hinges, the jamb torn to shreds and asks: " Was it like this before he came in?" I said if it was like that before he got here, he wouldn't have had to kick it down, now would he, you dumb sonofabitch. I told him that I hit the guy in the house and he staggerd outside, then we went outside to look: Whew! he was gone.

he was just a drunk and probably tripped on the front step coming up, breaking the door.

two big mistakes I'm glad I survived--coming out the door naked and unarmed. If it happens to you, the first thing you want to do is put some pants on--being naked is a big psycological disadvantage when dealing with.

My son is grown now and I have a collection of guns: pistols, shotguns and rifles. I keep a loaded .45 under my night table, in a bracket I put there. Some of the other guns are hidden strategically around the place.

Take my word for it---you never outgrow your need for ammo. Next time I'm coming out of that bedroom muzzle first---or I'm not coming out at all.

Stay good all
James

[revwardoc]

He's lucky he lives where he does. If that incident took place in the People's Republic of MA, he'd be in jail defending himself against assault with a deadly weapon charge.

[SuperScout]

Originally Posted by revwardoc

He's lucky he lives where he does. If that incident took place in the People's Republic of MA, he'd be in jail defending himself against assault with a deadly weapon charge.

The pragmatic difference between liberals and conservatives cannot be shown more clearly. Just as you stated, the whiners and snivelers would probably charge the home defender with a crime, while here in Texas, he would be no-billed, assuming the case was even brought before a grand jury to begin with. The whiners and snivelers would have said, "He should have called 911!" The sensible and sane crowd would have said, "He should have called 911 to dispatch a hearse to haul his dead carcass away!"

[exlrrp]

That happened in CA---if it was OR (an almost all liberal Democrat state, by the way) I coulda shot the SOB just for being in the house. Thats it--if he's in your house here, you can shoot him. (also: LUV the gun laws here: machine guns, grenades, no problem)

but I don't get any joy out of killling people and I don't think burglary's a capital offense. In Texas you can kill a man reposessing your car....what the hell is up with that? Being a serious threat to me....now THAT'S a capital offense but we won't ever need to take it to court


Most of the country is in a "possible retreat" mode--if you can retreat and call the police, then thats what you should do, But I hardly could have done that with the wife and baby in the house. No , I just took my illegal vengeance and got away with it---Mission Accomplished