Texas justice

[91Bear]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/ ... 548348.php

Reminds me of Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.

Normally I am not a fan of vigilantism but this guy deserved it. You don't rob people, particularly elderly Marines.

[michael69]

Thats the way it should have ended.

[BobbyFord]

Wow, what can you say? Bad things happen to people that do bad things. It's just how it happens. Sometimes it doesn't happen right away; sometimes it does.

[Mancar1]

When we get to old to fistfight, we find other ways to get it done. Damn thief, a liberal would take the thief's side.

[MrMajestyk]

When we get to old to fistfight, we find other ways to get it done. Damn thief.

My old grandpa said to me son, 'there comes a time in every mans life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps
and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin'.

[Ranger72]

The thief got away, then Kobobel pursued and ran him over.

Here in SoCal the thief's family would sue that ass right offa gramps. It could even be argued that the thief shot at Kobobel in self-defense since the elder man was attempting to run him down. Sure it makes great headlines, but why would you risk prison and not being able to feed your family just to mete out some "frontier justice." What he did was reckless and self-centered, time will tell if Kobobel pays for his stupidity.

Would I fight for $800? Hell yes! But I draw the line at murder.

"I would have given him the $800 if he'd still be alive," he said. "I didn't want anybody to die on my account."

Yep, the words of a man who realizes that he may go to prison, or lose everything in a civil suit.

[NM5K]

He won't go to prison. I doubt he will even be charged. He wouldn't have run him over if the guy
hadn't started shooting at him when he drove up on him. Most definitely was not murder.
He had been robbed, pistol whipped, and then later shot at. When the guy started shooting
at him, he was well within his rights to run the guy over to stop the threat. Or at least here in Texas..
No different than defending himself with a gun. He just used a motorized gun... :/
The guy saw him, and started shooting at him. He hit him with the car once. But the guy, unfazed,
chambered another round and was fixing to shoot some more. He then hit him a second time.
I've seen cops do the very same thing. They didn't go to prison. BTW, I saw a video of the
gate. Judging by how smashed in it was, he put a definite hurt on him the second time he
ran into him. He pushed the guy into the steel gate, smashing it inwards a good bit.

It was no murder, and this ain't California. He won't even be charged. The family can try to sue him
in civil court, but being as the guy was a robbery and assault victim, and then shot at, I doubt they
will win.

The crooks big mistake was shooting at the guy when he pulled up. Even a cop would have run him
over in the same situation if he felt his life was threatened. Like I say, I've seen cops do the
same exact thing, and it was perfectly legal at the end of the day. Note that the guy was not
arrested. From a legal standpoint, he's much more in the clear than Joe Horn was. And they
found Joe Horn not guilty. Texas is not a good state to be a gun toting crook. The cops sure
won't have any sympathy for him, that's fer sure.

[mk]

'grandpappy told my pappy 'back in my day son,
a man had to answer for the wicked that he done'

mike

[michael69]

The thief got away, then Kobobel pursued and ran him over.

Here in SoCal the thief's family would sue that ass right offa gramps. It could even be argued that the thief shot at Kobobel in self-defense since the elder man was attempting to run him down. Sure it makes great headlines, but why would you risk prison and not being able to feed your family just to mete out some "frontier justice." What he did was reckless and self-centered, time will tell if Kobobel pays for his stupidity.

Would I fight for $800? Hell yes! But I draw the line at murder.

"I would have given him the $800 if he'd still be alive," he said. "I didn't want anybody to die on my account."

Yep, the words of a man who realizes that he may go to prison, or lose everything in a civil suit.

You draw the line at murder. Thats funny, you think the piece of sh_ _ was not trying to kill the old man when he started shooting at him when he saw him pull up.He started shooting as soon as he saw the old man in the car. If you ask me he got off to easy. He should have laid there and suffered for an hour or so!!!!!!

[Ranchero50]

Regardless, the victim didn't have to aproach he perp, that's what the law is for. Take the law into your own hands and take the consequences. In most communities the old guy would be charged, involuntary manslaughter if nothing else and let the courts decide if he's guilty.

Personally, I wonder what the rest of the story is and the whole truth to the matter. As written it sounds like the (the reporter or even the police) are giving the guy an out. I probably would have done the same thing though, I'd be furious enough to flatten him against the pole Christine style...

Jamie

[michael69]

Yea but look how it turns out when left to the courts( Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson) Just saying the bad guy usually don't get what they deserve.

[MrMajestyk]

Regardless, the victim didn't have to aproach he perp, that's what the law is for. Take the law into your own hands and take the consequences. In most communities the old guy would be charged, involuntary manslaughter if nothing else and let the courts decide if he's guilty.

I see your point and respect your opinion

However in today's world, Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves. !

Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

[Ranger72]

You draw the line at murder. Thats funny, you think the piece of sh_ _ was not trying to kill the old man when he started shooting at him when he saw him pull up.He started shooting as soon as he saw the old man in the car.

Oh don't get me wrong, I am not on the criminal's side in this. Maybe my mistake was calling it "murder." I used that word for dramatic effect, and it perhaps had the wrong result. let's try manslaughter.

But what really was Kobobel's intention? To follow the perp and chastise him? To tail him so the police could find him? Somehow I doubt that. He managed to get his vehicle close enough that the robber recognized him, and close enough (and fast enough) to ram the guy before two shots (not-verified) could be fired. A 1997 Lexus SUV is quick, but that quick? One could almost argue that there was some degree of intent.

He won't go to prison. I doubt he will even be charged. He wouldn't have run him over if the guy
hadn't started shooting at him when he drove up on him. Most definitely was not murder.
He had been robbed, pistol whipped, and then later shot at. When the guy started shooting
at him, he was well within his rights to run the guy over to stop the threat. Or at least here in Texas..

Remember that the investigation is ongoing, and the police have unanswered questions. Yes, I believe you have the right to defend yourself if someone is shooting at you. I imagine that you do in every State. But does that right extend to chasing someone down and forcing a confrontation?

As for Joe Horn, I have to wonder if his case is sensational because it represents how most cases in Texas go, or if it is the exception to the rule. I am a gun-loving guy from Wyoming, but even I would have trouble acquitting that guy if I were on his jury (not that it went to trial, of course).

If you want to read something that will boil your blood, look up Bernhard Goetz, the "Subway Vigilante." His shooting of four men was found to be lawful and justified by a jury, and yet eleven years later he was back in court. After admitting to attempting to rob him, one of his attackers was awarded $43 million dollars in damages! Yes this happened in New York, but it is my belief that the possibility for something like this exists everywhere.

It doesn't bother me in the least that the robber is dead. That's a self-chosen career path that has inherent and obvious dangers. What bothers me is that for a 72 year old man, Kobobel displayed remarkably little self control. What if a bystander got shot when the thug shot at the SUV trying to run him over? Whose fault would that be? The robber, or the man who chased him down and forced the confrontation? What if, God forbid, Kobobel had hit someone else with his vehicle during the chase? He was apparently under such duress that he could not find the body of the man he had just run over; is that a man fit to be dishing out capital punishment in a parking lot?

Aww geez... now I am just playing Devil's advocate. I don't want to see Kobobel imprisoned or sued for what he did. But if he had done nothing at all that man would still be alive. Only Kobobel knows why he chased the man down, and what he planned to do when he caught up to him. Like you said: it isn't California, so maybe nothing more will come of it.

[Ranger72]

Yea but look how it turns out when left to the courts( Kaylee Anthony and OJ Simpson) Just saying the bad guy usually don't get what they deserve.

Agreed, or the good guy gets screwed when the bad guy and his scumbag lawyer file a frivolous lawsuit against him.

[Joe Kriston]

I have never had a gun pointed at me and I hope to God that I never do...A friend of mine told me his experience, years ago, when he was working as a cashier at a convenience store and he got robbed at gunpoint...He told me that, frankly, it scared the crap out of him...After the robber left, and the initial fear subsided, his adreneline kicked in and he ran out the door chasing after the guy, but never found him...His reasoning?...Not to get the money back, or help identify him to the police---he was filled with rage at the guy for scaring him within an inch of his life...