May 27, 2011, - 5:05 pm
OUTRAGE: Jury Convicts Disabled Veteran For Defending Self, Saving Lives
Although I still believe in the American jury system, there are way too many morons who rule juries and come out with the most outrageous of verdicts. That’s the case with the jury that found pharmacist Jerome Ersland guilty of first-degree murder for shooting an armed man who entered his pharmacy waving a gun. Ersland, who is a disabled military veteran, shot him to defend himself and his customers. Now, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. It’s absurd in the United States of America that a jury acquits O.J. Simpson of murder and finds Jerome Ersland guilty of it. This guy, Ersland, is a hero and saved countless lives. He should be getting medals and keys to the city, not put in the slammer. Soooooo frickin’ insane:
Travesty: Disabled Gulf War Veteran Jerome Ersland Convicted for Saving Lives
A pharmacist who fatally shot a teenage robber in Oklahoma City was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in a jury trial that ignited debate over the limits of self-defense.
The pharmacist, 59-year-old Jerome Ersland, fired a weapon after two young men entered his pharmacy, one of them waving a gun, in May 2009. Mr. Ersland’s bullet hit 16-year-old Antwun Parker in the head, Oklahoma County prosecutors alleged.
Moments later, Mr. Ersland shot Mr. Parker five more times as he lay unconscious on the ground, say prosecutors who had a security surveillance video to bolster their case.
Defense lawyers argued Mr. Ersland had the right to defend himself and others in the store. But the jury, which deliberated for less than four hours, found Mr. Ersland guilty of first-degree murder, punishable by life in prison. . . .
Oklahoma, like more than 20 other states, has encoded the right to self defense through so-called Castle Laws. Under these laws, citizens are allowed to use deadly force when they are threatened in their home—or their “castle”—or place of work. . . .
In the video of the Oklahoma City shooting, Mr. Ersland can be seen firing the first shot and Mr. Parker dropping to the floor. After chasing the other robber out the door, Mr. Ersland returns, walking past the place where Mr. Parker fell to get a second gun out of a drawer. He then points down toward the floor and shoots several times.
The main question before the jury was whether Mr. Parker still represented a threat after the first shot. Under Oklahoma law, the right to use deadly force ends as soon as the menace has passed. . . .
Mr. Ersland had said that Mr. Parker was moving after the initial shot and was therefore still dangerous. Mr. Parker was not visible on the video at that point. . . .
Earlier this year, Ralph Shortey, a state senator who represents the area, introduced the “Jerome Ersland Act,” which would increase protections for citizens who kill or wound someone in the course of protecting themselves.
“The person who came in brandishing the firearm was not the victim, but we’re trying to make him the victim,” Mr. Shortey said.
Oh, and by the way, because the robber is Black and Ersland is White, this is somehow now a race thing. Does this mean that we should turn the fact that the Black robber had a gun and went into a mostly White business into a race thing? But, no worries. The mother of a criminal is turning her criminal thug son’s death into a litigious payday for herself. Cha-ching:
Cleta Jennings, the mother of the dead man, has filed a wrongful death suit asking the court for damages and accusing Mr. Ersland of negligence.
There is no shortage of chutzpah in America. But way too little justice.
More:
“I just regret anybody would get killed,” Ersland said. “But if I wouldn’t have been here, there would have been three people killed — the other pharmacist and the two techs.” . . .
About 10 minutes before 6 p.m., Ersland said, two robbers wearing ski masks waited for someone to leave the pharmacy and then grabbed the open door and threw down a board to stop the door from closing.
The robbers went in cursing and yelling, ordering employees to give them money and drugs, Ersland said.
Two women who were working behind the counter ran for a back room where they would be safe, but Ersland said he couldn’t run. Ersland said he’s a veteran with disabilities . . . wears a cumbersome back brace and just had his latest back surgery six weeks ago.
“All of a sudden, they started shooting,” he said. “They were attempting to kill me, but they didn’t know I had a gun. They said, ‘You’re gonna die.’ That’s when one of them shot at me, and that’s when he got my hand.”
Ersland said he was thrown against a wall, but managed to go for the semiautomatic in his pocket.
“And that’s when I started defending myself,” he said. “The first shot got him in the head, and that slowed him down so I could get my other gun.”
But as one robber hit the floor, Ersland said, a bullet from the other robber whizzed past his ear.
The pharmacist said he then got his second gun from a nearby drawer, a Taurus “Judge.”
After he had the big gun, Ersland said, the second robber ran.
But as he started to chase after the second robber, Ersland said, he looked back to see the 16-year-old he had shot in the head getting up again. Ersland said he then emptied the Kel-Tec .380 into the boy’s chest as he kept going after the second robber.
“I went after the other guy, but he was real fast and I’m crippled,” Ersland said.
Outside the pharmacy, he said he saw what he thought was a third black male in a car with the engine running and reaching for what appeared to be a shotgun.
“I pulled out my ‘Judge’ and pointed it right between his eyes and he floored it,” Ersland said. . . .
“Fortunately, God made them miss me, except for this minor scratch,” Ersland said.
“I was able to return fire and protect the girls’ lives. God was helping me.”
I’m sickened by this unjust verdict. You go into a store with a gun and threaten to kill people, you deserve whatever happens. We don’t know if the initial shot incapacitated this robber thug, and if the robber got up and started killing people, then we’d be sorry he wasn’t shot to death. Also, sometimes people fire off more than one bullet in the heat of defending themselves. That’s normal.
If members of this moronic jury had been in the pharmacy that day, they’d be thanking G-d that Jerome Ersland saved their lives that day.
Jerome Ersland took the life of a criminal thug and attempted murderer to save the lives of several innocent people. He deserves a parade, not an orange jumpsuit.
Tags: Antwun Parker, armed, Black, Cleta Jennings, convicted, disabled, disabled veteran, gun, hero, Jerome Ersland, Jerome Ersland Act, jury, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, pharmacist, pharmacy, race, Ralph Shortey, robbers, saved lives, shooting, trial, veteran, White
But OJ butchered a Jew, so it’s okay. And, women (Nicole Brown Simpson) don’t count.
As goes Israel, so goes the World. on May 27, 2011 at 5:13 pm