A Wayne County prosecutor failed today in an effort to revoke bond for a former security guard charged with murder for the alleged vigilante shooting of a man he chased from his backyard.Although 36th District Judge Donna Robinson Milhouse added restrictions to the conditions of 31-year-old Tigh Croff's release from custody, he will remain free pending trial for the slaying of Herbert Silas, 53.
Croff has been free on bond since New Year's Day, one day after being charged with shooting Silas in the chest after allegedly chasing the Detroit man a block from Croff's recently burglarized east side home. The incident has drawn public support for Croff from residents who are fed up with lawlessness in the city, and outrage from authorities who see his actions as more lawlessness.
I find it truly amazing that this man is not in jail. Notwithstanding the exasperation of the residents of these crime-ridden neighborhoods of Detroit, what Croff did was over the top. Is it the fact that he has a clean record or that he had been a security guard, or is it simply that everybody is so fed up with the criminals that this modern-day Bernhard Goetz is getting special treatment.
I say it's a bad message to all the others who are fed up. Taking the law into their own hands will lead to many more incidents like this. The very definition of DGU will change.
What's your opinion? Would you consider this one a legitimate DGU?
Please leave a comment.
Based upon what little I have read, this ceased being a DGU when the thief fled the house.
ReplyDeleteI'm not condoning Croff but I would be curious to hear more about this neighborhood. Has the city really abandoned it? The neighbors seem to be on his side. If there is zero law enforcement response there then I can see where some kind of law and order would surface in the vacuum.
This is not the same situation as Bernard Goetz. Goetz did not chase anyone down. He defended himself where he was assaulted. The only similarity is the label by the media.
I find it truly amazing that this man is not in jail.
ReplyDeleteYou act as if the guy has been acquitted, Mikeb. He hasn't, and will very likely spend some time in prison. The judge apparently didn't consider him a risk to flee, or to hurt anyone else. Without knowing more, I can't say that Judge Robinson is wrong in that assessment. Can you?
This:
ReplyDelete""But in his confession in 1984, Goetz said the shooting was warranted. "I was a monster," he said. "But I wasn't a monster until several years alone in New York."
At the time, Goetz called New York a lawless city, and admitted shooting Cabey and the others, even to going back and shooting Cabey a second time. "You seem to be doing all right,'" Goetz recalled telling the young man. "'Here's another.'""
from here: http://www.cnn.com/US/9604/08/subway.gunner/
indicates that Goetz was not zackly being assaulted. He thought he MIGHT be assaulted. He was on a public conveyance, carrying an unlicensed concealed weapon. "Hero" is not the word that comes into my mind when I think of Bernie Goetz, although that is the way he is seen by a lot of people who think that vigilantiism will stop crime.
If the news accounts are correct and he chased the guy down and killed him then no this is not a legitimate DGU
ReplyDeleteAs a defense attorney, I have to point out that everyone is entitled to bail before trial and the presumption of innocence. Generally, people shouldn't be punished before they're found guilty.
ReplyDelete"If the news accounts are correct and he chased the guy down and killed him then no this is not a legitimate DGU"
ReplyDeleteUmm, right. It's actually manslaughter, at least.
democommie, Thanks for the background on Goetz. FWM may be right that he didn't chase anyone down, but that was because they were all in the confines of a subway car. The vigilante gun action was just the same even down to the Clint Eastwood type wisecracks.
ReplyDeleteS., Right you are that everybody is entitled to bail and the presumption of innocence. But, I still find it amazing this guy is free at the moment. He ran the kid down, and shot him dead. This is gun mania and vigilantism that's gone out of control. I'm the first one to defend the criminal, but not when he's out murdering people in a righteous rage.
ReplyDeleteAs a defense attorney, I have to point out that everyone is entitled to bail before trial and the presumption of innocence
ReplyDeleteNot in MikeB's world. He LOVES to consider gun owners guilty until proven innocent, and wants laws passed denying them due process.
Good shooting! He did a public service.
ReplyDeleteThe CNN link on Goetz is worthless. Read the Wikipedia link oabout Goetz and you will understand.
ReplyDelete"He did a public service" for running down a kid who was lurking in the back yard and murdering him like Clint Eastwood.
ReplyDeleteIt's attitudes like that, I suppose, which make some people doubtful as to the wisdom of your being permitted to have a gun.
The reason why everybody likes Clint Eastwood is that he shoots these people wholesale.
ReplyDelete