Friday, June 17, 2011

Castle Doctrine Redux?

I happen to believe that medicinal use of marijuana is legitimate; it genuinely helps some ill people.  But I can't put into words here all of the many thoughts that crossed my mind reading this.  A possibly legitimate instance of Castle Doctrine......but then, why not call police to report the crime, to report firing a weapon and to report stabbing someone.  This could be self-defense, except that the rest of this woman's conduct is problematic at best.

I can, MAYBE, just barely understand not realizing in all this that you had shot someone rather than missing them; firearms are ranged weapons rather than usually used in closer quarters, at least ideally.  It was clearly something that occurred after dark.......but how do you not know you stabbed someone?  That has to be 'up close and personal'.

As with the earlier post about the ding dong ditch shooting, it will be interesting to see if the gun violence victims were facing or attempting to flee, as more details emerge.

Until then - by all means, comment away!  Is this woman a criminal, a murderer?  As there appear to be no arrests or charges of any kind for the marijuana reported here, I'm presuming for the moment that was being grown legally.


Fom Huffington Post:

Karen Elaine Cordova, 48, was arrested Monday for allegedly stabbing two men who broke into her Erie, Colorado home where she grows medical marijuana -- killing one and and critically injuring the other -- is being formally charged with what will likely be second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder Thursday.
According to the Longmont Times-Call, Cordova claims that Stephen Erikson, 34, and Kyle Dust, 31, broke into her house Saturday while she was home. Cordova confronted the two men and allegedly stabbed both of them, Erikson in the belly, leaving a 5-inch wound above his belly button cutting his stomach and liver, leaving Erikson alive but critically injured.
SECOND UPDATE:
Karen Elaine Cordova was released from Weld County Jail late Thursday and the district attorney's office announced that no charges will be filed against Cordova at this time, however the investigation remains open, according to The Denver Post.
More details have emerged from the alleged robbery and act of self defense from Cordova. Sheriff's spokesperson Margie Martinez spoke to the Daily Camera saying that Cordova never reported the burglary attempt or the fact that she had stabbed or shot anyone before the investigators arrived at her door on Monday.
Martinez went on to state to the Daily Camera that it was her understanding that investigators did not recover any weapons when searching Cordova's property, but did find some of the marijuana plants had been pulled from their pots. Martinez also states to the Daily Camera that the Colorado's "Make My Day" law will be taken into consideration, especially due to the nature of Dust's fatal gunshot wounds, before making any further arrests.
However, it hasn't been revealed where Dust was shot, but if he was shot in the back it could reveal he was fleeing the crime scene at the time which could further complicate this already complex story.UPDATE:
As more details emerge, this case of apparent self-defense gets more complex. The Denver Post reports that Weld County Coroner's autopsy report on Kyle Dust revealed that he died of a gunshot wound, not a stab wound, as the suspect, Karen Cordova originally told the police investigating the case.

Stephen Erikson, who was stabbed, remains in the hospital in critical condition.

EARLIER:
7News reports, that Erikson, still alive, staggerd into his Erie home when one of his roommates called 911. Erikson was taken to Lafayette Samaritan Hospital where he remains in critical condition.
In the police report Cordova is reported by the Longmont Times-Call as saying:
I am not going to lie, what would you do if someone broke into your house at 2:30 in the morning? I'm a single woman.
The Denver Post reports that although the attempted robbery and stabbings happened Saturday morning, Dust, the accomplice, was not found until Monday. Detectives returned to Cordova’s home where they found Dust’s body at the edge of her property, the Longmont Times-Call reports, when according to the police report Cordova said:
Oh my God, I didn't know that I killed him. They were coming for me. They were coming for me.
The investigation got more complex when it was discovered that Erikson met Cordova two weeks prior, learned that Cordova ran a medical marijiuana business out of her home and then scouted her home for a later burglary by posing as a home repair consultant to Cordova. Erikson had even robbed Cordova’s house once before, either Friday or earlier Saturday, and then later returned on Saturday with Dust to rob her again, the Longmont Times-Call reports.
Cordova is being held in Weld County Jail on $400,000 bail.

9 comments:

  1. Dog Gone,

    I was in California when Prop 215 hit the polls. Conservatives laughed at the idea of medical/medicinal marijuana. I shut them up quickly by saying I would hate to have any of the diseases that really needed MM. You see, in 1969, I met world-famous surfer Chris O'Rourke. He was the magic boy. Everybody's favorite. Probably the best surfer to ever come out of California in the early days. Some time in the mid-seventies, Chris was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The chemo/radiation of the era was unbearable. It hasn't changed much. Loss of hair, weight, appetite. As many cancer survivors can tell you, they wonder whether or not it is even worth trying to stay alive. Good marijuana stimulates the appetite as nothing else. It can also help a despondent person to be happy. It is a life-saver for cancer patients undergoing intense and debilitating therapies.

    Prop 215 didn't really end up serving that many AIDS/Cancer patients as it did dumbshits who liked to get high. It's a big fucking scam and I'm right there with the mean republicans in saying it is all bullshit. It's a stupid way around an arcane law. The assholes who supply the medicinal marijuana market charge more money than the legitimate black marketeers who risk their freedom to provide this valuable narcotic to connoisseurs and aficionados. Medical marijuana is just a big red herring for idiots.

    Still, these losers should not have been trying to rip off some poor lady who had gone through the humiliation of getting a marijuana card just so she could grow her own weed. They were asking for it. They got what they deserved.

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  2. I wrote about the reality of making marijuana illegal a year or so ago, when I was doing 'this day in history' posts regularly.

    It was a scam at the time.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marihuana_Tax_Act_of_1937

    http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/AMA_opposes_1937.html

    If we legalized / decriminalized the use of marijuana (and preferably taxed hell out of it, such as sales taxes) we could eliminate a huge part of our prison system, which is the largest in the world per capita, and hugely expensive.

    I completely agree with some prominent Republicans, notably former NM Gov. Johnson and Ron Paul on simply dumping the stupid act of 1937, and the subsequent related legislation.

    I am not in favor of drug use, I don't indulge in 'recreational pharmaceuticals'. Heck, I don't even use asprin if I can avoid it.

    But clearly, the AMA sees a therapeutic purpose in it; it helps some people with specific problems.

    If we legalize it, there would be fewer reasons for criminals to rob sick people for it.

    These aren't simple, easy decisions, but I think we have made the wrong ones up to now.

    And gun violence is only one of the side effects of doing so.

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  3. I'm in favor of medical marijuana. But I'm not in favor of pretending it's mainly for ill people who need it. It's just what Flying Junior said.

    About the "castle doctrine" I'm concerned that we're making it easier for people to kill other people and get away with it. Killing someone in self-defense should require a reasonable concern that the threat is lethal. The castle doctrine often lowers the standards too much.

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  4. "Killing someone in self-defense should require a reasonable concern that the threat is lethal. The castle doctrine often lowers the standards too much."

    Castle Doctrine does not change any of the standards of self defense. You must believe that you were in fear for your life or serious bodily harm to be able to use lethal force. Castle Doctrine does not change that at all.

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  5. Obviously I was sympathizing with Cordova because I thought she was a patient very likely suffering from a painful or debilitating disease. Alone in her home, attacked or robbed by two men. The fact that she was a profiteer kind of changes that feeling to the point where I don't really know exactly where I stand. It sounds like there was probably some kind of a fight or struggle. Unless she was an adept knife-thrower. Why wouldn't it be plausible that her life was in danger?

    Here's my thoughts on the castle doctrine. The guy in Texas who rigged a booby-trap to trigger a gun just in case somebody broke into his house got what he deserved. The guy who shot and killed the young black teenager through his window overstepped. He didn't give fair warning to an unarmed man.

    But this is America dammit. If some son-of-a-bitch breaks into your home and doesn't flee the moment they see the homeowner, that is a threatening situation and YOU CAN SHOOT 'EM!

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  6. "If some son-of-a-bitch breaks into your home and doesn't flee the moment they see the homeowner, that is a threatening situation and YOU CAN SHOOT 'EM!"

    Should the criminal be allowed to complete a home invasion form or questionnaire outlining his intent first?

    The answer is simple, if you break into someone's house, you could get shot. If you do not want to get shot breaking in to someone's house, do not break in to someone's house. How difficult is that?

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  7. Not all people who seem to be breaking into a house are home invaders or scumbags. And not all homeowners who have a gun are good guys.

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  8. "Not all people who seem to be breaking into a house are home invaders or scumbags."

    WTF? What are they, they welcome wagon wanting to surprise you?

    "And not all homeowners who have a gun are good guys."

    Agreed.

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  9. C'mon FWM, if you can agree that not all home-gun owners are good guys why won't you admit that all those who SEEM to be breaking into a home are not what they appear. We've even written about some of them. The drunk teenager from next door who's stumbling around in the dark, the neighbor who has some kind of emergency and approaches your house in a panic, the possibilities are many.

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