Elderly New Orleans Man Imprisoned After Shooting Robber
BY Herschel Smith
8 years, 2 months ago
Around 3 a.m. Wednesday, 73-year-old Abraham Venson woke up to an alarm company alerting him to someone breaking into his shed, the same shed that had been broken into months ago.
Venson went outside his home with a gun in hand. As the two robbers ran from his home, Venson saw the second man reach for his waistband. That’s when Venson fired his weapon, striking the man.
Although someone was breaking into his shed, Venson was arrested for the shooting. Under Louisiana law, it is unlawful for you to fire a weapon at someone if your life is not at risk. It doesn’t matter if they’re stealing personal property or not.
[ … ]
“Jail ain’t no place for anybody,” said neighbor Alvin Campbell, who feels the arrest against Venson was unjust.
If this report is accurate, [a] I don’t see the problem, and [b] Bob’s analysis is incomplete and perhaps flat wrong. Sure, it may have been wiser for him not to have followed the robber. That’s water over the dam at this point.
The way I read the report, he didn’t shoot at the robber for his crime of larceny. He shot because he feared for his life. This is his defense, and any good lawyer would set it up that way.
But I suspect the problem here runs deeper. I suspect that he talked to the police and said something inaccurate or damning, and thus the prosecutor has charged him with a crime, whether his report to the police was accurate or not.
Folks, do not ever talk to the police. Ever. His first action should have been to call 911 and tell the dispatcher that a shooting had occurred. The second should have been to tell the police that they can talk to his lawyer and he has nothing to say.
Please … please … learn this. Please. And watch this video one more time for good measure.
On October 6, 2016 at 12:10 pm, Frank_in_Spokane said:
Re. James Duane’s “Never Talk to the Police” presentation:
I learned a lot from that.
I also learned a lot from the give-and-take in the comments section here:
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/07/why_you_should.html
On October 7, 2016 at 10:55 pm, Daniel Barger said:
Whether or not you as a citizen are charged with shooting someone has LESS to do with the facts of the matter than with the personal beliefs and political agenda of the DA and the local sheriff/police chief.