Couple protect their property in California, get charged with assault with a deadly weapon...

[Bushman]

Apparently California does not prosecute thefts under $950 in value boys, let's go and get free stuff!!!! Anyone who attacks us will be charged while we will be given medals and participation trophies, free housing, health care, food and more!

Disclaimer: I say the above in jest. Read the comments in the article. Everyone seems to get how ridiculous this is, to charge these people. The thieves had it coming. Victims are now criminals and real criminals are innocent victim heroes. Poor babies, got beaten down to the ground while stealing...

California couple arrested for setting trap, beating bicycle thieves

Police in Visalia, California say 25-year-old Corey Curnutt and 29-year-old Savannah Grillot face charges of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy.

www.yahoo.com

Read More

 

[gmerkt]

The law has been harsh on booby-trap setters for decades. Because it is a premeditated act, any death resulting from it may be prosecuted as first degree murder. When I was stationed in Missouri 1969-70, some old guy back there went to prison for it. A thief repeatedly stole tools out of his shed, so he set up a shotgun aimed at a door. The thief got dead but the old guy got prison. And many similar cases since then around the country. It doesn't have to involve a gun. In a case in Florida, a store owner had been broken into by a burglar cutting a hole in the roof. In response to this, the shop owner set up an electrified screen under a previously cut hole. Sure enough, the burglar came back and tried to get in via the same hole. The thief died from electrocution. The shop owner's defense was able to convince a jury that the defendant didn't know the trap would be fatal; he was acquitted. Got lucky.

So don't think about pits with punji sticks to keep kids off your land, etc. Blackberry thickets, stinging nettles, holly, etc, work just as well without being fatal or illegal. Or dogs.

Stringing barbed wire or razor wire across the top of your fence used to be against code in many places but I see lots of it on commercial property these days. I guess it depends on the jurisdiction. Maybe it's not a problem until little Johnny cuts his nut sack open trying to come over to retrieve a soccer ball. And that would be a civil matter, not criminal.

 

[zenbreath]

Burglars and thieves have a right to a safe working environment.

 

[Stomper]

Apparently California does not prosecute thefts under $950 in value boys, let's go and get free stuff!!!! Anyone who attacks us will be charged while we will be given medals and participation trophies, free housing, health care, food and more!

Disclaimer: I say the above in jest. Read the comments in the article. Everyone seems to get how ridiculous this is, to charge these people. The thieves had it coming. Victims are now criminals and real criminals are innocent victim heroes. Poor babies, got beaten down to the ground while stealing...

California couple arrested for setting trap, beating bicycle thieves

Police in Visalia, California say 25-year-old Corey Curnutt and 29-year-old Savannah Grillot face charges of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy.

www.yahoo.com

Jury nullification.....

 

[awshoot]

Sounds like a bunch of stupid on all sides, from a link with more details: Visalia couple planted bikes to lure thieves, attack them with bat on camera, police say

Clips posted to Curnutt's public YouTube account are what helped them make an arrest. Those videos have since been taken down.

Investigators say there are at least four victims who were beaten with aluminum bats, but there could be more.

"They're reluctant victims, so they're not wanting to come out and say, 'yeah, I was stealing a bike and got assaulted,'" Epp said.

 

[Alexx1401]

The couple were begging for some real problems. Set up bait, then film themselves going after the thieves with bats. First off this is just dumb. Second they were lucky one of the people they were setting up did not have a gun. I know it's tempting to do this to thieves but, you can't do this. If they had killed one of the people they were setting up they would be looking at murder charges.

 

[Stomper]

The couple were begging for some real problems. Set up bait, then film themselves going after the thieves with bats. First off this is just dumb. Second they were lucky one of the people they were setting up did not have a gun. I know it's tempting to do this to thieves but, you can't do this. If they had killed one of the people they were setting up they would be looking at murder charges.

Ain't nobody ever been killed from having their knee joint whacked with a bat.

 

[JohnnyMac]

Maybe it's not a problem until little Johnny cuts his nut sack open trying to come over to retrieve a soccer ball.

Why does it have to be Johnny cutting his nut sack......?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Yeah don't do that.
( The setting up of booby traps / thief bait or the nut sack cutting... )
Andy

 

[11Charlie]

I was going to say that is what you get for living in a communist state but for god sake if your going to protect your bike then finish the job and get rid of the bodies!!!

 

[Stomper]

Yeah don't do that.
( The setting up of booby traps / thief bait or the nut sack cutting... )
Andy

But if you Do...... bring sponges.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I had a sign on my shop door that said:
Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again"

The Sheriff told me to take it down. Its liable in washingrad.
So now its on the inside of the shop.

 

[darkminstrel]

I used to live there. Only 3 types live(d) in that town; immigrant workers, rich ranch owners, and service industry wage slaves. Crime has always been high for such a small community.

 

[Alexx1401]

I had a sign on my shop door that said:
Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again"

The Sheriff told me to take it down. Its liable in washingrad.
So now its on the inside of the shop.

Sadly stuff like that can be used against you if you ever had to defend yourself. Often when some scum gets shot we all have seen the family members who come out of the woodwork to say they were just getting their life on track and such. If some want to hire a lawyer to go after some cash a picture of sign like that would just give them ammo to use. Stupid but it's the way it is now.

 

[Member 5605]

Well... they were trapping with intent.
I don't feel for the couple.

 

[DB is Here]

Why bring a bat when a 120 lb Rottie will guard the bike for free?

 

[Jonnyuma]

In the 90s (in AZ) I used to drive out into the desert, park, saddle-up and go all walkabout for days at a time. Coming back to a missing/stolen vehicle could have literally been the death of me.

I had a (quite ingenious, IMHO) system rigged-up that consisted of magnets, some stiff (coat hanger) wire, two heavy steel ball bearings, and two short pieces of pipe. If either door was opened it would break the magnetic attraction, the ball bearing would swing down and hit the priner of a shotgun shell inside the pipe, which was aimed at the ground. It was designed to hit a thief's foot, not to kill. Maybe, even if it missed it would spook the creep enough to move on.

I was shocked when a Yavapai Co sheriff's deputy told me how illegal it was. I was in my 20s and it didn't make any sense to me... How in the world could this be a crime?

The trap never got tripped and in hindsight I'm not sure it would have worked as intended anyway. After the run-in w the deputy I had to settle for a Club and a couple of hidden kill switches to protect Sandy (my old 4x4 RamCharger) from miscreants.

I don't think what the CA couple did was necessarily immoral, but baiting and beating lowlifes is for sure illegal and filming it seems to indicate a mental imbalance of some kind. That being said, how are TV shows like Bait Car acceptable?

 

[awshoot]

I had a sign on my shop door that said:
Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again"

The Sheriff told me to take it down. Its liable in washingrad.
So now its on the inside of the shop.

The Sheriff certainly wasn't ordering you to do it, but giving you good advice. Prosecutors and plaintiff's attorneys would have made enormous images of that sign to display during closing arguments in which they argue that you had bad intent. Thank you Sheriff and take the sign down and put it some place where nobody can see it and it won't be found in a search.

 

[CRBMoA]

Why bring a bat when a 120 lb Rottie will guard the bike for free?

Bat eats less and doesn't leave grunt sculptures in the yard?

 

[DB is Here]

two heavy steel ball bearings