As if we needed yet another example of the mainstream media’s anti-gun bias, we have it for you today.
You probably heard about the “terrible” incident where a man confronted someone text messaging in a theater and ended up pulling out a gun and shooting the jackwagon who was ruining his moving-going experience by texting during the movie.
Well, that’s not exactly how it went down.
Hard to believe, I know.
Turns out there’s video from inside the theater. Yeah, night vision. Tell that to your teenage kids or grandkids, and caution them not to be getting too hot and heavy inside the theater unless they are wanting to show off for the audience in the security booth.
Anyway, the incident has gone to a bail hearing.
The defendant – the man who had the concealed carry license – is 71-years-old. His name is Curtis Reeves and he’s a retired captain from the Tampa PD. After retiring, he took over security for Busch Gardens. Clearly, he was a good cop who knew his stuff.
CNN has the video, along with some fair analysis, particularly for CNN. You can see by clicking here. Pay attention to the lower right hand corner of the frame.
Their analyst is prosecutor-friendly, but “ultimately” she said the defendant said something very telling, she recalled. The defendant said (paraphrasing): “If I were 20 years younger, I might have tussled with the man, but I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
It’s clear the prosecution is moving forward with the case, although it’s pretty easy to see from the video evidence, along with the statement of the defendant, that a strong case can be made for self-defense.
While Florida has a “Stand Your Ground” law, the video suggests it was more “back against the wall” case of self-defense (recognized in all fifty states, by the way) as the man was seated when physically confronted by 43-year-old obnoxious jackwagon. Clearly there was disparity of force present in that a senior citizen is no match for a young, healthy person in an “empty handed” fight. There may have also been a physical size disparity as well.
If the defendant can articulate that he was truly in jeopardy of a crippling injury or worse he should win this case.
Ability, Opportunity and Jeopardy must all be present to claim justifiable self-defense.
The now-deceased aggressor in this case, by the video, clearly has opportunity and jeopardy to inflict crippling injury or worse by his proximity and youthful condition vs. a septuagenarian.
The only thing that can muddy the waters is if the 71-year-old was unreasonable or taunting in his requests that the deceased cease texting during the movie. A prosecutor might be able to say that the attack was provoked, but among decent people, it would seem the only reasonable provocation for a middle-aged male to attack a elderly senior citizen would be a physical attack on the part of the senior citizen against the younger man.
Add in Florida’s “Stand your ground” law at this point, which does not require the legitimate victim to retreat from where he or she has a lawful right to be, and it’s looking good for an acquittal.
There’s some additional nuances of Florida law that will come into play during this trial, probably benefiting the defendant.
The outcome, unlike in the recent “loud music” so-called self-defense trial, is hardly a foregone conclusion.
At this point, unless the prosecution has some damning evidence not yet in the public eye, this is little more than a show trial.
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