Taking another step down the road back to the mythological wild, wild west, a South Carolina man who shot and killed an innocent bystander has received immunity from prosecution. The judge handing down the decision cited the state's Stand Your Ground law.
And to think, gun enthusiasts wonder why their guns are seen as a threat, why folks might be inclined to avoid them, even call police when they see guns being carried around. Although the shooter in this case mistakenly fired on someone simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, the state solicitor explained, "he could shoot a 4-year-old playing in her front yard and still be immune from prosecution".
The case is pending appeal to the state Supreme Court. Good luck, people of South Carolina. You're going to need it.
ThinkProgress reports on the details of the killing:
Seventeen-year-old Darrell Niles was in his car, minding his own business back in 2010 when 33-year-old Shannon Anthony Scott shot and killed him.
Earlier that day, a group of girls had followed and threatened Scott’s 15-year-old daughter. They later drove past Scott’s house in an SUV. But when Scott walked out of his house with a handgun to confront the “women thugs,” as he described them, he instead fired straight into the 1992 Honda of Darrell Niles, who was unarmed. Niles was killed instantly.
Some questions remain in the case: The group of girls may have fired shots first, but testimony is conflicted on if shots were fired at Scott himself, or at all. There is also some indication that Scott was primed to shoot his gun at someone: Even prior to the shooting, he had a sign in his window that read, “Fight Crime – Shoot First,” according to a 5th Circuit Assistant Solicitor.
An interesting turn of events in this case, at least to me, was finding that a Democratic state representative, Todd Rutherford, helped to write the state's Stand Your Ground law -- and he also
defended the shooter in court.
Someone like Scott who is put in a life-and-death situation “cannot be expected to shoot straight always because they are not supposed to have their life in jeopardy," Rutherford said at Scott’s three-day immunity hearing in mid-August.
In this case, of course, the killer did shoot straight; his victim wasn't hit randomly in some wild shot or misfire. Shannon Scott came outside with his gun, spotted a car with someone in it and killed them just for being there.
Curiously, although the defense cited no police being around to help them, Shannon Scott's daughter had the foresight to call ahead to her dad about their car being followed. Perhaps in some other case in some other state, this might inspire someone to call the police, but not here.
According to evidence in the case, Scott’s daughter telephoned him on her way home to tell him she was being followed. Scott met his daughter and some friends outside his house, told them to go in and lie down on the kitchen floor and then went around to the front yard with a gun.
So, in spite of conflicting testimony about whether or not anyone fired at Shannon Scott that night, the judge agreed with the author of South Carolina's Stand Your Ground law, and let a killer off scot-free. The judge apparently disagreed with the
solicitor's view of the case:
“If this law were to be applied the way (Scott) wants to apply it, he could shoot a 4-year-old playing in her front yard and still be immune from prosecution,” Sampson said. South Carolina would turn into “the Wild, Wild West” if fearful people can go around shooting just about anyone, Sampson said.
...or perhaps that's not a bug, but a feature.