Guy broke into my house. Court sent me a letter saying guy owes me restitution?

[INMIline]

Dude, buy a can for the HD pistol

There is a very good reason I did not shoot him, and I would appreciate it if you would respect that. My 2 month old son was sleeping in an open topped cradle less than a foot away from where I confronted the guy. I was pulling the trigger, waiting for the shot to break, but gave a second's pause. The thoughts that ran through my head were basically "when I shoot him, the gunshot could make the baby go deaf for life. He could fall and land on the baby and kill him. His blood could get in the baby's mouth and if he's got any bloodborne disease he could infect my son." In that split second those thoughts ran through my head, he surrendered fully, negating the need for me to kill him.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

Why are you some of you so careless with human life. People make mistakes.

 

[1911Shooter]

I also agree that not shooting him was the best choice you could have made, and I also agree that there is not really any monetary restitution to be gained by this. With that said I would probably send a letter to the court stating just that and I would also ask for them to order him to go through rehab and drug counseling. This atleast would make him a better person hopefully, and it would also stop him from being put in jail, where all he is going to do is learn to be a better criminal. I would hope that with some help, he may just come out of this being a productive member of society.

 

[Expat]

Let me get some of the above posts correctly. The OP is supposed to file a fraudulent document with the Court via the Prosecutor's Office claiming damages where there are none. Do I really have that right? Yeah, I don't see anything going wrong there.

 

[billybob44]

YOU are REALLY looking for a response!!

Why are you some of you so careless with human life. People make mistakes.

This post of yours REALLY does not make sense..Especially with what YOU have for your signature line under this post??
Yes, people WILL make mistakes..SOME of these people never do make the proper restitution for these mistakes. This results in more serious "Mistakes" down the road on the part of the perp.
Just my 2 cents worth..Bill.

 

[cobber]

Why are you some of you so careless with human life. People make mistakes.

Sorry, but an intentional criminal act, entering someone else's house, is not a "mistake".

Criminals always claim they made a mistake.

No they didn't. They intended to do exactly what they did.

Their mistake was they got caught.

As long as they engage in criminal thinking, thinking they can prey on other people with no consequences, they need to be dealt with by the system.

The other punch line criminals like to use is to blame their actions on their "disability", usually bipolar disorder. I was not aware of this, but BD apparently leads to an irresistible impulse to commit crimes. Someone should do a study...

Re the "careless with human life" comment, if you are so careless with your own life as to walk into other people's homes univited, then why should the homeowner hold your life in higher regard than you do?

 

[WebSnyper]

Second, the dude is 23 years old, a drug addict, and has never held down a job in his life.

I wouldn't infer from the OP that the perp broke into his house b/c he was a drug addict or insufficiently educated.

No inference needed. It was stated in the original post.

 

[billybob44]

Sorry, but an intentional criminal act, entering someone else's house, is not a "mistake".

Criminals always claim they made a mistake.

No they didn't. They intended to do exactly what they did.

Their mistake was they got caught.

As long as they engage in criminal thinking, thinking they can prey on other people with no consequences, they need to be dealt with by the system.

The other punch line criminals like to use is to blame their actions on their "disability", usually bipolar disorder. I was not aware of this, but BD apparently leads to an irresistible impulse to commit crimes. Someone should do a study...

++1 and Rep. to you Cobb. To ME--a lot of these "Disability's" at young ages, leads to these "Mistakes" down the road..Bill.

 

[WebSnyper]

Sorry, but an intentional criminal act, entering someone else's house, is not a "mistake".

Criminals always claim they made a mistake.

No they didn't. They intended to do exactly what they did.

Their mistake was they got caught.

As long as they engage in criminal thinking, thinking they can prey on other people with no consequences, they need to be dealt with by the system.


Re the "careless with human life" comment, if you are so careless with your own life as to walk into other people's homes univited, then why should the homeowner hold your life in higher regard than you do?

I agree for the most part, except a mistake is not necessarily an accident. You can intend to do something and later realize it is a mistake.

Now that does not necessarily mean that the victim should show them any mercy, especially during the situation.

And some mistakes are fatal.

And agreed on the last point for sure.

I believe the outcome that the OP had was the best case scenario. The reason I believe that is the presence of a an armed individual holding his ground and protecting his family and home was enough to stop the criminal activity.

The presence of the sheepdog bearing his teeth was enough in this case to stop the wolf from carrying out his plans against what he thought were sheep.

And these days, the aftermath that can follow even a justified shooting can ruin the life of that armed individual who took a stand. Although I don't believe it is right that such an event could ruin the person's life, that often happens.

I think as far as the OP's question, I would as others have stated provide any real damages that there might have been, broken lock, etc that needed repair, time off work for any reason related to the event, etc. If there are none then state there are not, but do respond with how you think the criminal should be handled.

 

[cobber]

No inference needed. It was stated in the original post.

The perp is an uneducated drug addict according to the OP.

That does not mean he broke into the house because he is an uneducated drug addict. He broke into the house because he is a criminal, and uses criminal thinking.

Cause/effect. I would guess plenty of uneducated people and/or drug addicts are not criminals. Plenty of poor people are not criminals.

So the perp is using it as an excuse. How novel is that???

Any causation, if implied, is unjustifiable.

 

[blamecharles]

This post of yours REALLY does not make sense..Especially with what YOU have for your signature line under this post??
Yes, people WILL make mistakes..SOME of these people never do make the proper restitution for these mistakes. This results in more serious "Mistakes" down the road on the part of the perp.
Just my 2 cents worth..Bill.

This. I am not one to feel sorry for the BG. THEY chose to do harm, I'm not saying what I would have done in this situation, but I do hope I would make the correct decision, plus one to OP for thinking of baby nearby and all the what-ifs.

 

[John Galt]

1) Thank God you and your family were unharmed and are able to carry on relatively unscarred.
2) I wasn't there, you were. You are able to live with your decisions made that day and nobody was physically harmed, sounds like a win to me.
3) ANYONE intentionally breaking into another persons home does not make a "mistake", they initiate a chain of actions of which THEY are responsible for the consequences. The OP of this thread chose a course of action that appears to be different from others posting on this thread. Either way, the common denominator is the scum that initiated the series of possible responses. This is no "accident".
4) Thank you for sharing this story!

 

[wabash]

maybe ask for the cost of having your carpet cleaned. because there was a dirtbag on it. haha

 

[mrortega]

Get a lawyer. This could get confusing and you don't want to do anything that you'll regret down the road. He did cause you distress because you had to decide whether to shoot him or not.

 

[cobber]

Get a lawyer. This could get confusing and you don't want to do anything that you'll regret down the road. He did cause you distress because you had to decide whether to shoot him or not.

Distress is not part of restitution. You're talking civil tort law, which is separate from criminal restitution.

Unless you have recurring mental and physical problems resulting from the intrusion, good luck prevailing in a mental distress tort.

And remember, this guy's pockets are not that deep. Even were you to get a judgment, who would pay?

It doesn't hurt to talk to a lawyer, since they usually give you a free consultation on matters like this.

 

[smythe012]

If he did no damage while entering, contact the prosecutor and explain that... If not, or if you don't care, just say that you would feel most comfortable if he served actual time. Maybe you can submit a letter explaining how violated and unsafe it made you feel, you could even say how it factored into your choice to move.

Do something. If you don't, I doubt he will get the punishment that is needed. This was a really messed up situation, and you seemed pretty convinced that he was going to do some serious damage (with good reason, given everything he brought with)

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Let the prosecutor know exactly how you feel. You may not be looking for restitution, but they need to know how this effected you and the circumstances of the situation (He was in the room with your kid??). You left the decision of punishment up to the state, make sure they do their job.

 

[24Carat]

I would author a letter to the Judge to be read in open court and into the record outlining to the perp your inherent rights and what the possible outcome could have been except for your humanity and cool head.

 

[turnandshoot4]

How about donate his time/money to a charity? Maybe do some work for a VA or something.

 

[lrahm]

There is a very good reason I did not shoot him, and I would appreciate it if you would respect that. My 2 month old son was sleeping in an open topped cradle less than a foot away from where I confronted the guy. I was pulling the trigger, waiting for the shot to break, but gave a second's pause. The thoughts that ran through my head were basically "when I shoot him, the gunshot could make the baby go deaf for life. He could fall and land on the baby and kill him. His blood could get in the baby's mouth and if he's got any bloodborne disease he could infect my son." In that split second those thoughts ran through my head, he surrendered fully, negating the need for me to kill him.

That sir, shows class. You did good. I hope that no one out there wants to pull the trigger on someone.

You are very correct about the blood borne pathogenes. Over the years, I've had to go through tests about seven time. Draw blood for a base line then two more times over the next year. It's not pleasent.

Congrats for the right call and protecting your child.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

This post of yours REALLY does not make sense..Especially with what YOU have for your signature line under this post??
Yes, people WILL make mistakes..SOME of these people never do make the proper restitution for these mistakes. This results in more serious "Mistakes" down the road on the part of the perp.
Just my 2 cents worth..Bill.

It's a Ted Nuget quote. I have changed a lot of my thinking of self defense in the past couple years.

I just don't see why someone is so eager to end a criminals life. Yes they commited a crime, yet is endnig someones life a solution to that? no.