#2403759 - 05/27/11 12:51 PM
Jury convicts pharmacist
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preds1
10 Point
Registered: 10/16/09
Posts: 4482
Loc: Sumner County
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OKLAHOMA CITY – A jury Thursday convicted an Oklahoma City pharmacist of first-degree murder, saying he went too far when he pumped six bullets into a teenager who tried to rob the drug store where he worked, and suggested he spend the rest of his life in prison.
Jerome Ersland, 59, had been hailed as a hero for protecting two co-workers during the May 19, 2009, robbery attempt at the Reliable Discount Pharmacy in a crime-ridden neighborhood in south Oklahoma City.
A prosecutor, however, said that after Ersland shot Antwun Parker in the head, knocking the 16-year-old to the ground, Ersland made himself "judge, jury, executioner" by getting a second handgun and shooting the boy five times in the abdomen. A coroner's report said the latter shots killed Parker.
"This defendant was absolutely not defending himself or anyone else," Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Chance told jurors during closing arguments Thursday.
Defense attorney Irven Box asked jurors to close their eyes and imagine what they would do in the same situation, and told them Ersland had to take action to end a threat.
"He eliminated the armed robber," Box said.
Police said Parker wasn't armed, and since the shooting have disputed Ersland's claim that he was wounded during the robbery attempt. Ersland did not testify at the trial.
The jury — eight women and four men — recommended a life sentence after deliberating 3.5 hours. Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott can impose a lighter sentence when Ersland is sentenced July 11, but cannot depart upward. If he accepts the jury's suggestion, Ersland would be eligible for parole after 38 years and three months.
The jury's recommendation carries considerable weight. The defense must ask for a reduced penalty, and Elliott must justify any decision to reject the jurors' suggestion.
Ersland, in a dark jacket and red tie, showed no emotion as the verdict was read and was immediately taken into custody. He remained silent as sheriff's deputies led him in handcuffs to an elevator reserved for defendants.
The victim's family members, including Parker's mother, Cleta Jennings, and his aunt, Mona Stewart, ran out of the courtroom crying when the verdict was announced and wept in the hallway before departing via a public elevator.
Box and District Attorney David Prater declined to comment until after Ersland's sentencing. Jurors left the courthouse after declining to speak.
Ersland, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, worked at a pharmacy that had been robbed before. Immediately after the shooting, anti-crime advocates and many listeners and viewers of talk shows called Ersland's actions heroic.
A video from the store showed Ersland firing a pistol at two men after they burst into the store, one of them armed. Ersland hit Parker with one shot, knocking him to the ground, and chased the other suspect out the door. After returning to the pharmacy, he retrieved a second gun and shot Parker five more times 46 seconds after firing the first shot.
Jurors visited the pharmacy during the trial.
Box had said Ersland was protected by provisions of Oklahoma's "Make My Day Law," named after a Clint Eastwood line in "Dirty Harry." Legislators in the 1980s initially gave residents the right to use deadly force when they feel threatened inside their homes, then in 2006 extended that to their automobiles or workplaces.
Prater said Ersland had the legal right to defend himself and his co-workers during the attempted robbery — and did when he fired the first shot that struck Parker in the head, knocking him unconscious. But the district attorney said deadly force must be used responsibly.
"There's got to be limitations on that," Prater said. "This isn't about gun rights. This is about murder."
The second teen who entered the pharmacy with Parker, Jevontai Ingram, was sentenced to a state juvenile facility after pleading guilty to first-degree murder under Oklahoma's felony murder law. That law allows a murder charge against someone when an accomplice is killed during the commission of a crime.
Prosecutors say two men, Anthony D. Morrison, 44, and Emanuel Mitchell, 33, recruited the teens and helped plan the robbery. They were convicted of first-degree murder in early May and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Near the end of their trial, Mitchell slugged Prater in the face at the end of Prater's closing statement in the penalty phase. Deputies jumped on Mitchell to subdue him and took him away.
As Ersland's trial wrapped up Thursday, 10 sheriff's deputies stood by in the packed courtroom and Elliott warned the crowd to remain orderly.
"This has been a very emotional case for all parties involved," Elliott said. "If you feel for whatever reason you can't maintain your composure, I suggest you step out in the hall."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_pharmacy_shooting
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#2403772 - 05/27/11 01:01 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: preds1]
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Jer
8 Point
Registered: 11/25/07
Posts: 2045
Loc: Old Hickory, TN
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The first shot seemed to resolve the situation. I do not think the other 5 shots were needed.
_________________________
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. - TJ
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#2403781 - 05/27/11 01:24 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: Jer]
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turkeyhunter64
8 Point
Registered: 12/07/07
Posts: 1954
Loc: TN
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concur a little malice with the last 5 shots.
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Dream like you are going to live forever, Live like you are going to die tomorrow...James Dean
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#2403782 - 05/27/11 01:26 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: Jer]
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lung-buster
8 Point
Registered: 09/16/08
Posts: 1833
Loc: Southern Middle Tn
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A life term for shooting a robber. What some bull.
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#2403794 - 05/27/11 01:41 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: lung-buster]
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wg24
6 Point
Registered: 04/17/11
Posts: 997
Loc: nashville
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The last 5 shots sealed his fate. I am almost surprised he didn't try to plea down to a lesser manslaughter charge. Maybe the DA didn't offer or maybe he was too certain he did no wrong. Either way, bad ending.
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#2403809 - 05/27/11 02:01 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: wg24]
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BIGORANGE
8 Point
Registered: 11/29/08
Posts: 1781
Loc: Memphis, TN
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Antwun Parker being referred to as a victim makes me sick!
_________________________
"Our houses are protected
By the good Lord and a gun
And you might meet 'em both
If you show up here not welcome, son."
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#2403823 - 05/27/11 02:18 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: lung-buster]
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Nimrod777
18 Point
Registered: 09/28/03
Posts: 23174
Loc: Spring Hill, TN
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A life term for shooting a robber. What some bull.
Nope. Life term for murdering a young man who, regardless of his intent, was apparently incapacitated and unarmed.
You don't find it cold at all to put a man on the ground, then go find another gun and stand above him pumping? Really?
_________________________
Some hunt for racks, some hunt for roasts. I hunt for sheer joy; the aforementioned items are merely fringe benefits.
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#2403835 - 05/27/11 02:33 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: Nimrod777]
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Wes Parrish
16 Point
Registered: 06/12/02
Posts: 16946
Loc: Knoxville-Dover-Union City, TN
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Hard to say just what you would do if someone had just stuck a gun in your face. I'm just thinking everything that happened, between the robber pointing his gun at the pharmacist, and the pharmacist firing his final shots ---- the total time frame was about 45 seconds?
Perhaps the pharmacist was temporarily insane due to just having a gun pointed in his face?
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#2403847 - 05/27/11 02:48 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: Nimrod777]
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ROB
TnDeer Old Timer
8 Point
Registered: 01/23/00
Posts: 2120
Loc: Murray, KY USA
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Mr. Ersland was way in the wrong, no doubt about it. But, I believe both a murder conviction and a life sentence are excessive, given the circumstances. Nothing in the story leads anyone to believe that Mr. Ersland was doing anything other than going about with his business prior to Mr. Parker's attempt to rob him, so there is no way Mr. Parker's death was premeditated. Mr. Parker was obviously the aggressor initially with Mr. Ersland only trying to defend himself. And the second time Ersland shot Parker was only 46 seconds after the first, clearly in the "heat of the moment" of the attempted robbery. I have no pity whatsoever for Parker. Maybe he didn't deserve exactly what he got but he was the one who started the whole situation. The real victim is Ersland who would probably be behind the counter of his pharmacy, filling perscriptions, on this very day had two thugs, one brandishing a gun, not changed his life forever.
_________________________
An idiot savant is still an idiot!
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#2403854 - 05/27/11 03:01 PM
Re: Jury convicts pharmacist
[Re: ROB]
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fishboy1
14 Point
Registered: 01/13/03
Posts: 9693
Loc: Warren Co
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I think its a crock.
So why do we think that a thug who wants to kill you suddenly gets a free pass on home base as soon as he possibly? temporarily? stops trying to kill you ?
Who initiated the entire crime? The pharmacist? or the career criminals ? Who plotted the crime? Who decided to arm themselves and burst into a peaceable place of business with the intent of possible fatal criminal activity with no regard to the health or safety of the innocent?
The social contract our government has with the citizens is broken. Police have NO LEGAL OBLIGATION TO PROTECT YOU but we are expected to conduct ourselves as if we have god like omniscience during a deadly threat to our person, and grant a killer "time out" or face the consequences.
I think that if a criminal conducts themselves in a manner that makes you think you are in peril of serious bodily harm, there should be no time outs.
They would kill you if they could, and you should be exempt from prosecution until such time as the police arrive and take over control of the situation. Police are highly trained to act appropriately in such situations. Regular citizens are not and should NOT be expected to act with kindness and restraint to the point of putting themselves at risk in a potentially fatal situation.
_________________________
A gun in the hand is worth 2 cops on the phone. No one can name a single power the government has granted itself that hasn't been abused. Socialism is for losers http://amillerphotoevent.com
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