PA Bill Number: SB1198
Title: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and ...
Description: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and .. ...
Last Action: Referred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Last Action Date: May 17, 2024
Virginia Man Found Innocent for Firing at Cops Who Were at Wrong House :: 08/02/2014
PORTSMOUTH, VA (WAVY) - Imagine you're up watching our late night news when you hear your back door rattling, then see a red laser pointed on your chest. One Portsmouth man claims that happened to him.
Brandon Watson said he was protecting his family when his wife heard noises in the back yard on January 3, 2013: "She said, 'oh my gosh, someone is in the backyard.'" The noises got closer and then she heard the clicking of the backdoor handle."
In a neighborhood where weapons are everywhere, Brandon Watson didn't hesitate to grab his own legally purchased gun. It was a decision with lingering repercussions.
It came out in court last September that police were in the wrong backyard. They were supposed to be in Patricia Brooks' yard, which is next door to Watson. She had called 911 because she heard unrelated noises in the downstairs of her home.
"You cannot fire indiscriminately through the window," Mobley said.
And a judge agreed. Watson was found guilty. So he appealed the decision, and a second judge declared a mistrial. At that point, Watson chose to have a jury trial.
"This can't be doing your job. You come in my backyard, try to open my door, open my window and flash red laser beams on my chest because you thought I was the burglar, and I thought you were the burglar," Watson said.
The seven-person jury bought that, and found Brandon Watson not guilty, after deliberating only 47 minutes.
"The Commonwealth really didn't have a case. It wasn't reckless, so it didn't take a lot of discussion," said Danny Barnes, a juror on the case.
When asked about the juror's comment that the Commonwealth failed to prove Watson was reckless, he said, "I just disagree with that point."
The jury thought Watson showed restraint by only firing one shot.
"There was agreement if there had been more than one bullet hole, had he sprayed the wall with bullets, bang, bang, bang, that would have been reckless," Barnes said.
The jury was also concerned police went to the wrong home, and that there was general confusion.
"That really wasn't explained very well, and that was a sticking point for most of us, and that wasn't flushed out at all," Barnes said.
The jurors honed in on the red beams on Watson's chest.
"The police kept saying they had their weapons pointed at the ground at all times. At the same time, they said they were using their TAC lights on the gun to illuminate whatever they were looking at," Barnes said. "You can't be doing both at the same time, that's contradictory."
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