It would be interesting to get a hold of the transcript of the trial. The issue that he was defending lands that he leased from the US government, where he alledged illegals came and killed his cattle, is still in my mind.
It's also rather obvious that he set himself up to be a 'victim' in this case once you watch his vigilante video. He intentionally leased this land from the state for 'grazing' after determining it was a major conduit for illegal aliens. He intentionally kept all fences to a minimum for easy egress. He probably even left things lying around so he could claim they were stolen by illegal immigrants when they eventually disappeared.
He isn't doing jail time because it was a civil suit, not criminal. He had wronged the immigrants, and they collected damages for their injuries. Only criminal suits -- suits filed by the State for violation of criminal laws -- end up with jail time. There was no criminal trial (a fact that I believe led to the immigrants' filing of civil rights suits).
And as interesting as the question of whether he owned or leased the land is, I don't think it's relevant to any cause of action in the suit. (Maybe a counterclaim for tresspass against the judgment-proof immigrants.)
And as interesting as the question of whether he owned or leased the land is, I don't think it's relevant to any cause of action in the suit. (Maybe a counterclaim for tresspass against the judgment-proof immigrants.)
So in other words, even under say Castle doctrine on a home invasion (talking real home invasion, not this case) a civil suit could still be won by the invaders?
Ok, I probably should have said his property was robbed. I'm just saying that he was justified to protect his property, but he shouldn't have gone to such extremes.
Also if the illegal immigrants are going through there, it's pretty much inevitable that at least one group of them is going to steal something from him. Since he can't tell which ones will and which ones won't, he catches them all. I don't think he should have threatened them with guns and dogs once he could tell whether or not they were armed. He was just making sure nothing else got stolen.
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