I read the following in today's Washington Post. It really reminds me of this thread. Let's hope it never goes this far.
Charles Man Gets Life Term For Killing 2-Year-Old Boy
By Michael Amon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 7, 2004; Page B05
A Charles County man who fatally shot the 2-year-old son of a neighbor after a heated fight over a security light was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole.
John A. Booth, a 56-year-old farmer, was convicted of first-degree murder two months ago for the Oct. 29, 2002, slaying of toddler Will Meadows. Prosecutors said Will was struck in the head by a bullet meant for his father, Michael A. Meadows, who was wounded in the head and spent a month in a hospital.
"That there are not two people dead . . . is through the wonders of medical science," said Charles County Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Nalley.
Assistant State's Attorney Anthony Covington described the events leading up to the shooting as "absurd."
In 2000, Meadows, 33, the owner of an electrical contracting company, moved with his wife and child to Booth Place, a winding gravel road in rural Bryantown, where Booth's family had lived for more than a century. Meadows installed a security light above his driveway, and the light shined onto Booth's property. The ensuing dispute between the two led Meadows to go to court to obtain a restraining order against Booth.
Booth confronted Meadows about the order and pointed a rifle at him, prosecutors said. Then, as Meadows drove away in a pickup truck, Booth fired several shots and hit the father and son, prosecutors said.
"I am hard-pressed to find a more absurd dispute that someone got killed over," Covington said. "There were lights flashing on an empty field. I don't think Mr. Booth knows how ridiculous this is."
In court, Booth said he did not mean to shoot the boy, but he was unrepentant about his enmity toward Meadows, saying his neighbor "always wanted my land." At trial, Booth's defense was that he acted in self-defense. He testified that he fired because he saw Meadows reach for a gun in his pickup truck. Meadows did have a handgun in his truck, but it was not loaded, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Jacqueline Byrd-Tillman, who described her client as a recluse who often used a rifle to protect his 200-acre farm, pleaded with Nalley to give Booth a chance at parole. Byrd-Tillman said he had lost all his money, land and friends since the shooting. But Nalley imposed the maximum penalty and added 25 years for an assault charge stemming from Meadows's injury.
When the sentence was rendered, Booth told Nalley, "You are the most coldhearted person I have ever met in my life."
Michael Meadows and his wife, Tara, said Booth's lack of remorse was insulting. "What he is losing pales in comparison to what we've lost," Michael Meadows said.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company