FL: Who is "the bad guy?"

[ELB]

Last year's news story:

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/20 ... lrico-park" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

VALRICO --
A man was shot to death in front of his own daughter in Valrico on Sunday afternoon after getting into a verbal argument with a neighbor who lived nearby.

...

According to deputies, 41-year-old David James was playing basketball at the park with his 8-year-old daughter.

Meanwhile a few teenagers were skateboarding nearby. Investigators say at some point a neighbor came out of his house and engaged in a verbal altercation with the teens.

Officials say James went over to see what was happening and defended the teens.

A short time later, the neighbor pulled out a gun and the two men tussled over the weapon. In the midst of their altercation, James was shot and killed right before his daughter's eyes, according to deputies.

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/20 ... lrico-park" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This year's news story:

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies said James was playing basketball with his daughter near their home when he gave a 14-year-old boy permission to skateboard on the basketball court. That's when Dooley, 69, who saw James give the teen permission, came out of his house, saying skateboarding was not allowed.

...

The motion to dismiss asserts immunity under the "Stand Your Ground" law and says Dooley used deadly force to protect himself from being severely injured or killed.

...

The two men exchanged words and James began walking toward Dooley, chiding him for cursing in front of his daughter and saying, "I'm not done talking with you," the motion quoted witnesses as saying.

Dooley walked toward his house, and James closed the distance between the two, the motion said.

At 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds, "Mr. James was almost half as young and twice as large as Mr. Dooley," the motion said. Dooley is 5-foot-7 and weighs 162 pounds. The motion quotes witnesses as saying James caught up with Dooley and spun him around and Dooley went down. James landed on top of him. It was then, the gun was drawn and the fatal shot fired.

http://m2.tbo.com/content/2011/nov/29/2 ... -breaking/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited to add: the shooter did have a concealed weapons permit. More detail here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/cri ... rd/1139877" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Keith B]

Sounds like it was justified to me. The verbal altercation had been ended by the man from the house, but the other man decided he was going to take it further. When the elder man was physically attacked, he defended himself with his weapon.

[texanron]

Sounds like Mr. Dooley was a bully who finally met someone that wasn't going to take his crap so Mr. Dooley shot him. I'd vote to convict Mr.Dooley and give him the maximum amount of jail time possible.

[Commander Cody]

Sounds to me like Mr. Dooley had headed towards his home and Mr. James couldn’t let it go. I have to cast my vote with Keith B this time.

[clarionite]

There's a lot of bias in that last link posted. And the stories differ quite a bit. But the one thing they have in common is that the old man had turned to walk away and the other man followed after and grabbed him. I take the story of the old man flashing his gun with a grain of salt. As a father, I really don't believe I'd have persued someone who had displayed a weapon around my kids and turned to walk away. I'd have gotten my kid out of harms way and called the police. I think it probably did happen the way the old man said it did, and someone who thought he was going to scare an old man to give him a lesson ended up paying a high price for his bad choice.

[Carry-a-Kimber]

Dooley sounds like the crotchety old man that most neighborhoods have at least one example of. Not really enough info for me to decide whether or not it was a good shoot. Kinda rude to go killin' someone infront of their kid though.

[VoiceofReason]

There's a lot of bias in that last link posted. And the stories differ quite a bit. But the one thing they have in common is that the old man had turned to walk away and the other man followed after and grabbed him. I take the story of the old man flashing his gun with a grain of salt. As a father, I really don't believe I'd have persued someone who had displayed a weapon around my kids and turned to walk away. I'd have gotten my kid out of harms way and called the police. I think it probably did happen the way the old man said it did, and someone who thought he was going to scare an old man to give him a lesson ended up paying a high price for his bad choice.

Four witnesses told it the same way but James’s family will never believe anything except he died a hero. Oh well, natural I suppose.