No room for error
by digby
Harsh punishment for a 21 year old’s drunken mistake:
21-year-old woman who was shot after she wandered drunk into a Colorado couple’s home in the middle of the night will face charges of felony trespassing, her lawyer said on Saturday.
Zoey Ripple walked through an unlocked screen door leading into the bedroom of the couple, who said they shouted for her to leave before the husband fired a single gunshot in the dark when she kept coming into the room.
Ripple, who was unarmed, was shot in the hip during the incident on Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado. In a 911 call, the couple said she appeared to be “kind of stoned or something.”
Police said Ripple’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. She is recovering in a hospital, her lawyer, Colette Cribari, said.
An arrest warrant for Ripple is expected to be issued in the coming days and she plans to turn herself in, Cribari said, citing conversations with prosecutors.
The couple is not expected to face any charges because of Colorado’s “Make My Day” law, which allows people to use deadly force against home intruders, Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett has said.
Cribari called the felony charge too severe for Ripple, who is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado in Boulder.
“She wasn’t trying to commit a crime. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Cribari said. “You would hope getting shot would be enough punishment.”
Yeah, you would.
I guess there’s nothing you can do about this sort of thing since we’ve decided that freedom means having the ability to shoot anyone who looks at you sideways. But it seems that we are taking it to the next level and outright blaming the victims for “making” them do it.
Warning to those of you who live in other countries: if you come to our country and make the mistake of getting shot, you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We call this “freedom.”
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