Man crits intruder with fatal bow-and-arrow shot. No charges filed.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports the 38-year old homeowner repeatedly told the intruder to leave, but when he ignored the warning and came upstairs, the homeowner fatally shot him through the chest, with an arrow.

I suppose there's no way to prove he was warned, but at least the authorities understood he was just protecting his home.

The whole "romantically involved with the man's wife" thing probably played a nontrivial factor in the choice of the archer's response.

made several threatening phone calls to the man before driving up to his home to confront him.

Why not drop the police a line when you get these repeated threatening phone calls?

"Self-defense", at least here, is limited to 'reasonable force' for the circumstances. A guy coming up the stairs with a wooden club when you have a bow and arrow? Erm barricade yourself in a room? For that matter how did this intruder even enter the house given that it was known he was coming, or potentially coming? I dunno, I'm just not seeing the necessity of murder here from the situation as described.

krev82 wrote:
made several threatening phone calls to the man before driving up to his home to confront him.

Why not drop the police a line when you get these repeated threatening phone calls?

I can't speak to the rest of your points (they're good ones) but when my mum was being harrassed with threatening calls - with the implication that he'd come around and do her and us bodily harm (to the point were my mum's partner actually came and woke me up to clue me in on the situation just in case) - and she called the police their response was literally "call us when something's happening...".

Police generally aren't interested unless it's in the here and now. I guess that's why they're not so good at handling social disturbances in general (e.g. partner on partner violence) because they either don't have the tools/training to deal with it... or their stats aren't predicated towards sovling that sort of not-current issue.

krev82 wrote:

The whole "romantically involved with the man's wife" thing probably played a nontrivial factor in the choice of the archer's response.

I should have added a after saying "the authorities understood," as in they understood who the man was defending his home against, a home wrecker.

Mr. Bittinger, who had been romantically involved with the man's wife, made several threatening phone calls to the man before driving up to his home to confront him. There, he threatened the man with a heavy wooden club.

So a guy with a bow and arrow kills a guy charging at him with a wooden club, the (videogame-related) jokes just write themselves

Without knowing how long between the threatening phone calls and the arrival at the property, it would be pretty hard to gauge where the home owner's head was at. If it was only a matter of minutes, then I can understand if the home owner was still panicked upon the arrival of the club wielder.

Grab your helmets, this thread is headed to P&C.

Something tells me this story isn't nearly over yet. These sorts of things have a serious tendency to spill over into follow on violence.

Over the Christmas holiday, I, my wife, and her sister's family took a trip up to NYC. While we were up there, we decided to have a sandwich at the famous Katz Deli. Unfortunately, my sister in law managed to lock her keys in the van, which we didn't notice until we got back to the car.

We figured it was going to be nearly impossible to find a locksmith the day after Christmas, so my mechanic brother in law figured it would be easier just to try to jimmy the door open using a steel rolldown door pull he borrowed from a local dry cleaner. Needless to say, the first couple times he tried this the car alarm went off.

After about the second time that happened, an irritated New Yorker stuck his head out the window and said that he was coming down with a hammer to bust our headlights. We ignored him, but when the alarm went off a third time, he came down as promised hammer in hand.

I sized him up and was fairly confident that I could get the hammer away from him, but took a different approach entirely. I stood between him and the car, hands out in a disarming pose and said the following: "We are from out of town and locked ourselves out. We figure there isn't a chance of getting a locksmith the day after Christmas and we'll be out of your hair in a minute.". He wasn't placated, and made an aggressive motion. To this, I took a firmer tone and said, "Seriously, sir? Do you really want this to be the reason you spend the night in jail?". After that, he just muttered some obscenities and racial epithets and stormed back into his house.

We got the door open on the next try and drove off silently and without incident, but about 10 minutes later, my sister in law said something about wanting to kick the guy's ass for calling us gooks. I laughed and said "Really, ma'am? Do you really want that to be the reason you spend the night in jail?".

She and my wife gave me the dirtiest look.

Is that you nuean?

mooosicle wrote:

Is that you nuean?

The guy was shot in the chest.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
mooosicle wrote:

Is that you nuean?

The guy was shot in the chest.

That's a headshot if you're using a Huntsman

iaintgotnopants wrote:
mooosicle wrote:

Is that you nuean?

The guy was shot in the chest.

Maybe Nuean was just trying to fire a warning shot. A body shot should really only kill a scout.

EDIT: Then again, dude was carrying a bat...

I used to be an adulterer, then I took an arrow to the chest.

...Sorry.

Lets see, it happened on October 10th, so the news shouldn't really blame Skyrim for it. Not that it would stop knee-jerk reactionaries from doing it anyway.

I can't feel terribly sorry for someone stupid enough to make a number of threatening phone calls and then follow it up by showing up to someone's door with a bat, but I'm fairly certain I would have handled the situation a bit differently than shooting him on my doorstep with a bow and arrow. When it comes to homicide trials, "special" is rarely a good thing.

Paleocon wrote:

I can't feel terribly sorry for someone stupid enough to make a number of threatening phone calls and then follow it up by showing up to someone's door with a bat

Agreed. The only thing he forgot to do is post his plan on Facebook ahead of time.

Mex wrote:
Mr. Bittinger, who had been romantically involved with the man's wife, made several threatening phone calls to the man before driving up to his home to confront him. There, he threatened the man with a heavy wooden club.

So a guy with a bow and arrow kills a guy charging at him with a wooden club, the (videogame-related) jokes just write themselves

I can't help but wonder if the intruder was an ogre?

Bear wrote:

I can't help but wonder if the intruder was an ogre?

I don't know, I've played a lot of Stone Soup, and I've never killed an ogre in a single arrow.

Getting killed with an arrow is a pretty cool way to die.

Whether or not it was reasonable force seems debatable. If I he a guy coming at me with a club, I'll take what I can get in terms of defense.

I used to bring wooden clubs to the home of the man with whose partner I was doin' it. Then I took an arrow to, well, you get it.

Tannhausered - but I totally think the "I used to be an adulterer before I took an arrow in the chest" joke is hillarious.

On topic, anybody who breaks into my home is getting a warning and then I'm going to use deadly force. I have several LE friends who have told me that just because you have a gun (or in this case a bow) and the other guy has a bat or knife doesn't mean he can't kill you. Adrenaline can keep a guy going long enough to take you out, which is why police will shoot if a knife wielding suspect keeps advancing.

And let's face it - if a dude is cheating with your wife, he really shouldn't be giving you any excuse to kill him.

I laughed and said "Really, ma'am? Do you really want that to be the reason you spend the night in jail?".

More accurately, "Do you want that to be the reason that >I< spend the night in jail while you frantically try to find a bail bondsman the day after Christmas?"

As far as the main thread goes: The intruder was armed with a club, entered the guy's house, and came upstairs, despite being told to stop. Shooting him was absolutely justified, even if the shooter was cheating with the guy's wife.

The only reason this even made the news was the bow and arrow. If it had been a gun, we wouldn't be talking about it.

You're supposed to try to de-escalate, but I'm sorry, when the guy's coming upstairs in your house with a club, it's no longer time to negotiate.

Malor wrote:
I laughed and said "Really, ma'am? Do you really want that to be the reason you spend the night in jail?".

More accurately, "Do you want that to be the reason that >I< spend the night in jail while you frantically try to find a bail bondsman the day after Christmas?"

As far as the main thread goes: The intruder was armed with a club, entered the guy's house, and came upstairs, despite being told to stop. Shooting him was absolutely justified, even if the shooter was cheating with the guy's wife.

The only reason this even made the news was the bow and arrow. If it had been a gun, we wouldn't be talking about it.

You're supposed to try to de-escalate, but I'm sorry, when the guy's coming upstairs in your house with a club, it's no longer time to negotiate.

According to the linked story, the dead guy was found near the front steps of the house. It's possible that he did come in the house, got shot, and shooter dragged him outside so he didn't bleed all over his house, but it sounds like he didn't even reach the front door before he was shot.The changes to the castle doctrine in that state meant that it didn't matter, since the changes now considered porches as part of the "castle" and got rid of the need to retreat if able. Also, the dead guy was the one who had been "romantically involved" with the shooter's wife, though it sounds like he could have been an ex and that it wasn't a current affair.

IMAGE(http://images.hollywood.com/site/Daryl-Dixon-the-walking-dead-nycc.jpg)

Stengah wrote:
Malor wrote:
I laughed and said "Really, ma'am? Do you really want that to be the reason you spend the night in jail?".

More accurately, "Do you want that to be the reason that >I< spend the night in jail while you frantically try to find a bail bondsman the day after Christmas?"

As far as the main thread goes: The intruder was armed with a club, entered the guy's house, and came upstairs, despite being told to stop. Shooting him was absolutely justified, even if the shooter was cheating with the guy's wife.

The only reason this even made the news was the bow and arrow. If it had been a gun, we wouldn't be talking about it.

You're supposed to try to de-escalate, but I'm sorry, when the guy's coming upstairs in your house with a club, it's no longer time to negotiate.

According to the linked story, the dead guy was found near the front steps of the house. It's possible that he did come in the house, got shot, and shooter dragged him outside so he didn't bleed all over his house, but it sounds like he didn't even reach the front door before he was shot.The changes to the castle doctrine in that state meant that it didn't matter, since the changes now considered porches as part of the "castle" and got rid of the need to retreat if able. Also, the dead guy was the one who had been "romantically involved" with the shooter's wife, though it sounds like he could have been an ex and that it wasn't a current affair.

I sort of got the impression that the two yinzes were arguing in front of the house when this happened. If he got shot inside the house, trust me on this, it would be immediately obvious where he was shot. If you've ever shot deer with an arrow, you know that following a blood trail for up to 50 yards is like following someone dragging open cans of red paint behind him.

I read it as he shot the guy trying to come up his front steps - outside the house. The law, for some reason, did not require him to go inside, lock his door, and call the police. Personally I find that pretty effed up. YMMV.

Running Man wrote:

Lets see, it happened on October 10th, so the news shouldn't really blame Skyrim for it. Not that it would stop knee-jerk reactionaries from doing it anyway.

I used to jerk my knee, then I...

Is a bat/club a deadly weapon? Yes

Did the assailant intend to do bodily harm? Yes

Case closed. No jury in the world is going to convict that homeowner.

bandit0013 wrote:

Is a bat/club a deadly weapon? Yes

Did the assailant intend to do bodily harm? Yes

Case closed. No jury in the world is going to convict that homeowner.

Juries have convicted people in similar situations before. The real reason no jury will convict him is that he was never charged with anything because according Pennsylvania law, he did nothing illegal. I think a law that says you can kill someone walking up the steps to your front door if you feel threatened is a sh*tty one, but that's not my call to make.

A better description of what happened:

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review[/url]]Bittinger lived about 40 miles from the scene of the shooting, near Confluence, and had driven to the home to confront the man about his treatment of his wife, according to Drzal.

During an initial verbal confrontation, the suspect allegedly went into his home, retrieved a compound bow and stepped back onto the porch.

"As Bittinger approached the actor at the front porch of the residence, he was told by the actor to leave his property. Bittinger refused to leave and continued to approach the actor," Drzal wrote in a brief report on the incident.

"As Bittinger approached the actor the second time at the front porch of the residence, the actor shot an arrow into the chest of Bittinger," Drzal said.

Stengah wrote:
bandit0013 wrote:

Is a bat/club a deadly weapon? Yes

Did the assailant intend to do bodily harm? Yes

Case closed. No jury in the world is going to convict that homeowner.

Juries have convicted people in similar situations before. The real reason no jury will convict him is that he was never charged with anything because according Pennsylvania law, he did nothing illegal. I think a law that says you can kill someone walking up the steps to your front door if you feel threatened is a sh*tty one, but that's not my call to make.

So that's why I've never encountered door-to-door evangelists in PA...