HankT
State Researcher
imported post
HankT's Postulate of Civilian Self-Defense:
It is a bad strategy to shoot an unarmed person.
is affirmed again.... </shakes head>
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Man guilty in shooting over pigs
Leon County victim killed while skinning neighbor's show hogs
By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer
A Leon County jury deliberated 90 minutes Wednesday before returning a guilty verdict in the murder trial of a volunteer firefighter accused of killing a neighbor who butchered his show pigs.
Joseph Clampitte was shot to death in June 2006 while skinning what he thought were wild pigs that had rooted into his yard, authorities said. Daniel Tolopka II, the owner of the pigs, was charged with murder the following day.
Defense attorneys argued Wednesday that Tolopka thought his neighbor was armed and, thus, was acting in self-defense when he fired repeatedly as he approached the man standing near the butchered pigs.
Tolopka testified Tuesday that he continued firing until the 50-year-old stopped moving, then approached the body and realized there was no gun in his hand. At that point, the attorneys said, their client didn't know what to do.
"We think he just told too many lies thinking no one would believe him," Huntsville defense attorney J. Paxton Adams said, expressing disappointment over the verdict. "We just had a lot of lies to cover. That was our biggest fear in the whole case - just lie after lie. To ask a jury to believe him at trial, it was always the toughest thing we had in our case."
Special prosecutor Robert Gage could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Prosecutors previously argued that Tolopka became enraged at the sight of his dead show pigs and sneaked up on Clampitte, firing at least 14 times as he approached. Tolopka called police after the shooting, but only after he had taken a shower, washed his clothes and invented a story about another gunman, the prosecution said.
Adams pointed to a knife on the ground at the crime scene that authorities failed to collect as evidence Tolopka was armed. Several knives and skinning tools were piled neatly together, but one knife was on the ground, he said. That weapon, he said, probably is what Tolopka mistook for a gun.
"We believe, and [Tolopka] testified, that it was in his hand. But from 100 feet away ... he thought it was a gun. He shot in self-defense and continued to fire until Mr. Clampitte was down and not moving."
The punishment phase of the trial begins Thursday. Tolopka could face 99 years or life in prison.
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/082307/local_20070823901.php
HankT's Postulate of Civilian Self-Defense:
It is a bad strategy to shoot an unarmed person.
is affirmed again.... </shakes head>
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Man guilty in shooting over pigs
Leon County victim killed while skinning neighbor's show hogs
By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer
A Leon County jury deliberated 90 minutes Wednesday before returning a guilty verdict in the murder trial of a volunteer firefighter accused of killing a neighbor who butchered his show pigs.
Joseph Clampitte was shot to death in June 2006 while skinning what he thought were wild pigs that had rooted into his yard, authorities said. Daniel Tolopka II, the owner of the pigs, was charged with murder the following day.
Defense attorneys argued Wednesday that Tolopka thought his neighbor was armed and, thus, was acting in self-defense when he fired repeatedly as he approached the man standing near the butchered pigs.
Tolopka testified Tuesday that he continued firing until the 50-year-old stopped moving, then approached the body and realized there was no gun in his hand. At that point, the attorneys said, their client didn't know what to do.
"We think he just told too many lies thinking no one would believe him," Huntsville defense attorney J. Paxton Adams said, expressing disappointment over the verdict. "We just had a lot of lies to cover. That was our biggest fear in the whole case - just lie after lie. To ask a jury to believe him at trial, it was always the toughest thing we had in our case."
Special prosecutor Robert Gage could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Prosecutors previously argued that Tolopka became enraged at the sight of his dead show pigs and sneaked up on Clampitte, firing at least 14 times as he approached. Tolopka called police after the shooting, but only after he had taken a shower, washed his clothes and invented a story about another gunman, the prosecution said.
Adams pointed to a knife on the ground at the crime scene that authorities failed to collect as evidence Tolopka was armed. Several knives and skinning tools were piled neatly together, but one knife was on the ground, he said. That weapon, he said, probably is what Tolopka mistook for a gun.
"We believe, and [Tolopka] testified, that it was in his hand. But from 100 feet away ... he thought it was a gun. He shot in self-defense and continued to fire until Mr. Clampitte was down and not moving."
The punishment phase of the trial begins Thursday. Tolopka could face 99 years or life in prison.
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/082307/local_20070823901.php
