[Guest]

http://jerry611.newsvine.com/_news/2011/06/01/6767742-pharmacist-shoots-armed-robber-convicted-of-murder-video

The case of a white Oklahoma merchant recently convicted of killing an armed black teenager attempting to rob his store has sparked a national debate.

To critics, 59-year-old pharmacist Jerome Ersland is a gun-toting vigilante who dealt out his own brand of murderous justice. To admirers, Ersland is a courageous and law-abiding hero whose actions were justified. The controversial case became even more volatile Thursday when a jury found Ersland guilty of first-degree murder for the 2009 slaying of 16-year-old Antwun Parker.

----------------------------------------------->

Jerome Ersland is lead to the courtroom by Oklahoma County sheriff deputies for a bond hearing at the Oklahoma County Courthouse in Oklahoma City, Thursday, May 28, 2009. Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore's security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor. Now Ersland has been convicted of first-degree murder in a case that has stirred a furious debate over vigilante justice and self-defense and turned the pharmacist into something of a folk hero.

THIS "CRIMINAL" WAS A LT. COLONEL IN THE USAF AND A VETERAN OF DESERT STORM. THOSE JURORS MUST HAVE BEEN IMPORTED FROM THE BRONX.

He will be up for parole in 38 years!

 

[Guest]

A little more detail on the story:

An Oklahoma County pharmacist went from hero to murder suspect in the span of seconds during a May 19 robbery attempt, prosecutors said.

SOURCE: OKLAHOMA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE ILLUSTRATION BY TODD PENDLETON, THE OKLAHOMAN

MULTIMEDIA
VIDEOview all videos

DA Prater on pharmacy shooting case
May 27Excerpts from Oklahoma County DA David Prater's presser and...

Reliable Discount Pharmacy surveillance video
May 27View surveillance footage of a would-be Oklahoma City pharmacy...

Pharmacist faces murder charge
May 27An Oklahoma City pharmacist was charged today with first-degree...

OCPD spokesman gives details in pharmacy shooting
May 20An Oklahoma City police spokesman talks about Tuesday's shooting.

Robber shot and killed by OKC pharmacy employee
May 20Oklahoma City police Sgt. Mike Klika talks about the shooting death...
PHOTOview all photos

Oklahoma City druggist faces charge in shooting
RELATED CONTENT
DOCUMENTS
Read the police report from the March 12, 2007 robbery of Reliable Discount Pharmacy
MORE INFO
Documents
Read the affidavit of probable cause

Reaction
No backlash, DA warns
Prosecutors warned against any threats or violence toward murder suspect Jerome Ersland or his employer, Reliable Discount Pharmacy. Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater asked the community to allow the justice system to handle Ersland's case. Ersland, who was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the May 19 shooting death of robbery suspect Antwun Parker, has said he had been assailed by allegations of racism after the shooting. Ersland is white and Parker was black. "Acts of vigilantism will be dealt with swiftly and severely," Prater said.

NEWSOK RELATED ARTICLES
Self-defense allowed by law, Oklahoma County DA says
05/28/2009 Even though he decided to charge a pharmacist with murder for killing a would-be robber, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said he supports...
Oklahoma City pharmacist faces murder charge in...
05/27/2009 An Oklahoma City pharmacist was charged today with first-degree murder in the May 19 shooting death of a would-be robber. Chickasha resident Jerome...
Man has no regrets defending Oklahoma City pharmacy
05/22/2009 Jerome Ersland was back at work Thursday filling prescriptions and hoping that by taking the life of a 16-year-old boy two days earlier, he had saved others....
Police name teen who was shot dead during robbery try
05/21/2009 Oklahoma City police identified a 16-year-old shot and killed by a pharmacy employee Tuesday. Antwun Parker died during an afternoon robbery attempt at...
Oklahoma City police identify 16-year-old shot...
05/20/2009 The suspected armed robber who was shot and killed by a pharmacy employee Tuesday had not been identified by noon today, police and the medical examiner...
Chickasha resident Jerome Jay Ersland was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of a robbery suspect.
Antwun Parker, 16, was unarmed and incapacitated when he was fatally shot by Ersland, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said.
Ersland, 57, shot Parker in the head when he and another masked man tried to rob Reliable Discount Pharmacy, 5900 S Pennsylvania Ave.
Ersland chased the other suspect out of the store before returning to retrieve a second gun. Then he shot the prone Parker five more times in the abdomen, Prater said, citing evidence at the scene and surveillance video from inside the pharmacy.
Prater said Ersland was justified in shooting Parker the first time, but he crossed the line when he continued shooting at the unconscious teen.
"Here's the ironic part: if the first shot had been fatal, we wouldn't be here," he said.
Defense attorney Irven Box said Ersland, an Army veteran with disabilities, was acting in self-defense.
"Until you're confronted by two masked men with guns, you don't know what you'll do," Box said. "He thought he was doing what he needed to do."
Box expects a jury to see things Ersland's way.
Ersland is jailed without bail after surrendering on the murder charge Wednesday afternoon.
Box said he will ask an Oklahoma County judge this morning to set bail for Ersland.
Self-defense claimed
Ersland has maintained he acted in self-defense when he shot Parker to foil the robbery attempt.
He said two men wearing ski masks threatened him and two other employees when they burst into the pharmacy demanding cash and drugs.
Ersland, who had back surgery about six weeks earlier, could not flee like the two women working with him, so he reached for the semiautomatic pistol in his pocket, he said when he recounted the incident for The Oklahoman last week.
Ersland shot one of the robbers in the head, then grabbed a second gun to pursue the other robber.
The injured teen was trying to get up, Ersland said, so he emptied his gun into the would-be robber's chest.
The other robber and getaway driver drove away before Ersland could reach them, he said.
Second man sought
Authorities contend the evidence does not support Ersland's version of events. Ersland told The Oklahoman his left arm was grazed by a bullet, but Prater said there is no evidence anyone but Ersland fired a gun.
Oklahoma City police still are searching for the man seen wielding a gun in the surveillance video.
Emanuel Mitchell, the alleged getaway driver, is in custody on a stolen vehicle complaint. Prater said he likely will be charged in the robbery.
He said anyone involved in the robbery will not face murder charges in Parker's death because he died as a result of Ersland's actions, not the robbery.

Read more: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-druggist-faces-charge-in-shooting/article/3373149#ixzz1OAaEQ5cu

 

[CaptainMitchell]

Watched the video a few days ago. I understand that he wanted to make sure the threat was ended... but he went and got a second gun before returning to put another 5 rounds in the perp.

I'm torn.

 

[Edward_Blake]

Saw this video. You just can't shoot bleeding suspects on the ground.

 

[M14BULLETTS]

Saw this video. You just can't shoot bleeding suspects on the ground.

WHY NOT ???I AM SURE YOU COULD GET GOOD GROUPS

IF HE FELT THAT THE PERP WOULD BE ABLE TO SHOOT BACK AT HIM I AM OK WITH IT.

IF THE VIDEO SHOWS THAT HE WAS NOT A THREAT ANY MORE ( BUT BEING THERE IS DIFFERENT THAN VIDEO) THAN IT IS A NO GO .

BUT WITH THE BACK GROUND HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHOWN SOME LENIENCY

 

[Pete]

Just watched it as well. Not going to "should have, would have, could have" this, but damn. That is as bad as it sounded.

 

[Lemming]

Looking at the video:

1. He shoots an armed assailant in the head, so far so good.
2. He safely exits the premises. Good move.
3. He re-enters the premises. Ummm...... Not so good.
4. He gets his other gun. okay
5. He points at the ground and shoots.

Once he left the store his life was no longer in immediate risk.

Even if the robber _was_ still trying to get up once he re-entered (which to be honest I'm skeptical about based upon the what we see in the video) by virtue of having come back into the store and continuing the confronatation he would certainly seems to be guilty.

 

[Guest]

I guess I would have been a bad juror.

To me, when a person walks into a store and points a gun at the shop keeper for the purpose of robbery, his life is forfeit.

Too bad he ran out of bullets.

 

[Mad Russian]

The shooters background and achievements mean little in this case. Everything after the first shot to the head is plain murder.
The jury, regardless whether its a liberal sinkhole, saw and heard more evidence than we have, and they voted to convict.

 

[Pete]

I guess I would have been a bad juror.

To me, when a person walks into a store and points a gun at the shop keeper for the purpose of robbery, his life is forfeit.

Too bad he ran out of bullets.

Rhett, you can't just walk up to incapacitated crooks and shoot them repeatedly. Kudos to the man for defending himself, but everything past the suspect hitting the ground is wrong. (IMO)

 

[Vintovka1891]

Antwun?  Did his parents forget to spell check?

 

[The Architect]

OP sooner or later isee this thread moving to a secured area.
Heads up

 

[Guest]

No doubt.
I just don't see this guy going to jail for the rest of his life. All he did was step on a bug.

 

[Guest]

Here is a link to the actual videos:

Looks like I am alone in this, but I don't see First Degree Murder here. MAYBE Extreme Emotional Disturbance. Which at best is manslaughter.

 

[Lemming]

No doubt.
I just don't see this guy going to jail for the rest of his life. All he did was step on a bug.

No, he shot a human being that was no longer a threat to him. That the human being in question appeared to be a pretty poor one isn't the point. You have a right to defend yourself. You don't have the right to set yourself up a judge, jury and executioner.

There are many nations where that sort of thing goes on, and they're universally hell holes. I suspect many of us share frustrations with the justice system, but "stepping on bugs" is a step in the wrong direction.

 

[Guest]

His biggest mistake was not having a malfunction in the video tape. Without that, there would have been no case.

 

[Banzai]

No doubt.
I just don't see this guy going to jail for the rest of his life. All he did was step on a bug.

Um, what he did was step on a bug, walk away, then come back and stomp up and down on the same bug until it was a pile of goo. Definite anger management issues brewing there. Funny thing is he'll probably get the same punishment as any other convicted murderer, which these days is probably 2 days in jail and early release due to overcrowding.

 

[SydneyH]

Oklahoma is no liberal sinkhole. Once the clerk left the store to retrieve the second gun, his life was no longer in danger.

 

[vmtcmt]

Here is a link to the actual videos:

Looks like I am alone in this, but I don't see First Degree Murder here. MAYBE Extreme Emotional Disturbance. Which at best is manslaughter.

No lawyer here, but if I'm not mistaken, manslaughter is causing death unintentionally. Murder shows purposeful intent to cause death.

The threat was neutralized. Anything after that showed intent.

Not to say the perp was any big loss to society, but there is a lesson to learned as to handle a similar situation yourself. If he was convicted in OK, you'd be chopped meat here.

 

[RoadKing]

The old cliche "dead men tell no tales" maybe worked in the past but with todays electronic survellience,smart phones,video cameras etc it dont work anymore
Once the threat is neutralized...thats it.....Then the other old cliche comes into place " id rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6 " just my 2 cents