You are wrong here Hutch. The police do not decide who gets prosecuted. That is why there is a prosecutors office.In every city and town... It was a 'criminal' matter instead of a civil matter. The Police department is the one who presses charges against the person in a 'criminal' matter. They are the ones who decide whether or not they have grounds to press charges.
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Given the tenor of the OP's postings, I find it hard to believe that RAC employees were trying to kick down his door. Also he opened the door and according to his own words threatened "unreasonable" violence. The RAC people were in a public corridor and since the aggressor, the OP, was within lethal range - I'd put self defense on them -- but I'm not an attorney and Mass laws are but one random dot short of silly to begin with.the fact OP did not leave his dwelling and the fact that having some yahoo trying to kick in your door brings this castle doctrine law into effect, I believe.
Somebody trying to kick in a door can reasonably be seen as a threat of violence against the person as physical abuse is being used to gain access to the person and along with any verbal threats, could easily be considered to instill the belief OP was subject to physical harm.
Given the tenor of the OP's postings, I find it hard to believe that RAC employees were trying to kick down his door. Also he opened the door and according to his own words threatened "unreasonable" violence. The RAC people were in a public corridor and since the aggressor, the OP, was within lethal range - I'd put self defense on them -- but I'm not an attorney and Mass laws are but one random dot short of silly to begin with.
But I think I'd just avoid the issue by not answer my front door brandishing a knife.
That's it for me on this thread -- the op isn't going to listen to reason. Perhaps the meds need to be adjusted or taken.
DC
My bad, what I should have said was "The sarge said he will talk to the DA and have her drop the charges before it even gets to court." He told me that he will have the charges dropped but the above quotation is what he meant.You are wrong here Hutch. The police do not decide who gets prosecuted. That is why there is a prosecutors office.
Once a report is given to the DA's offfice, it is out of the police' hands and the decision is soley up to the DA.
The STATE presses charges and the DA acts as the state.
You keep making it harder to give any support to your arguments. There were no federal laws involved here. The laws I quoted are Mass state laws and nothing you experienced was a federal situation other than your claim of the FDCPA which you were told was not correct.The law that was given is a FEDERAL law, not a state specific law.
Resorting to name calling clearly shows that you know that you are wrong. That's what immature people do to try to level the playing field when they are wrong.
You keep making it harder to give any support to your arguments. There were no federal laws involved here. The laws I quoted are Mass state laws and nothing you experienced was a federal situation other than your claim of the FDCPA which you were told was not correct.
They were not attempting to collect a debt, they were attempting to reclaim their property as prescribed in the contract you would have signed with them. There is a difference.
and, the fact they were in a corridor at all mean they were not actually inside your residence where the law I posted requires you to be to utilize its defenses. Until they actually crossed your threshold, it does not come in to play and the instant you cross the threshold (including just a knife wielding hand and arm) you have removed that law from use.
Ok I went down to my local PD and talked to the Sarge. Apparently he's a good friend of my Dad and used to go to school with him. I told him my side of the story thoroughly and he decided to drop the charges and told me that I was within my rights. He repeated what I had thought, "Force used must be proportionate. You can Threaten more force than you entitled to use so long as your intention is just to create apprehension to diffuse the situation."
They were trepassing on my property by the way. Our condo rules that we voted on states that only occupents of the building units have access to the corridors. It is considered the common area of the property owners and occupants (renters.) The hallways are the property of the unit owners. Only the property owners and maintenance are allowed to use them and they are closed to the public. After asking them to leave and giving them the time to leave immediately, I can then resort to physically removing them. The sarge told me it's a better idea to give the police a call to do that for me.
You are such a liar. Go away.My bad, what I should have said was "The sarge said he will talk to the DA and have her drop the charges before it even gets to court." He told me that he will have the charges dropped but the above quotation is what he meant.
Your front door is your first line of defense. Opening it esculated the situation. Look, I know you are young but are you really that thick headed?Remember though, I only threatened to use the weapon IF they didn't leave and if they didn't stop harassing me. What I said when I opened the door was this, "Do you wanna get your throat slit?" "Then Keep banging on my door and yelling at me."
Ok so you have an arguement. Now apply it to how it will be taken in a court of law. What do you think the judge would say about the actions and words YOU took. You are the one that is being charged with a criminal offense.Here's my biggest argument though. If they did not feel threatened, then it is not a threat regardless of what was said. If they did not feel I was 100% serious then it is not a threat. My proof of this is that when I shut the door they CONTINUED to bang on it and yell obsenities at me. You don't continue to do something when someone tells you that they will kill you if you continue to do it unless you didn't take them seriously.
Again, I DO NOT HAVE TO RETREAT ON MY PROPERTY. That means I do not have to avoid physical confrontation if someone is attempting to gain entry to my home. Whether the door is open or not is completely irrelevant in this situation. Opening the door falls under not having to retreat in one's own property. They were attempting to break the door down so by me opening the door I was PROTECTING my own property (the door is part of my property.) Whether they broke the door down or not I still was behind it and I was still brandishing my weapon. I did not leave my exclusive premisis when I confronted them and I made no physical moves towards them so they were in no imminent danger according to the law. I gave them the opportunity to retreat which the law states that you must retreat if you have the opportunity to do so in order to avoid physical confrontation. If one does not retreat, if given the opportunity to do so without resulting in physical harm, then they are provoking physical confrontation and they become the aggressors. Since I do not have to retreat in my own home I was in self-defense the entire time of the confrontation, from the second they knocked on my door until the second they left the building.Your front door is your first line of defense. Opening it esculated the situation. Look, I know you are young but are you really that thick headed?
Ok so you have an arguement. Now apply it to how it will be taken in a court of law. What do you think the judge would say about the actions and words YOU took. You are the one that is being charged with a criminal offense.
It doesn't matter that they continued to bang on the door, what matters is that you opened it in the first place.
"Yes your honor, I was protecting my propery and THAT is why I opened up my door instead of locking it."
Look, you are young and lack experience. So I say this - MAN UP. YOU posted here asking for advice. Don't get me wrong, this thread is entertaining, but kids your age that are this bull headed suffer from selective extinction.
You want to be in the right, who doesn't. MAN UP and realize that maybe you are in the wrong.
I'll be back, gonna go get some popcorn for this.
TiredOfAbuse
I have a 44 desert eagle (went with the 44 for option of a long barrel). Given the penetration power, I went with a .410/45LC Thunder Five for home defense. The short (1 1/2") barrel with a 410 shot load leads to a wide dispersion. The 45LC makes a big hole.btw: I do believe you should have simply left the door closed and called the police. If it were me and as long as I had my desert eagle at my side waiting on the other side of the door I would not have worried about the kids coming in.
I can assure you that when they walked in the door and looked at a 50 cal pistols business end, they would tend to calm down quite a bit.
Hello???Ok so I spoke with an attorney today for about 2 hours who is going to defend me if the charges against me aren't dropped and we will file a criminal and civil case against them.