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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Burglar sues homeowner who shot him

A burglar who broke into a man’s garage has filed a lawsuit against the homeowner for shooting him.

Authorities said David A. Bailey, now 31, of Albany, Ind., broke into the garage of David McLaughlin of Dunkirk, Ind., on April 21, 2014.

McLaughlin, now 33, fired gunshots at the intruder he saw fleeing his property. One of the bullets hit Bailey in the left arm as he ran down an alley.

In September 2014, a Jay County Superior Court jury here found McLaughlin guilty of criminal recklessness in the shooting. Judge Max Ludy later sentenced McLaughlin to 60 days in jail, to be followed with four months on home detention.

In June 2015, Judge Brian Hutchinson of Jay County Circuit Court placed Bailey, who had pleaded guilty to burglary, on electronic home detention for three years. Last week Bailey's lawyers, Jason Delk and Daniel Gibson of Muncie, Ind., filed a Jay County Circuit Court lawsuit against McLaughlin.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can't shoot someone who is in the act of fleeing and is outside your residence.
Remember shoot them and then drag them into the house.

Anonymous said...

you can get a cash settlement for breaking into a persons garage. WOW

Anonymous said...

I will volunteer to be on that jury. He wouldn't get a dime.

Anonymous said...

The beauty of lawyers *sigh*. Although I will admit firing shots down an alleyway is a bit reckless. God forbid someone was hit with a stray bullet.

Anonymous said...

If he was inside my home, it would be justified, but the man didn't pose a threat. He was fleeing. The burglar deserves to be punished, but the homeowner wasn't justified in shooting him. Maybe he should have dragged him into his house after shooting him and then called the cops!

Anonymous said...

Maybe the burglar should have kept his hands off other people's stuff and the incident would never have happened. I find it sad that the initial crime only got probation while the defender gets time. I agreed...needed to drag his ass back in the house.

Anonymous said...

Just further proof that you need to shoot to kill and make sure the cops find the body in the house!

Anonymous said...

Yep, y'all got it all figured out. The detectives will never think to look for evidence that a body has been moved from the yard into the house. Why is there grass, leaves,dirt all over the body/in the wound? Even worse, you will be living with the fact that you killed someone who was running away and possibly not even armed. You talk big until, you actually have killed another person. Trust me, it changes you.

Anonymous said...

We need phasers like those on Star Trek.Set them on stun