FL: 2 Charged In Connection With Home Burglary, Shooting: "Detectives with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division are investigating an early morning armed burglary and shooting. They said Maureen Cassidy told them that she woke up when she heard a noise. She said she exited her bedroom and observed a male intruder in the home. She returned to the bedroom, she said, and woke up her husband, Charles. She said her husband then retrieved his handgun, a Smith and Wesson 9-mm, and stood in the doorway of the bedroom, where he observed the male intruder walking toward him. Police said they were told that Charles Cassidy shouted to the intruder, "Stop. I have a gun." He said that the intruder continued to walk toward the bedroom area, at which time he fired one round from his handgun, striking the intruder in the hip area. Police said the intruder fled the residence through a back door and exited a screened-in porch area. Deputies said they found 24-year-old Senewa Kahle, of Hobe Sound, attempting to conceal himself and armed with a knife in the bushes outside the residence next door. He was transported to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center with injuries that are not life-threatening, investigators said. Deputies conducted a search of the area and found a green 2000 Dodge Neon occupied by 24-year-old Kelly Black, of Stuart, at an adjacent residence. Kahle stated to detectives that Black drove him to the area. Kahle has a criminal history that includes an arrest for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to investigators. Black has a previous arrest for possession of oxycodone, they said."


Maine lobster fishers found not guilty in shooting of aggressive rivals: "A Matinicus lobsterman and his daughter wept Friday as a Knox County jury acquitted them of charges in connection with a shooting on the town dock last summer. Vance Bunker, 68, who also has a home in Owls Head, sighed and hung his head with relief while Janan Miller, 46, of Matinicus and Spruce Head placed her face in her hands and cried. Both had claimed they acted in self-defense in an escalating dispute over vandalized lobster gear. The jury then also reheard Bunker describing the moments that led up to his pulling the trigger. “Wes grabbed the shotgun and started taking it away from Janan,” he said. “Once he grabbed the gun I didn’t know what the hell to do. I shot twice. The first time at Wes, and I missed. The second time Chris lunged for me.” The day before the shooting, Ames confronted Bunker and Alan Miller on the dock over lost gear. Ames accused the two older men of cutting his traps, which they denied. About 6 a.m. the next morning, Young boarded Bunker’s boat without permission and threatened to kill the captain before Bunker pepper-sprayed him, witnesses testified earlier this week. Later that morning, Ames and Young chased Alan Miller’s boat and made threats his wife heard over the radio that lobstermen use to communicate with each other and relatives onshore. Janan Miller told the jury that after the chase broke off she saw her husband’s boat coming into the harbor and Ames and Young waiting for him on the dock. She told the jury she grabbed a shotgun, which she did not know how to use, and ran to the dock to protect her husband, whose life she believed was in danger. Bunker testified that he brought a loaded .22-caliber revolver to the dock after he learned the brothers were there waiting for his son-in-law."




OH: Battered woman shoots abuser: "Police reports state Knight, 46, shot Ratchford, 50 [above], in the chest after an argument turned physical in their home at 25 E. Liberty St. at about 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 10. Knight has not been charged. Clark County Prosecutor Stephen Schumaker said the investigation is ongoing. With a battered face and both eyes purple and swollen, Knight recounted her memories of that evening. She said Ratchford had been drinking and an argument started in the basement of the home just before she was supposed to accompany Ratchford and his crew to a maintenance job. During a struggle, Knight said she and Ratchford ended up on the floor, where a puddle had collected in the leaky basement. “Then he took my head and said, ‘... I’m going to drown you,’” Knight recounted, sobbing. “He was slamming my face in the puddle. And I said, ‘Go ahead and kill me then, just get it over with.’ Knight said he became enraged when she told him he had broken her nose and warned she’d “better not say that again. “And then he said, ‘... I’m just gonna kill you, you need to be dead anyway,’” Knight said. “And I just (grabbed the gun from the dresser) and swung around. “I didn’t even know I pulled the trigger,” she said. “I didn’t even hear the gun go off.”


State plan fines feds $2,000 over gun rules: "Wyoming has joined a growing list of states with self-declared exemptions from federal gun regulation of weapons made, bought and used inside state borders – but lawmakers in the Cowboy State have taken the issue one step further, adopting significant penalties for federal agents attempting to enforce Washington's rules. According a law signed into effect yesterday by Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, any agent of the U.S. who "enforces or attempts to enforce" federal gun rules on a "personal firearm" in Wyoming faces a felony conviction and a penalty of up to two years in prison and up to $2,000 in fines. WND reported just days ago when Utah became the third state, joining Montana and Tennessee, to adopt an exemption from federal regulations for weapons built, sold and kept within state borders. A lawsuit is pending over the Montana law, which was the first to go into effect. But Wyoming's law goes further, stating, "Any official, agent or employee of the United States government who enforces or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the United States government upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming and that remains exclusively within the borders of Wyoming shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00), or both."