Did anyone see this tv program that was on last night ? I found it very interesting as it was about a man on trial for murder as a result of using his gun in self defense.

Summary: Santos was on trial for 2nd degree murder for shooting a man to death. He claimed it was self defense. The guy he shot pulled a gun on him, Santos drew his gun while at the same time tried to wrestle his attackers gun away from him. Santos fired one shot in his attackers head at point blank range and killed him.

There were no witnesses to this shooting. Santos knew the dead man. He had gone to the guy's house for something (I missed that part). The dead man had been up for 4 days straight on meth and had "lethal amounts of meth" in his system according to the defense. Dead guy had just been fired from his job that morning becuase his boss knew he was messed up on drugs.

Santos looked pretty much like a low life to me. He even admitted on the stand that he is an alcoholic. He had been drinking before the shooting.

The end result was a hung jury, but on the retrial Santos was convicted of 2nd degree murder and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. After the first trial the DA offered him a plea of manslaughter and 5 years. Santos turned that offer down against the advice of his lawyer.

Even though I thought Santos was a low life I identified with him somewhat becuase he used his gun for self defense and I carry a gun for self defense. I thought he was gonna be declared innocent and walk. The prosecution had no witnesses and no phsical evidence that suggested anything other then Santo's story of what happened.

It is shit like this that makes me wonder if carrying a gun is even worth it. If some messed up junky pulls a gun on me and I shoot him dead and there are no witnesses to say otherwise I don't want my fate hanging on a jury. Now I don't think this is gonna make me stop carrying or heasitate to shoot an attacker, but it is certainly something to think about. I would like some opinions about State v Santos.

Don't be a low-life.  Juries don't like low-lifes, and low-lifes can't afford a decent lawyer.

The Criminal Justice system is criminal and ain't justice.  Prosecutors aren't interested in who's guilty, they're interested in whether or not they can get a conviction.

You can get all the justice you can afford.

I've got a real problem with that.

Maybe I was in the can and missed it.  

Why was the other gun not re-covered?  I think they stated that a friend named "Rudy" came over with Santos that day, freaked out after the shooting, grabbed the other guy's gun and left without ever being seen again.  That's convenient.  

I must have missed the segment on why they couldn't find "Rudy" and where in the heck was the other gun.  I think the TV program glossed over this part of the case.

I don't know about you, but if a guy tried to shoot me, at least a couple of beer cans would be tipped over and maybe some items knocked to the floor during the short struggle.  I'm pretty positive a joint wouldn't be laying in my lap after an ordeal like that.  I think Santos just pulled and popped him.

That's a great show.  There's another one kind of like it but I can't remember the name.