The dude clearly murdered them and had violent vigilante fantasies—I don’t argue that one bit.
That said, they still came up to his house, broke a window, and entered with the intention to burgle it. It doesn’t really matter if the window was previously blocked or made of paper—breaking and entering with the intention of burglary is a crime, and having no block on a window isn’t enticement to have your house burgled.
Again, before anyone thinks I’m defending him, I fully agree that he is a murderer. I just think the burglars weren’t innocent either. In Reddit lingo, “everyone sucks here”.
Wikipedia says they broke a window to enter, and that can be heard on audio—I’m not trying to argue with everything, but how is a closed window that had to be broken for entry not a barrier?
Smith had been visiting neighbors when he saw Kifer, whom he suspected was responsible for the burglaries, driving past his home. He commented that he needed to get ready for her and went back to his home. Upon entering his home, Smith turned on a recording device he owned. He removed the light bulbs from the ceiling lights and positioned himself in a chair that was obscured from view. He heard the window upstairs break and Brady climb in (captured on audio).
There may have been a window from the garage to the house or something, but it clearly says they broke a window, entered his home, and proceeded to the basement where they were shot. He had previously been burgled in the garage too, which Wikipedia says he was unaware about until police found evidence of a prior burglary. The house had been burgled previously as well, which is why he was looking out for people casing his house.
I hope none of this comes off as a defense of that asshole, but facts matter, and those teens did commit a crime. I don’t think they deserved to be executed for it, but he was within his rights to defend himself when they broke in to his home. He was not within his rights to execute them after the threat was over.
This case is horrible, but you have misrepresented it in your comments. The teens broke a window and entered his house with the intention to rob it—it was not left wide open. The recording devices were turned on because he knew they were robbing the house. His first shots to stop the intruders were legal.
Where the crime occurred is that the original shots did not kill them, and then he executed them after they were downed. He also did not report the bodies for a day.
Don’t get me wrong, dude is a psychopathic asshole, but misrepresenting the series of events doesn’t help anybody.
The struggle was real, and there was a lot of variance in prices back then. $30 was in Denton, Texas where they knew they had a captive audience. It was cheaper in Dallas, and much cheaper in Austin.
As they say in real estate, “location, location, location!”
For what it’s worth, I didn’t pay that price very often—I’m no rube, lol.
A dime bag is $10 worth, it is often more than a G—2-3.5 grams depending on quality. A nickel bag is .75 to 1g usually. Both will be backyard or Mexican weed, usually, which is how the price is so low.
People buy in amounts less than an 8th for one simple reason—being poor. If you wanted hydroponic weed in the early 2000’s, it cost more money than some people had. I was actually stoked when I got my first hookup for ghetto backyard weed because I could finally afford the amount I wanted rather than paying top dollar for “dro” (hydroponic weed).
What did they do for amounts under an 8th? Could you buy 1/28th of an ounce of weed?
Grams are the only incorporation of the metric system in the American weed business. Once you hit an 8th or above, things are measured in ounces and pounds.
You are either young or have middle class dealers. In 2007, you definitely did buy weed by the gram, and hydroponic stuff could be $20-$30 per gram in some areas if supply was scarce. Of course, places with competition had better prices, but some rural areas really price gouged.
Ghetto dealers often sold bags by the price alone. $10 was usually 2 grams to an 8th of either backyard weed or Mexican weed that often had little bits of twine and the occasional Hispanic hair in it from when it was put in a bale and taken across the border. Some dealers would also sell nickel bags ($5) that was .75 to 1 gram—basically just enough for one blunt.
I have been glad that I’ve gotten to see the weed industry evolve heavily over my lifetime, and I know that I only see about 20 years of it. I’m sure the old heads from the 70’s would have real stories to tell. In the words of Bill Burr, “you used to buy your weed by the pillowcase.”
What exactly is wrong with that? Wikipedia makes it seem like it just requires sites to moderate user content or face consequences for blatant enabling of sex trafficking specifically:
They clarify the country's sex trafficking law to make it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking, and amend the Section 230 safe harbors of the Communications Decency Act (which make online services immune from civil liability for the actions of their users) to exclude enforcement of federal or state sex trafficking laws from its immunity.
I’ve lived in a lot of places like that, but when I did, the mail carrier did not want anybody to approach them while the boxes were open. They’d always holler that I should come back in 30 minutes and that they can’t give out mail before it is in the box.
That is part of the reason I never tried to really talk to them.
I think USPS does stellar work, but I have never known my mail carrier. I just can’t find a normal seeming way to run out there while they are delivering mail and introduce myself. Maybe it’s different if you have a house, but I’ve never had one.
I’m not saying one is worse than the other, rather that both fucked around and found out.