Iraqi war vet aquitted (Fired Shotgun at Club-goers)

[leftchick]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1960378,00.html

Salem - A jury deliberated just two hours on Thursday before finding an Iraqi war veteran and former Marine of the Year acted in self-defence when he fired a shotgun into a group of club-goers outside his home, injuring two people.

The jury acquitted marine sergeant Daniel Cotnoir, a 34-year-old reservist, of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the shooting last August.

Cotnoir had rejected an earlier plea deal. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

He stood stoically and showed no emotions as the verdicts were read.

Prosecutor John Dawley urged jurors not to "give him extra points because he was in Iraq."

"He is basically a good guy," Dawley said.



Shooting victim Lissette Cumba, 15, of Lowel, Mass., center in red shirt, is comforted by unidentified family members as the jury found Daniel Cotnoir not guilty in Salem, Mass., Superior Court Thursday, June 29, 2006. Cotnoir, 34, an Iraq war veteran who once was named Marine of the Year, was indicted on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after he fired a single shot out the window of his Lawrence, Mass., apartment into a crowd of people leaving nightclubs last August. Cumba and another person were struck by the fired round that fragmented. (AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)

[MADem]

1. The guy lives in what could be charitably called a shitty neighborhood

High crime, lots of police activity, not a garden spot:

Defence attorney Robert Lewin asked jurors to put themselves in Cotnoir's shoes, noting a bottle was thrown through Cotnoir's bedroom window at about 03:00 while his children slept upstairs.

"You really have to try to put yourself in his room that night," Lewin said. "How do you think you'd feel?"

Lewin also pointed to a prior incident during which someone fired a gun at Cotnoir's house.

"Consider not only what happened that morning, but also the history of violence in that parking lot," he said.

Cotnoir, who served eight months in Iraq in 2004, helped create a mortician's unit for the marine corps, for which he was credited in winning the Marine of the Year award.

I do suspect that the jury nullified a bit because of his Iraq service and the fact that no one died in the incident. But that Marine oughta look for a better place to live, even if he has to go north to NH, especially since he has young kids.

[SoCalDem]

2. "...create a mortician's unit for the marine corps,..."...HUH???

CREATE??? Are we to believe that the marines go to war WITHOUT one?? I know they are good and pride themselves on not losing marines, but to "credit" this one marine for creating a morticians' unit, tells me a lot about the "management" unit of the marines..yikes...

[MADem]

4. USN will normallly handle it

I don't know the details of his award citation, but the USMC is pretty operational, and if they can hand off the logistics responsibility to another service, they will...and I don't blame them. They are a small branch, and don't have the luxury of plenty of hands on deck that larger services enjoy.

Remember, the USMC's chain of command runs through the Department of the Navy.

[seriousstan]

3. So the 15 yr old shooting victim was leaving the club at 3AM......

[MADem]

5. And she wasn't even in her home city--she lived in Lowell

the incident took place in Lawrence. They aren't that far apart, but it's still several miles till she gets home...

[saigon68]

7. 15 year olds always hang out at clubs at 3:30 am

The guys at the bar quit checking IDs at 2:00am because they are drunk and can't read by then. Besides if its in the hood-- anything goes. at least he wasn't doing a drive by.

[jobycom]

6. Let's hope this one doesn't come back to haunt

He's fired a shotgun into a crowd once and gotten away with it. Who knows what he's done in Iraq. Hopefully he is really a good guy and won't snap again. But it sounds to me like he needs either jail time or psychiatric help. Good people can snap, and once they've snapped, they can snap more easily the next time if no one stops them.

On top of that, I have trouble believing that a man trained in weapons who fires a shotgun into a crowd is really a good person. Republicans whined about the CLinton syndrome. Maybe this is the Cheney syndrome. "See, it's alright to shoot people with shotguns. The vice president did it."