What a read real interesting some good points and some confusing I for one wouldn't give a dime to help Just my 2 cent.

Police had to charge Knight. There is no discretion available there given the circumstances. It's not like the police have the authority to just walk away from it.

Personally, I couldn't care less if he had killed the guy.

Problem is, the scenario doesn't allow for much by way of interpretation or contradiction in favour of Knight.

Canadian law does not allow for shooting someone who is fleeing, UNLESS there is a reasonable belief that the person's escape may cause death or grievious bodily harm to another person. And you had better have your story straight on that one, as a judge will decide what is "reasonable" in the circumstance......

I feel for Knight, I really do. And I hope he is acquitted. But I have my doubts.:(

There has been a lot of testosterone floating about in this thread and that's a good thing..:wave:

But...Ask yourself this question..

Would you shoot someone in the back and possibly kill them over a Quad?

Before you go all Bubba on me...think of the repercussions(s/p),ok?

Are you willing to go to jail??

Nope not for a quad!!! Come in my house though that change's everything..:mad2:

Yes indeed..mess with my wife or kids and you will be a grease spot on the floor....:wave:

...but a quad....pppfftthh....I'm not going to jail for a stinking quad..

Brian's wife came in the house after checking the cows and told him there's some guys outside and there is something going on. Who is to say thats all these clowns were after was the quad not his wife? Maybe they had to take off when he came out of the house with the gun?

So she was in the house safe and sound.....cool

Do you live in town Jester?

Why do you want to know?

Are you going to come over and shoot me??

:lol::lol::lol::lol::D

I knew this guy years ago when i used to play hockey with his brother and stay at their family farm several weekends. For all its worth he is a good common sense kind of a guy and im sure he was acting on his old school feelings of justice. I gaurente he wasnt trying to kill anyone and knew at the distance he was shooting with that shot that it wasnt going to be lethal. If a phesant gets away and the dog wont listen to come back my dog will catch a couple pellets to remind him of his hearing, or if the nabours dog is chasing my horses hell get some #6 in the but too, and he wont be back. Im not trying to justify what Brian did but the cops wouldnt help him anyway. Maybe im just bitter because i just got a cased rifle stolen from me out of a locked vehicle and im in jepardy of getting charged for unsafe storage. Some of you may attack me on this one but i have no faith in our justice system. Who are the criminals here?:scared:

If the Judges keep letting people like these off with slaps on the wrist there will be a lot more of these incidents. I can see why he did it. What would happen if he had simply called the police???? The same thieves would be stealing someone elses quad the next night.

Just wondering.

Well then perhaps we need some new Judges?

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/phot...oyBean-500.jpg

for the sake of discussion
 

How much leeway does a jury have in this instance? Is it feasible that a jury of his "peers" could find him innocent of all charges EVEN if he is technically guilty. Would the judge be able to declare a mistrial or some other such thing?

Just curious. Because it seems to me that an upstanding citizen "spanking" a miscreant in a local community should have a fairly easy skate if the jury is given enough latitude to give him a pass.

Still thinking outside the box......
 

Hmmm, and to that I should say, it would depend on my mood at the time, (adrenaline is a bitch, thats not always a good thing). Was a repeated occurence, like as in, was this the first time a quad was stolen from me or was there one stolen from me a couple months before this???? (Another rumer i heard from the rumer mill, but rumers only have about %10 truth.)

But to the criminals i ask this, "is it worth possibly getting shot in the back to steel this quad"?:confused: Ill answer my own question, no way. I dont wanna even get caught speeding cause it will not "be worth it".

Dont ask the law abiding people questions, cause if they are left alone, then there wont be any situations/ conflicts. Simple as that.;)

But here's a better question.........

What do you have do to to get enough respect from pukes like that, in order for you to be left alone? :confused:

Jail time can be measured in 2 ways. Crooks do jail time because they get caught doing something bad, against people that they DONT RESPECT. Because if they respected them, then they would have left them alone.
Now do I have to do something so bad to those crooks, to get there respect, in order for them to leave me alone?:confused:

Crooks only give people respect cause they fear them, they fear the "penalty is not worth the reward, if i wrong against this person". Im sure the first thing they think is, "is this guy easy prey"?

So I ask, how bad of a man do i have to be, "how much jail time do I have to do, to get the criminals to respect me enough to leave me alone"?

Rational thinking dont work when dealing with irrational people, the only way criminals will listen to you, is for them to be scared of you.

Its the typical "bully" scenario. How far do you have to go, in order to get the bully to stop picking on you??? The justice system is not taking up for anyone, if it was, then there would be no more repeat "bullies".

And to those who say, "get insurance", like I hear some people say, well heres a question for you.....
How many quads are you allowed to have stolen before youre considered a high risk client, or deemed "not insurable"...... then what??

Good questions rug...

Now I have one for you..

What if this happened in Ontario and the jury came from Toronto?

Yeah...I guess I was wrong...:rolleye2:

Go ahead and shoot that muther****er..

Heres another way of looking at it.Where the Knight family farm is located the RCMP would not be able to respond in an appropiate time frame.
If Mr Knight had done nothing but chase these *******es away they would just become someone elses problem. What if the next farmers place they hit was not able to defend himself or his property?
Mr Knight has in my opinion done no wrong I will financely support his defence.
Decker I agree with your train of thought,as you seem closer to this than PM me if there is anything I can do to help.

Ian

No, Im serious, Im not being sarcastic. What then??? Has this ever occured to anyone? How much stuff has to be stolen from you before your premiums go up?

Here is just a little more information on what happened that evening. I'm sure if Brian would have meant to shoot him he probably would be playing a harp by now.

Brian Knight was a victim of a group of people trying to steal his property. At 1:30am on March 26th 2009 3 men trespassed on his farm & were in the act of stealing his ATV. The RCMP were called after the incident & before he left his property in pursuit of the thief.

Brian Knight pursued the man who left the farm on his quad. Knight followed in his car. He caught up to the thief & disabled him, hitting his with his car. The thief fled the site on foot at which point Brian Knight shot 2 shot gun shots into the air, not at the thief.

Brian Knight called upon neighbours to assist him in finding the criminals. One neighbour found the quad thief wandering up the road, he picked him up & brought him back to the quad & Mr Knight. The thief then attempted to steal the neighbour's pick-up truck unsuccessfully crashing the truck up the road.

Mr Knight called the RCMP again when he had the thief in his custody. When the RCMP arrived he was treated like the criminal, the thief was treated like the victim of a crime.

In Alberta we are losing our freedom & security to common criminals. Our Justice system is failing us & the common criminals continue to seem like they are getting away with the crimes they commit.

Knight has recieved a total of 7 different criminal charges, including criminal negligence causing bodily harm, assault and dangerous driving.

Mr Knight acted no differently than any other person who would have been in the same situation. Mr Knight was exercising his inalienable rights, the right to protect his family, his land & his property.

Our government in Canada & Alberta is taking away these rights & delegating them to police forces that are over worked & stretched to the limit. Chances are the police would not have responded to a property theft until the next day. Chances are the police would not have found the quad or the criminals that stole the property.

Protect his familiy??

They were never in danger...so I heard.

Protect his land??

Yeah like someone is going to steal acres of land..give me a friggin break ok??

His property?

Yup....you finally got one right...good for you..:)

They took his quad and he wanted to take thier life....

Hell yeah...nothing wrong with that lol...

Let's all chip in and buy him a beer or two..

After all those thieving idiots had it coming to them right?

Mr Knight has 7 charges laid against him. You can say all you want about the RCMP having to charge him.... Maybe.. but not with 7 charges. You can talk about policy manuals and the criminal code all you want but when somebody is infringing on your human rights and you believe your family is endangered you better not be pulling out the rule book and reading it first. I don't know what happened but I do know the RCMP and our Court of Law could not convict James Ronsko and hundreds other SERIOUS criminal offenders so I like Mr Knights chances in a court.

Yeah,just like the rest of us so let's just let the law take care of it ok?

well
 

I'm guessing the good citizens of Toronto have a much higher respect for criminals than the people of Clive and would have a higher likelihood of throwing the book at a "vigilante".

Yup....you are right..

Mr.Knight.......If you are reading this then I wish you all the best...

And yes...I have no respect for thieving scum..:mad:

But.....you did wrong by shooting at him...just saying..

hey jester i hear ya man. i just think its too emotional of a topic. things can escalate far too quickly. im glad no one got shot or killed. it would only look bad on all of us responsible firearm owners....which i think mr. knight only knows too well and i assume would take back if could. i just think people have snapping points and that peticular night mr knight had enough. im glad i wasnt put in his shoes.

It amazes me at how many of you posters want to bannish poachers for stealing wildlife, but your ok with taking a life for stealing items that are replaceable. No matter how mad I would be I am not willing to go to jail over a stupid quad. If it wasn't the first quad to go missing maybe you should look at how your storing it!!!

I agree. Once you've got a criminal record, everything kinda goes to s**t, in terms of your gun cabinet, employability and even just crossing the border. I live in an urban area, so my bikes and stuff always get either stored in the house or locked with 3 big, burly locks: an octagonal chain, a cable lock and a kryptonite lock. I know some people who do something similar for their motorcycles or scooters. Maybe there's something related for a quad? Maybe there's a variant of the denver boot or something that might lock it down? We're getting into an area I know nothing about, but I assume that *someone's* thought of this...

Yes many people would agree with you. So what is your solution?

If economy is bad one can assume this type of crime will not decrease. One can also assume people are not going to be any less vigilant in protecting their property if it is harder to replace.

Police are not getting better at protecting us and I can understand that. They cant really ignore the gangs and child molesters to chase stolen quads can they. So what do we all do????? Build Bank vaults for garages and hide in the basements at night. Look at the path we are down and offer practical solutions instead of criticism.