FL - Mother shoots daughter, mistaking her for intruder

[Sonya610]

As for bullet hitting the pacemaker, that in itself wouldn't cause the death.

What? Of course it would! If the bullet strikes the pacemaker that could cause much more damage when both the bullet AND the pacemaker fragment and tear things up.

It seems every single other poster's thoughts or ideas are something to be criticized and discounted.

 

[jjenny]

That's what HuffPo article stated, but not under all circumstances. Maybe FL law itself would help us discuss whether new-ish law allows Mom, if arrested for dau's death to claim self defense or stand your ground.

...[/SIZE]

I believe daughter lives in the house, so she had a right to be there. She wasn't breaking into the house. Is it reasonable to shoot your own daughter in the house where that daughter lives? I don't think so, but this is FL. I don't think there will be any charges. Police already are claiming this was "accidental shooting" even though the mother clearly admits she intended to shoot whoever it was that was coming toward her (thinking it was an intruder).

 

[jjenny]

What? Of course it would! If the bullet strikes the pacemaker that could cause much more damage when both the bullet AND the pacemaker fragment and tear things up.

Pacemaker doesn't replace the heart. It helps control heart rhythm. As such a person can survive without a pacemaker until a new one put in. In fact if bullet hit pacemaker, it could have saved the daughter's life. Read this story.
http://www.bradenton.com/news/article34068528.html#!

 

[Sonya610]

That's what HuffPo article stated, but not under all circumstances. Maybe FL law itself would help us discuss whether new-ish law allows Mom, if arrested for dau's death to claim self defense or stand your ground.

I think it would help from the standpoint that the mother was acting in a legal manner when shooting an intruder (vs doing something illegal such as shooting someone stealing her car, or shooting someone on the sidewalk outside of the curtilage zone).

Having said that I don't think the defense would mean much since the daughter was NOT a threat in any way. If they tried to charge her with a crime it would be up to the jury to decide if it was simply an accident (hitting the daughter).

Also I would expect this to be protected under the Castle Doctrine not Stand Your Ground if this happened inside the house and the mother thought it was an intruder breaking in.

Stand Your Ground usually applies to people being assaulted by strangers in public areas, Castle Doctrines apply to people defending their home. Stand Your Ground might be used during a deadly domestic violence incident but that wasn't the case here.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Well, this is an odd one so am marking my spot.

I just can't believe nobody has mentioned Oscar Pistorius

 

[los2188]

Step-daughter of high-ranking Florida police official accidentally shot, killed by mother who mistook her for home intruder

Ashley Doby

"The step-daughter of a high-ranking Florida police official was fatally shot Tuesday night after the woman’s mother mistook her for an intruder at the family’s St. Cloud home.

Ashley Doby, 27, was pronounced dead Wednesday, hours after mom Sherry Campbell, a 911 dispatcher with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, fired a shot into her daughter’s chest after the woman awoke to noises inside the home.

"Baby, I love you so much, please!” the mother can be heard sobbing in the background during a harrowing five-minute 911 call Tuesday night. “Please…Oh my god …”

Police said Campbell and her husband, St. Cloud Police Cpl. Claude Campbell, Jr., were asleep in their master bedroom when Doby returned unexpectedly from a holiday vacation.

Awoken from an abrupt noise, the woman reached for a .38-caliber pistol from an unknown location and fired at who she believed was a quickly approaching intruder, officials said.

During the 911 call, released earlier this week, Claude Campbell, Jr. describes a nightmare scene in which his step-daughter has “passed out” while adding that she has a heart problem and wears a pacemaker. He fails to mention, however, that her failure to breath was the result of a gunshot wound, according to audio of the 911 dispatch."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ceman-accidentally-shot-mom-article-1.2482522

 

[scaredtopost]

Is there any chance the mom could be covering for the stepdad, afraid he would lose his job, whether it was accidental or intentional? Just because the gun was hers doesn't mean it wasn't kept close to him. I'd be curious to know her familiarity with the weapon and if GSR tests were performed. Just trying to think outside the box. JMO, MOO, etc

 

[ILOKAL]

What happened is that mother shot and killed her daughter (allegedly thinking that daughter was an intruder). If daughter was living in that house with them (which is what it appears right now) then that daughter had a right to be in that house. I don't understand how somebody can shoot another person who has a right to be in the house and not be charged with anything (even negligent homicide).

There was no INTENT to harm her daughter. Her intent was to harm who she believed to be an intruder. It has nothing to do with whether her daughter had a right to be in the house.

 

[ILOKAL]

It's not accidental if you deliberately shoot someone (you just shoot the wrong person). I don't understand how it can be called accidental. Daughter had a right to be in the house. As for bullet hitting the pacemaker, that in itself wouldn't cause the death.
Pacemakers are put in people that have arrhythmias. They don't beat instead of the heart, they help to control heart rhythm. If only pacemaker was hit, daughter could have survived without the pacemaker until a new one was put in.

I know all about pacemakers. My husband has a defibrillator implanted. My point was not that damage, if any, to the pacemaker would have caused her death. But if the bullet did hit the pacemaker it may have lodged in the pacemaker.

 

[ILOKAL]

I believe daughter lives in the house, so she had a right to be there. She wasn't breaking into the house. Is it reasonable to shoot your own daughter in the house where that daughter lives? I don't think so, but this is FL. I don't think there will be any charges. Police already are claiming this was "accidental shooting" even though the mother clearly admits she intended to shoot whoever it was that was coming toward her (thinking it was an intruder).

Jenny, try using this analogy. Two police officers respond to a crime in progress. Upon their arrival, they notice the perp has a weapon. One officer stays back with his weapon pointed at the perp while the other officer approaches from behind. Just as that officer is about to grab him from behind, the perp begins to turn at which time the other officer shoots. However, because of the scuffle between the officer and the perp, the officer is shot (instead of the perp) by his fellow officer.

 

[EllieBee]

There was no INTENT to harm her daughter. Her intent was to harm who she believed to be an intruder. It has nothing to do with whether her daughter had a right to be in the house.

I don't think we know that it was not intentional. This whole story is clear as mud.

 

[ILOKAL]

I don't think we know that it was not intentional. This whole story is clear as mud.

LE seems to have come to that conclusion.

 

[Sonya610]

I don't think we know that it was not intentional. This whole story is clear as mud.

The fact only one shot was fired backs up the "unintentional" story.

The likelihood of landing one "perfect" deadly shot with a .38 at a moving target in the dark is pretty much nil, even for the best shooters on the planet. Not a good murder plan.

Now if the mother fired a 12 gauge shotgun things would be different as one shot is pretty much guaranteed to be fatal at close range.

 

[ILOKAL]

The fact only one shot was fired backs up the "unintentional" story.

The likelihood of landing one "perfect" deadly shot with a .38 at a moving target in the dark is pretty much nil, even for the best shooters on the planet. Not a good murder plan.

Now if the mother fired a 12 gauge shotgun things would be different as one shot is pretty much guaranteed to be fatal at close range.

There's a VERY similar case four threads down in Las Vegas. Husband and wife shoot a woman who lived in the home 27 times. They each thought she was an intruder. Thankfully, she survived!

 

[SweetT]

There's a VERY similar case four threads down in Las Vegas. Husband and wife shoot a woman who lived in the home 27 times. They each thought she was an intruder. Thankfully, she survived!

Wow hard to believe she survived and how stupid of them! I bet finding roommates just got a bit harder for them.

 

[jjenny]

The fact only one shot was fired backs up the "unintentional" story.

The likelihood of landing one "perfect" deadly shot with a .38 at a moving target in the dark is pretty much nil, even for the best shooters on the planet. Not a good murder plan.

Now if the mother fired a 12 gauge shotgun things would be different as one shot is pretty much guaranteed to be fatal at close range.

Lots of people have been killed by a single shoot.

 

[ILOKAL]

Wow hard to believe she survived and how stupid of them! I bet finding roommates just got a bit harder for them.

Actually, she was ALSO a relative . . . . One of their mothers!!

 

[EllieBee]

LE seems to have come to that conclusion.

Link?

 

[al66pine]

I “super-edited” to insert Mom, Dau, & gun-firing info into FL Castle Doctrine/SYG statute* and w bbm, sbm, rbm. Makes it easier (for me) to apply info re events to the statute. YMMV. If I've made boo-boos, I'd apprec. clarification or correction.


776.013 Home protection; use or threatened use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm

(1) ... [Mom in residence] is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to ...herself or another [husband/stepdad] when---
--- using [firing gun aimed at Dau] or
--- threatening [firing 'warning' shot not aimed at Dau] ... intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm if:

(a) ... [Dau] ...had unlawfully and forcibly entered...residence ... and
(b) ... [Mom] knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry [by Dau] ... had occurred.
​

(2) The presumption...in subsection (1) does not apply if:

(a) ... [Dau] has the right to be in [i.e., visiting as invited guest, per subsec.(5)]...
or is a lawful resident of... residence... such as an owner, lessee ... ​

(3) ... [Mom] ... who is attacked in... her residence ...no duty to retreat and has the right to stand ... her ground and use [fire gun] or threaten to use [fire warning shot] force, including deadly force, if ... she uses or threatens to use force inaccordance with s. 776.012(1) or (2) or s. 776.031(1) or (2).

(4) ... [Dau] ... who unlawfully and by force enters... a person’s ... residence... is presumed to be doing so with the intent to commit an unlawful act involving force or violence.

(5) As used in this section, the term:

...(b) “Residence” means a dwelling in which a person resides either temporarily or permanently or is visiting as an invited guest.​

________________________________________________
* http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0776/Sections/0776.013.html

 

[LaborDayRN]

Step-daughter of high-ranking Florida police official accidentally shot, killed by mother who mistook her for home intruder

Ashley Doby

"The step-daughter of a high-ranking Florida police official was fatally shot Tuesday night after the woman’s mother mistook her for an intruder at the family’s St. Cloud home.

Ashley Doby, 27, was pronounced dead Wednesday, hours after mom Sherry Campbell, a 911 dispatcher with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, fired a shot into her daughter’s chest after the woman awoke to noises inside the home.

"Baby, I love you so much, please!” the mother can be heard sobbing in the background during a harrowing five-minute 911 call Tuesday night. “Please…Oh my god …”

Police said Campbell and her husband, St. Cloud Police Cpl. Claude Campbell, Jr., were asleep in their master bedroom when Doby returned unexpectedly from a holiday vacation.

Awoken from an abrupt noise, the woman reached for a .38-caliber pistol from an unknown location and fired at who she believed was a quickly approaching intruder, officials said.

During the 911 call, released earlier this week, Claude Campbell, Jr. describes a nightmare scene in which his step-daughter has “passed out” while adding that she has a heart problem and wears a pacemaker. He fails to mention, however, that her failure to breath was the result of a gunshot wound, according to audio of the 911 dispatch."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ceman-accidentally-shot-mom-article-1.2482522

BBM: The part I bolded above breaks my heart. Personally, I think this was a horrific accident. I think the mother really was in fear of an intruder and didn't intend to harm her own daughter. I can't even imagine how she must be suffering now.