OKC "Hero Pharmacist" Guilty of Murder

[slim 1,514]

Remember when we had a debate over this shooting captured on video?

Here's the outcome.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-pharmacist-found-guilty-of-murder/article/3571542

[^_^ 5,021]

Sounds to me like justice has been served. Ersland sounds just like the kind of trigger happy douchebag who belongs behind bars.

Ersland ... told police he shot Parker five more times before chasing a second robber out of the pharmacy. The security camera recordings show he actually shot Parker again after chasing the second robber away, coming back inside the store and getting a second gun. Ersland changed his account of the shooting after the security camera recordings became public.

In the police interview, he referred to Parker as “the guy that I nailed.”

...

“This defendant made himself judge, jury, executioner,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Chance said before a packed courtroom.

She said Parker was no longer a threat after being shot in the head. She said, “He was a 16-year-old boy lying unconscious on the floor.”

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Yeah, what a psycho

[SMOKE 1,426]

Sounds to me like justice has been served. Ersland sounds just like the kind of trigger happy douchebag who belongs behind bars.

agreed

during the verdict reading for the the other 2 convicted of murder in this case (Emanuel D. Mitchell and Anthony D. Morrison, convicted of murder for talking the kids into robbing the pharmacy), Mitchell went after the DA & got to him.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

IMO when someone is put into a life and death scenario and they make a poor choice they should be accountable for their actions. However, some leeway should be provided because they were put in the situation. Basically I think murder 1 should have been off the table.

[^_^ 5,021]

IMO when someone is put into a life and death scenario and they make a poor choice they should be accountable for their actions. However, some leeway should be provided because they were put in the situation. Basically I think murder 1 should have been off the table.

Ersland ... told police he shot Parker five more times before chasing a second robber out of the pharmacy. The security camera recordings show he actually shot Parker again after chasing the second robber away, coming back inside the store and getting a second gun.

once the kid was lying unconscious, no one was in a life or death scenario anymore.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Why should it be off the table? It doesn't seem like he acted out of the heat of the moment. He sounds like a fantasist, given his lying about being a gulf veteran. Sounds like he probably fantasised about being a hero and the robbery gave him opportunity. If only he'd fired the once, the story might be different.

[Harsh_77 716]

Hmmm…. during conversation it sounds nice that one should not have done anything after robber was unconscious.

Have you been in the store when someone walks with a gun and demands for money? I have and its not so nice and clean as it normally appears – ppl react at that instance and they are not as rationale either if this store was robbed over and over, when this guy got one guy he was going to take out his anger.

I think 1st degree murder was little bit too much, he was put in this situation by kids who decided to rob the store. I am sure DA’s have many more cases where they could have focused on rather than making this an example case.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

How can it be too much if you deliberately pump rounds into an unconscious person?

The guy chased the other robber out of the store, turned his back on the guy he shot not once, but twice! before killing him with a second firearm. How can that not be murder?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I look at it like this. I'm dropped into a dangerous situation. I should be provided some leeway because I am forced into the situation. If i over react, sure hold me accountable, but realize its possible that I may snap due to the situation and that should be considered.

Edited June 1, 2011 by Sousuke

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I look at it like this. I'm dropped into a dangerous situation. I should be provided some leeway because I am forced into the situation. If i over react, sure hold me accountable, but realize its possible that I may snap due to the situation and that should be considered.

Over-reacting might be blasting the guy 5 times before he hit the ground. This guy had a fair bit of time to assess the situation after he'd shot the first robber in the head, incapacitating him and then chased the second away. He's a stone cold killer.

Edited June 1, 2011 by fishdude

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Over-reacting might be blasting the guy 5 times before he hit the ground. This guy had a fair bit of time to assess the situation after he'd shot the first robber in the head, incapacitating him and then chased the second away. He's a stone cold killer.

Its really hard to say. Adrenaline can do funny things to one's mind.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Its really hard to say. Adrenaline can do funny things to one's mind.

Maybe - but the account given about the guy's subsequent behaviour - including lying about being a war hero paint him in a completely different light.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Maybe - but the account given about the guy's subsequent behaviour - including lying about being a war hero paint him in a completely different light.

Yeah you are right about that. I don't think this guy is a poster boy for my philosophy. I started thinking along these lines with the johannes mehserle trial.

[Zero Sum 305]

A bit way too much, yes. Maybe not murder 1, I agree with Sousuke on this as for what the adrenaline may have egged him to do- especially in the psychotic culture we live in. Manslaughter with the max penalty, or maybe a lesser murder charge. I haven't caught the convicting count of murder so maybe that's what they gave him.