Don't be robbing cars in Tex...err..Maryland!
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MKSheppard
- Ruthless Genocidal Warmonger
- Posts: 29842
- Joined: 2002-07-06 06:34pm
The guy's screwed. He's a convicted felon.
Some updates:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 3Sep6.html
In this area, Prince George's is the leader by far in that category of crime -- a distinction highlighted last week when a Laurel man, professing to have "had enough" of thieves, said he fired a handgun at four people who were stealing his sport-utility vehicle from the Fox Rest apartment complex, where he lives. Ernest Sockwell, 15, of Southeast Washington was killed, and one of his companions, a 23-year-old man whom police declined to identify, was critically wounded.
As Sockwell lay bleeding in the parking lot early Wednesday, two of his companions drove off in the 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe and the fourth ran away, police said. Detectives have since questioned the three survivors and have interviewed the self- acknowledged shooter, Glenn R. Ellis, 37, a tow truck driver for the D.C. government. Police and prosecutors said they are conducting a painstaking investigation before they decide what charges, if any, to file in the case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 3Sep4.html
A Laurel man who said he fatally shot a teenager to prevent the theft of his sport- utility vehicle early Wednesday has a felony conviction record from the 1980s, according to court documents, prompting authorities to focus part of their investigation on whether he violated Maryland law by possessing a handgun.
Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said yesterday that authorities are continuing to investigate the death of Ernest Sockwell, 15, and the wounding of one of his companions, a 23-year-old man. The SUV owner, Glenn R. Ellis, 37, said in an interview that he was in his apartment about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday when an alarm alerted him that his SUV was being tampered with. He said he rushed outside and opened fire on four young men, two of whom were in the vehicle.
Ellis, a tow truck driver for the D.C. Department of Public Works, was convicted of assault in 1985 and armed robbery in 1987, according to Prince George's Circuit Court records. Maryland law prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms. Although authorities said Wednesday that the 9mm Ruger used in the shootings was legally registered to Ellis, they said yesterday that the gun is registered to a woman with whom Ellis shares the Laurel apartment.
As prosecutors decide what charges, if any, to file in the shootings, Ellis's criminal history will be "a significant factor," Ivey said. "It would be relevant to our consideration."
In 1985, Ellis was convicted of assault with intent to maim and assault with intent to disable in the nonfatal stabbings of his then-girlfriend and her mother, according to court records. Ellis pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A panel of mental health professionals concluded that Ellis had "a mixed personality disorder" but said he did not suffer from a mental illness that would make him legally not responsible for the stabbings. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison but suspended all but 90 days of the term.
In 1987, while he was on probation, Ellis and an accomplice were arrested and charged with robbing a Hechinger store in Langley Park at gunpoint, according to court records. Ellis pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Reached by telephone yesterday, Ellis declined to comment on his criminal record or talk about the gun used in Wednesday's shootings. "What I did, I went to jail for," he said. "I did my time, and that was it."
Ellis was questioned at length by homicide detectives Wednesday, then released pending the outcome of the investigation. In an interview after he returned home, Ellis said his 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe is equipped with a device that alerts a security company by wireless signal if the vehicle is tampered with. The company then pages Ellis.
He said that after receiving a page early Wednesday, he picked up a gun, hurried outside and opened fire on the four young men. He said that "things just went crazy" and that he regretted the shootings. Sockwell collapsed to the pavement while two of his companions, including the 23-year-old man who was critically wounded, rode away in the Tahoe, police said. A fourth person fled on foot. The two who were uninjured were later questioned by police and released pending the outcome of the investigation.
Several friends and other supporters of Ellis at the Fox Rest apartments, where the shootings occurred, said the complex is a frequent target of thieves and vandals. They said they sympathize with Ellis, who said in an interview Wednesday that he opened fire because he "had had enough."
But neighbor Lisa Jones, 45, a mother of four, said Sockwell did not deserve to be shot. "You don't come out of your house and use a firearm," Jones said. "You can get a car back, but you can't get a life back."
Under Maryland law, a person can be justified in the use of deadly force if acting on a reasonable belief that he or she is in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm. The law also conditionally recognizes a person's right to take a life in defense of the home. But even that principle has been narrowed, said Paul F. Kemp, a former Montgomery County prosecutor now in private practice as a defense lawyer. "In the modern day and age, this is not Dodge City," he said.
"It strikes a chord, these kinds of cases," said Robert L. Dean, a former Montgomery prosecutor who is now deputy state's attorney in Prince George's. Dean, who declined to comment about the specifics of Ellis's case, said he saw some parallels between him and a Bethesda jeweler who killed two people after a holdup.
The jeweler, Vahag Babayan, emptied a .38-caliber semiautomatic at the men as they sat in a getaway car outside Babayan's Prestige Jewelers in the 7700 block of Wisconsin Avenue on the afternoon of June 16, 1990. The trial stirred passionate debate over the boundaries between self-defense and vigilantism.
At his December 1990 trial, Babayan testified that he regretted shooting the men but that he felt his actions were justified. The courtroom erupted in applause after a jury cleared Babayan of all charges, including second-degree murder.
The Babayan case "needed to be tried" because he had taken the law into his own hands, Dean said.
"To me, it pointed out how resorting to violence like this has a potential to do a lot of social damage," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 3Sep4.html
Family Copes With Teen's Violent Death
By Sewell Chan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 5, 2003; Page B01
Ernest Sockwell would have turned 16 next Wednesday. Short and husky, he was an avid fan of rapper Pastor Troy, as well as the Green Bay Packers and Washington Wizards. He dreamed of playing quarterback for a high school team, acquaintances said. And though he was too young to have a driver's license, he had an interest in automobiles.
Sockwell's family and friends struggled yesterday to come to grips with the violent end of his life -- a life that revolved around his father's apartment in the impoverished Washington Highlands neighborhood of Southeast Washington.
Prince George's County police say that about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sockwell and three other young men were trying to steal a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe in Laurel when the SUV's owner emerged from his apartment and opened fire with a 9mm Ruger handgun, killing Sockwell and wounding another youth.
In August 2000, Sockwell was arrested in the District and charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle -- he allegedly was driving it -- and with receiving stolen property, according to juvenile court and social work records. The charges were dropped that November at the request of the city's lawyers, though it is unclear why.
Last October, the records show, Sockwell was detained briefly at the District's Oak Hill Youth Center on a charge of being a juvenile fugitive from justice in Prince George's. Caseworkers with the city's Department of Human Services reported that Sockwell tested positive for drugs and that he told them he regularly smoked marijuana. It was not clear yesterday what charges Sockwell faced in Prince George's.
Sockwell lived in a three-story brick building on Fourth Street SE. He shared a crowded basement apartment with his father, Woodrow Givens, a 57-year-old tour bus driver, and several siblings. The teenager often slept on a love seat in the living room, his legs up on an ottoman.
The building's front door was unlocked yesterday. In the hallway, most of the floor tiles were missing. In the door to Sockwell's home, the knob and lock were gone, a white athletic sock stuffed into the hole.
Givens declined to comment on his son's life and death. He said he had hired a lawyer who advised him against discussing the shooting.
The teenager's half brother, Cedrick Givens, 15, said Sockwell was happy-go-lucky. "He wouldn't even be serious right now," Cedrick Givens said. "He would try to make everybody laugh, in any way possible."
Bob McCray, 62, a handyman in the building, said Sockwell would help him. "To me, Ernie was the picture of a teenager his age," McCray said. "He was never insubordinate. He never talked back. He was never violent."
Although almost 16, Sockwell was still in seventh grade, according to school records. He had just transferred from Johnson Junior High School to the Patricia Roberts Harris Educational Center. Both schools are in Southeast Washington.
McCray said he urged Sockwell this summer to pay more attention to his studies. "He wanted to go back to school, to play football," McCray said. "Ernie had the physique, the intensity and the mind to accomplish that."
McCray and other friends of Sockwell's criticized the self-acknowledged shooter, Glenn R. Ellis. "If he gets away scot-free, he is creating a vigilante effect," McCray said. "If someone violates you, don't take the law into your own hands."
Ellis, 37, a tow truck driver for the District government, said in an interview Wednesday that he regretted the shooting. He was questioned by police for several hours, then released pending the outcome of the investigation.
Kelly Sowell, 18, who lives in an adjacent building, said Sockwell frequently cared for her 3-year-old son. She was planning to buy Sockwell a pair of adidas sneakers for his birthday. She said he did not deserve to die. "He was just there at the wrong time," she said, fighting back tears.
Another neighbor who was friendly with the teenager, Jerome Washington Sr., 46, said Sockwell was easily influenced by other young people. "When you ain't got something, and you want it bad enough and can't afford it," he said, "you're going to go out and take it."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
Some updates:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 3Sep6.html
In this area, Prince George's is the leader by far in that category of crime -- a distinction highlighted last week when a Laurel man, professing to have "had enough" of thieves, said he fired a handgun at four people who were stealing his sport-utility vehicle from the Fox Rest apartment complex, where he lives. Ernest Sockwell, 15, of Southeast Washington was killed, and one of his companions, a 23-year-old man whom police declined to identify, was critically wounded.
As Sockwell lay bleeding in the parking lot early Wednesday, two of his companions drove off in the 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe and the fourth ran away, police said. Detectives have since questioned the three survivors and have interviewed the self- acknowledged shooter, Glenn R. Ellis, 37, a tow truck driver for the D.C. government. Police and prosecutors said they are conducting a painstaking investigation before they decide what charges, if any, to file in the case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 3Sep4.html
A Laurel man who said he fatally shot a teenager to prevent the theft of his sport- utility vehicle early Wednesday has a felony conviction record from the 1980s, according to court documents, prompting authorities to focus part of their investigation on whether he violated Maryland law by possessing a handgun.
Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said yesterday that authorities are continuing to investigate the death of Ernest Sockwell, 15, and the wounding of one of his companions, a 23-year-old man. The SUV owner, Glenn R. Ellis, 37, said in an interview that he was in his apartment about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday when an alarm alerted him that his SUV was being tampered with. He said he rushed outside and opened fire on four young men, two of whom were in the vehicle.
Ellis, a tow truck driver for the D.C. Department of Public Works, was convicted of assault in 1985 and armed robbery in 1987, according to Prince George's Circuit Court records. Maryland law prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms. Although authorities said Wednesday that the 9mm Ruger used in the shootings was legally registered to Ellis, they said yesterday that the gun is registered to a woman with whom Ellis shares the Laurel apartment.
As prosecutors decide what charges, if any, to file in the shootings, Ellis's criminal history will be "a significant factor," Ivey said. "It would be relevant to our consideration."
In 1985, Ellis was convicted of assault with intent to maim and assault with intent to disable in the nonfatal stabbings of his then-girlfriend and her mother, according to court records. Ellis pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A panel of mental health professionals concluded that Ellis had "a mixed personality disorder" but said he did not suffer from a mental illness that would make him legally not responsible for the stabbings. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison but suspended all but 90 days of the term.
In 1987, while he was on probation, Ellis and an accomplice were arrested and charged with robbing a Hechinger store in Langley Park at gunpoint, according to court records. Ellis pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Reached by telephone yesterday, Ellis declined to comment on his criminal record or talk about the gun used in Wednesday's shootings. "What I did, I went to jail for," he said. "I did my time, and that was it."
Ellis was questioned at length by homicide detectives Wednesday, then released pending the outcome of the investigation. In an interview after he returned home, Ellis said his 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe is equipped with a device that alerts a security company by wireless signal if the vehicle is tampered with. The company then pages Ellis.
He said that after receiving a page early Wednesday, he picked up a gun, hurried outside and opened fire on the four young men. He said that "things just went crazy" and that he regretted the shootings. Sockwell collapsed to the pavement while two of his companions, including the 23-year-old man who was critically wounded, rode away in the Tahoe, police said. A fourth person fled on foot. The two who were uninjured were later questioned by police and released pending the outcome of the investigation.
Several friends and other supporters of Ellis at the Fox Rest apartments, where the shootings occurred, said the complex is a frequent target of thieves and vandals. They said they sympathize with Ellis, who said in an interview Wednesday that he opened fire because he "had had enough."
But neighbor Lisa Jones, 45, a mother of four, said Sockwell did not deserve to be shot. "You don't come out of your house and use a firearm," Jones said. "You can get a car back, but you can't get a life back."
Under Maryland law, a person can be justified in the use of deadly force if acting on a reasonable belief that he or she is in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm. The law also conditionally recognizes a person's right to take a life in defense of the home. But even that principle has been narrowed, said Paul F. Kemp, a former Montgomery County prosecutor now in private practice as a defense lawyer. "In the modern day and age, this is not Dodge City," he said.
"It strikes a chord, these kinds of cases," said Robert L. Dean, a former Montgomery prosecutor who is now deputy state's attorney in Prince George's. Dean, who declined to comment about the specifics of Ellis's case, said he saw some parallels between him and a Bethesda jeweler who killed two people after a holdup.
The jeweler, Vahag Babayan, emptied a .38-caliber semiautomatic at the men as they sat in a getaway car outside Babayan's Prestige Jewelers in the 7700 block of Wisconsin Avenue on the afternoon of June 16, 1990. The trial stirred passionate debate over the boundaries between self-defense and vigilantism.
At his December 1990 trial, Babayan testified that he regretted shooting the men but that he felt his actions were justified. The courtroom erupted in applause after a jury cleared Babayan of all charges, including second-degree murder.
The Babayan case "needed to be tried" because he had taken the law into his own hands, Dean said.
"To me, it pointed out how resorting to violence like this has a potential to do a lot of social damage," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 3Sep4.html
Family Copes With Teen's Violent Death
By Sewell Chan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 5, 2003; Page B01
Ernest Sockwell would have turned 16 next Wednesday. Short and husky, he was an avid fan of rapper Pastor Troy, as well as the Green Bay Packers and Washington Wizards. He dreamed of playing quarterback for a high school team, acquaintances said. And though he was too young to have a driver's license, he had an interest in automobiles.
Sockwell's family and friends struggled yesterday to come to grips with the violent end of his life -- a life that revolved around his father's apartment in the impoverished Washington Highlands neighborhood of Southeast Washington.
Prince George's County police say that about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sockwell and three other young men were trying to steal a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe in Laurel when the SUV's owner emerged from his apartment and opened fire with a 9mm Ruger handgun, killing Sockwell and wounding another youth.
In August 2000, Sockwell was arrested in the District and charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle -- he allegedly was driving it -- and with receiving stolen property, according to juvenile court and social work records. The charges were dropped that November at the request of the city's lawyers, though it is unclear why.
Last October, the records show, Sockwell was detained briefly at the District's Oak Hill Youth Center on a charge of being a juvenile fugitive from justice in Prince George's. Caseworkers with the city's Department of Human Services reported that Sockwell tested positive for drugs and that he told them he regularly smoked marijuana. It was not clear yesterday what charges Sockwell faced in Prince George's.
Sockwell lived in a three-story brick building on Fourth Street SE. He shared a crowded basement apartment with his father, Woodrow Givens, a 57-year-old tour bus driver, and several siblings. The teenager often slept on a love seat in the living room, his legs up on an ottoman.
The building's front door was unlocked yesterday. In the hallway, most of the floor tiles were missing. In the door to Sockwell's home, the knob and lock were gone, a white athletic sock stuffed into the hole.
Givens declined to comment on his son's life and death. He said he had hired a lawyer who advised him against discussing the shooting.
The teenager's half brother, Cedrick Givens, 15, said Sockwell was happy-go-lucky. "He wouldn't even be serious right now," Cedrick Givens said. "He would try to make everybody laugh, in any way possible."
Bob McCray, 62, a handyman in the building, said Sockwell would help him. "To me, Ernie was the picture of a teenager his age," McCray said. "He was never insubordinate. He never talked back. He was never violent."
Although almost 16, Sockwell was still in seventh grade, according to school records. He had just transferred from Johnson Junior High School to the Patricia Roberts Harris Educational Center. Both schools are in Southeast Washington.
McCray said he urged Sockwell this summer to pay more attention to his studies. "He wanted to go back to school, to play football," McCray said. "Ernie had the physique, the intensity and the mind to accomplish that."
McCray and other friends of Sockwell's criticized the self-acknowledged shooter, Glenn R. Ellis. "If he gets away scot-free, he is creating a vigilante effect," McCray said. "If someone violates you, don't take the law into your own hands."
Ellis, 37, a tow truck driver for the District government, said in an interview Wednesday that he regretted the shooting. He was questioned by police for several hours, then released pending the outcome of the investigation.
Kelly Sowell, 18, who lives in an adjacent building, said Sockwell frequently cared for her 3-year-old son. She was planning to buy Sockwell a pair of adidas sneakers for his birthday. She said he did not deserve to die. "He was just there at the wrong time," she said, fighting back tears.
Another neighbor who was friendly with the teenager, Jerome Washington Sr., 46, said Sockwell was easily influenced by other young people. "When you ain't got something, and you want it bad enough and can't afford it," he said, "you're going to go out and take it."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
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HemlockGrey
- Fucking Awesome
- Posts: 13834
- Joined: 2002-07-04 03:21pm
No, but judging from the rest of the information he would have never amounted to anything and would probably have gone on to lead a life of crime."To me, Ernie was the picture of a teenager his age," McCray said. "He was never insubordinate. He never talked back. He was never violent."
The End of Suburbia
"If more cars are inevitable, must there not be roads for them to run on?"
-Robert Moses
"The Wire" is the best show in the history of television. Watch it today.
"If more cars are inevitable, must there not be roads for them to run on?"
-Robert Moses
"The Wire" is the best show in the history of television. Watch it today.