PatsWSB47

Life in prison? I think that's harsh. It went beyond self defense but I can see how someone might lose it after his family and he were seconds before looking down the barrel of a gun.

scout

Just saw the news coverage of it on tv. Life sounds about right. Prosecution had videotape of the incident (more or less). kid comes into store with gun. Clerks run. Store manager shoots kid. Kid falls on ground and laying there, not dead. Manager goes to back of store and gets another gun. Comes back (now, out of video) and fires 5 shots into kid. Now, kid is dead. So, the town is outraged that the manager got life? If the manager is concerned that kid is still a threat, how about kicking gun away from kid. Seen it on tv numerous times. No, let me go back to my office and get that other gun and fire five rounds into suspect. Outrage? Yea, town is outraged and politician is going to write new bill because of this injustice.............

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

How about....the kid that got killed never even had a gun?

The police investigation determined only Ingram (the other kid, the one who ran away) had a gun and only the pharmacist fired any shots. The detective also testified Ersland shot Parker five more times after chasing the second robber away, coming back to the store and getting a second gun from a drawer.

Read more: Ersland trial jury tours Reliable Discount Pharmacy in Oklahoma City | NewsOK.com

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

How is his family involved? I read that it was the pharmacist and two employees in the store.....I did not read anything that says either of those employees were family members, tho.

As for "looking down the barrel of a gun" the kid that got killed didn't have a gun.

His partner did - and his partner ran out of the store as soon as the pharmacist started shooting.

chicowalker

I don't think that matters if the guy had reason to think the kid also had a gun.

That said, this seems black and white to me. It's unfortunate, because the guy was a crime victim, and he acted well within his rights to defend himself and his employees from the punks trying to rob him.

But when you then get a 2nd gun, seemingly pretty calmly (some caution here, since the video isn't the best), and then fire multiple rounds into a kid who already had been shot? without something indicating that he was still a threat, or that the pharmacist was in a rage, 1st degree murder sounds right -- unfortunately.

I wonder what the minimum he has to serve is. I'd have no problem with him getting parole as soon as legally possible from the little I know about the situation here.

PatsWSB47

I thought one of the employees was in his family and that makes a little difference, yeah, my mistake. Family might cause someone to even be more aggressive. The point is one of them had a gun and threatened with it. The video shows that clearly. Whether the guy knew who he shot at had one or not I don't know but under those circumstances he might just be reacting to the the threat as he judged it, initially. The whole thing only took about 2 minutes and in the fog of war, emotions and adrenaline can really take over. I don't think he shouldn't be convicted of something and shouldn't spend some jail time but he didn't ask that his store be robbed at gunpoint and he and his employees life were threatened just 2 minutes prior. His emotional state of mind that he didn't intend to find himself in, must be considered here.

wistahpatsfan

I'm not supporting the robber. He's a scumbag. But the "fog of war"? Really?
The same could be said of any armed robber who shoots a store owner during a struggle. That's a lame excuse. Most people don't do what this a-hole did. He murdered the kid. The penalty for accessory to armed robbery is not death.

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Gainzo

In a very red state like Oklahoma he probably would have been acquitted if he didn't pull the 2nd gun and shoot the robber 5 times. The jury made the correct decision IMO.

PatsWSB47

I've been consistent from the start that he brought it beyond self defense and that he should be charged and should go to jail. I think life is too harsh.

I think someone can be in a highly charged emotional state for 2 or three minutes and do things they might not normally do. This has been a known by police departments for some time now. The adrenalin rush has been blamed for many police overreacting with high speed chase subjects once they catch up with them. They are now trained to control that emotional situation. I think you can call that a "fog of war"

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

I don't know how long of a time transpired between the first time he shot this kid and the rest of the times he shot the kid....sounds like everything that happened in between time would have taken longer than 2 or 3 minutes, tho.

I don't know if you've read this accounting or not ...Ersland trial jury tours Reliable Discount Pharmacy in Oklahoma City | NewsOK.com

It's pretty detailed and it shows that the pharmacist has a big problem with either knowing the truth or telling the truth. He lied to the police about almost everything - which does not put him so much in an "emotional state" as it does a "cover your *****" state. The guy went so far as to explain that he couldn't run away with the rest of his employees because he wore a back brace as a result of artillery attack while he was in Iraq. He also said he suffered from PTSD and that he had killed alot of people there.

Records show Ersland spent the Gulf War in 1991 as the pharmacy chief at the military hospital at Altus Air Force Base in southwestern Oklahoma.

Nothing he said about the actual shooting was backed up by evidence at the scene, either.

Just sayin......