Cockle Warming Time

Subtitled: Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

Man said he killed two attackers in self-defense

WEST PALM BEACH — Norman Borden became the first defendant in Palm Beach County to beat murder charges under the state's Castle Doctrine law, which expands an individual's right to self-defense, when a jury acquitted him of all charges Monday in connection with a double slaying.

Friends and family of the two men he shot to death cried and covered their faces with their hands as the court clerk read the verdicts: Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty.

Borden, 44, also was teary-eyed as he whispered thanks to his attorney, Public Defender Carey Haughwout. "He's very relieved," Haughwout said later. "I think he always had faith they would do the right thing."

At least 20 sheriff's deputies, including three undercover agents, ringed the courtroom when the jury returned with its verdict. A half-dozen deputies hovered near Borden, probably to protect him more than to prevent an escape.

Borden received death threats, Haughwout said, and security throughout the trial was increased dramatically out of fears of street gang retribution against him or jurors.

On Oct. 8, Borden fired 14 shots from his 9mm handgun at three men in a Jeep who he said shouted threats at him and tried to run him over as he walked his four dogs in the Westgate neighborhood near West Palm Beach at about 2:30 a.m. Killed were Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21. Juan Mendez, now 21, was wounded.

Borden said he feared for his life and acted in self-defense.

Borden had reason to believe the men in the car were violent, Haughwout told jurors. Araujo once told Borden that he carried two guns and had held a weapon to a woman's head, according to trial testimony. Trejo was a local leader of Sur 13, a violent street gang, according to authorities. A baseball bat and a makeshift weapon were found in the Jeep, but no guns.

Neither Haughwout nor prosecutor Craig Williams thought the verdicts had implications for future defendants claiming self-defense under the Castle Doctrine law, which has been in effect less than two years.

"This case kind of stands on its own," Williams said. "They were bringing a lot of violence to this defendant. I don't think the new law made any difference. The truth hurt me in this case."

The law broadens a person's right to self-defense to include shooting in his own home or vehicle or in a public place. It states that a law-abiding citizen has "no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she believes it necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another."

Last month, a Central Florida man was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend in another Castle Doctrine case. The dead woman's friends allegedly threatened to kill him, and he fired as they broke into his mobile home, killing her. He said he didn't know his girlfriend was at the door when he fired.

Borden was acquitted of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle by the jury of 11 women and one man. Another felony charge was dropped by the prosecution.

Williams conceded that Borden acted in self-defense when he fired the first five shots. But when he moved from the front of the Jeep to the driver's side and fired nine more rounds, it became murder, he argued.

"There was no threat" after the first five shots, Williams said in closing arguments. He said that, although the danger to Borden was real, he had time to reassess the situation after firing the initial shots because the Jeep had come to a stop after slamming into a fence post.

"He knew what was going on," Williams told the jury. "He knew what he was doing."

Borden told investigators that, even after he fired the initial shots, he saw movement inside the vehicle and still felt he was in danger.

Haughwout urged jurors to view the incident through Borden's eyes.

"The car is not the danger," she said in her closing argument. "It's the people in the car that are the danger. How do you reassess when you're in that spot with people that ... want to kill you? You do what you have to do to survive. There is no time for thought. There is no chance for reassessment."

After two hours of deliberations, the jury returned its verdict agreeing with her.

Araujo's fiancée, Anastasia Bocanegra, 20, wept as the verdicts were read and was incredulous afterward.

"He got away with killing two people," she said. "The car was stopped. Norman was not in fear for his life. These were not bad guys. They were babies."

Instead of spending life in prison if he had been convicted as charged, Borden gained his freedom at 8:13 p.m. after more than eight months in jail. Haughwout declined to say what Borden's plans are now, because of fears for his safety.

Williams said he also worries about threats against Borden. "I pray nothing happens to him. Am I worried? Sure. Look what they did to his house."

Two days after the shootings, Borden's house was set on fire, presumably in retaliation."

You shoot until the threat has ended. Always decide to be judged by 12 as opposed to carried by 6.

Especially in Florida :)

Now just think of all the potential crimes erased because two of these punks are no longer around to commit bloody murder.

Does my heart good to know that two scumdogs have stopped wasting our precious supply of oxygen and that there still exists a place where a man can defend himself even against minority "babies".

Say wait a minute now...

Do you get energy credits for something like this?