Police: Man Killed Boy For Walking Across Yard!

[AussieMark]

This story even made the news in Australia

maybe he was just taking a shortcut thru his neighbours yards

I do it even still but then my neighbours are sane and we get on well so its like its its not from disrespect

[GalvestonDuck]

so..... was he right next to the man's house "threatening" in a sense or was he just on the outskirts???

i am wondering if this angel was walking on this mans lawn, intentioanlly trying to make the man mad.

Something mentioned in the article Miss Mary posted -- once in the text of the article:

"We understand the young man was in the street when the shooting occurred," Tekulve said.

and once under the picture of the guy's lawn:

Prosecutors say the boy was in the street when he was shot at 3:21 p.m. Sunday.

So, unless Larry was in the yard when Martin came out with the gun and then ran to the street and was shot there, I don't see where this guy can argue any point about the young man walking across his lawn.

[O Town]

Unfreakin believable!!!!!!!!

[Miss Mary]

There's a fine line you walk with teenagers. Tell them not to do something and a few will test you. Maybe more than a few. Try telling a 3 year old they can't have candy while shopping at Target or Wal-Mart. Some will have a temper tantrum. Try telling a teenager to get off your property. Some will comply, while others will smirk and joke about it to their friends. Not saying this kid intentionally walked or was going to walk on his lawn, or not. All I know is taking a gun to ANY person walking on your property, who is not A. robbing you. or B. threatening you, is extreme.

Tere have been plenty of kids walk thru my yard and I don't mind. In fact, I try to keep the land mines picked up so they don't get you know what on their shoes for school. Or on Halloween (big night for cut thru's). I pick up the yard, put candy in the bowl (after my washing my hands of course!) and light the jack-o-lantern.

It's just a lawn! Surprised this story reached as far away as Austrailia. But it is very bizarre news. And sad. When I first heard it break, I had to read it several times to really absorb what the facts were. And as I read the news scrolls, I kept hoping the boy had lived.

Mary

[TexasStooge]

What the heck is wrong with that man?

I've heard of keeping guard of your personal property, but he took it too far.

[Terrell]

But the kid was stupid too, he was no inoccent teenager. But he didn't deserve to die. I wonder why his parents didn't teach him to respect others property.

I think you have it about right. Both parties involved were in the wrong, the man more so than the kid, but the kid could have prevented his own death, by staying off the man's lawn.

[Skywatch_NC]

Wonder if the Mugrage family will sue Martin somewhere "down the road?" They would certainly have every right to being he took their son's life!

Eric

[Terrell]

I don't know but If I'm sitting on the jury to determine damages, I'm inclined to greatly reduce the award given that the teen could have easily prevented his own death, by respecting the man's wishes to stay off his lawn.

[cajungal]

A murder is a murder no matter what. I could see if his own life was in danger and he did it in self defense. But, unless you own life is in danger, nothing justifies taking a human life. This boy had hs whole life ahead of him. Think of the pain his parents are going through. They will never see him graduate from high school, much less college, never get to see him get married, never see him become a father.

[Skywatch_NC]

I don't know but If I'm sitting on the jury to determine damages, I'm inclined to greatly reduce the award given that the teen could have easily prevented his own death, by respecting the man's wishes to stay off his lawn.

If Martin had been smart...he would have installed a fence and gate for his front property, also. As he had a fence for his backyard. The guy is/was a yard "basket case" to the extreme.

[MiamiensisWx]

Actually, read the article's content... I don't think the teenager did it to annoy the man. The teenager seems rather nice; in fact, he seems much nicer than many others I have met. It wasn't the teenager's fault at all, in my opinion... I don't mind people walking on my lawn at all. Martin should have just told the teenager how he cares about his lawn and wants to be left alone. Unless the teenager is like 99.9% of all the other stupid, idiotic teenagers out there, I doubt he would deny the man. Really... I like this teenager much better than many others I have met or heard of. I have no clue for what and why the man did what he did, and I show not a spark of sympathy for it.

[vbhoutex]

A murder is a murder no matter what. I could see if his own life was in danger and he did it in self defense. But, unless you own life is in danger, nothing justifies taking a human life. This boy had hs whole life ahead of him. Think of the pain his parents are going through. They will never see him graduate from high school, much less college, never get to see him get married, never see him become a father.

[rainstorm]

the man was wrong and he will pay for it, but i somehow doubt this tenn was an angel. lets face it, knowing this guy was wierd, teens in his neighborhood probably had contests as to who could get under his skin the most

[Hurricaneman]

Police: Man Killed Boy For Walking Across Yard

AND JUST FOR WALKING ACROSS A YARD!!!!

Prayers and thoughts with the Mugrage family and friends.

**********************************

TO HECK WITH THOSE LIKE MARTIN WHO HAVE NO TOLERANCE!!!!


UPDATED: 7:04 am EST March 21, 2006

BATAVIA, Ohio -- Irritated but calm, Charles Martin called 911 and told the dispatcher that he had finally done something about the neighbor boy -- the one, Martin said into the phone, who had been harassing him for years.

"I just killed a kid," Martin said, according to a recording of the Sunday afternoon call released by police in Union Township, near this city about 20 miles east of Cincinnati.

Martin, 66, is charged with murdering 15-year-old Larry Mugrage, who lived next door to the house where Martin kept a meticulous front lawn with grass that he could sometimes be seen measuring to the inch.

Police said crossing that lawn is what got Mugrage killed. Martin, who lived alone, told officers he'd had several disputes with neighbors about walking on his grass, but hadn't called police since 2003, Union Township police Lt. Scott Gaviglia said.

In the 911 call, Martin, a retired Ford Motor Co. worker with no criminal record, told the dispatcher that Mugrage had been "making the other kids harass me and my place, tearing things up."

"I shot him with a (word deleted) .410 shotgun twice," Martin told the dispatcher.

"You shot him with a shotgun? Where is he?" the dispatcher asked.

"He's laying in the yard," Martin said.

Mugrage, who police said was hit in the chest, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Martin appeared briefly in Batavia Municipal Court on Monday. A judge denied bond and set another hearing for Thursday.

Martin was being held Tuesday at the Clermont County jail, where officials declined to give him a message seeking comment and said he did not have an attorney of record.

The shooting stunned those in the residential neighborhood and students at Glen Este High School, where Mugrage was a freshman. Grief counselors were at the school Monday.

"I think there's a great deal of shock, for two reasons: because of the age of the victim and just how this occurred, killed over some grass," Gaviglia said.

Neighbors said Martin was quiet, often sitting out in front of his one-story home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and Navy flags flying. In his fenced backyard, he had several birdhouses and a shed painted like a small red barn with white trim.

Neighbor Joanne Ritchie, 46, said Mugrage was known as "a good kid," and that she always considered Martin to be friendly.

"The older gentleman was always riding his bike and tending to his yard," she said. "He would wave at kids and adults. He always had the perfect yard and he worked in it a lot."

Sean Fritts, 16, who also lived nearby, agreed that Martin's lawn was his pride and joy.

"He was real protective over his yard and mowed it a lot, and sometimes even measured the grass with a yardstick," Fritts said.

Still, Fritts said he wasn't aware of any disputes involving Martin.

"I never had any problems with him, and I don't know that anyone else did," he said.

http://www.wral.com/news/8157594/detail.html

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.

This guy is insane, anyone who shoots another should be locked up, and admitting the murder to the cops is just plain stupid

[Terrell]

I don't know but If I'm sitting on the jury to determine damages, I'm inclined to greatly reduce the award given that the teen could have easily prevented his own death, by respecting the man's wishes to stay off his lawn.

If Martin had been smart...he would have installed a fence and gate for his front property, also. As he had a fence for his backyard. The guy is/was a yard "basket case" to the extreme.

I didn't say that Martin wasn't wrong, I said that because the victim could have prevented the whole situation by simply staying off the man's lawn that I wouldn't order as much money in damages as I would had the fault been man 100% teen 0%. I think that BOTH the man and teen did wrong, and that the man did by far the greater wrong, but the teen was not blameless in this either..

I don't think whether or not Martin had a fence installed in the front or back of his house is relevant to the debate.

[Miss Mary]

I heard this on the radio today: Martin shot the teen from across his yard. Then walked up to him as he was lying on the ground (street I think) and shot him again, at close range.

The second shot is what took his life.

I say lock the ba**ard up and throw away the key.

To shoot once out of rage, dimensia, Alzheimer's, something or just plain meanness, in a fit of anger is one thing. But to walk right up the young man, writhing on the ground in obvious pain and shoot again?

OMG, I don't think these articles have stated what happened quite this way before. The second shot is what's killing me. The first was bad enough.

Mary

[george_r_1961]

I heard this on the radio today: Martin shot the teen from across his yard. Then walked up to him as he was lying on the ground (street I think) and shot him again, at close range.

The second shot is what took his life.

I say lock the ba**ard up and throw away the key.

To shoot once out of rage, dimensia, Alzheimer's, something or just plain meanness, in a fit of anger is one thing. But to walk right up the young man, writhing on the ground in obvious pain and shoot again?

OMG, I don't these articles have stated what happened quite this way before. The second shot is what's killing me. The first was bad enough.

Mary

Mary I agree. Theres is NO way this man can justify what he did. Can you imagine what society would be like if we were allowed to take the lives of people that annoy us? This was cold blooded murder, nothing less.

[greeng13]

i agree now....if the kid had been threatening the man, however, i would feel differently.

the initial report left a lot out...if the radio broadcast is true then yes it does scream of cold-blooded murder (and more than likely some psychological disorder).

[george_r_1961]

i am wondering if this angel was walking on this mans lawn, intentioanlly trying to make the man mad. we have all been teens before and i find it easy to imagine this teen finding it funny to make the man mad

Yea Helen I was a teenager once and did things typical teenagers do..including cutting across lawns to save a few steps. Theres a bus stop behind my home and when the school bus lets the kids off they cut thru my yard. It kinda irritated me at first but one of them lives across the road from me and for the most part all the kids in my neighborhood are well behaved. When and if I catch them dropping trash in my yard I will resolve the issue with an informal discussion with them, wont even bother getting the parents involved. Im sure as hell not going out there with my gun. I have more sense than that. And that man in Ohio should have thought of what he was doing before he shot and killed that kid over NOTHING!

[rainstorm]

i never said the man is blameless. i also know teens can be very cruel. if they saw this guy as wierd, tormenting him would be the thing to do