Neighborhood Watch Commander Arrested For Firing Warning Shot
It happened in Tampa, Florida.
Sam Mobley
Sam Mobley, 70, has won awards and was recognized by and worked closely with the Tampa police to help rid the neighborhood of drug dealers. This week, Mobley was arrested, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for firing two warning shots at a convicted drug dealer. Mobley says that he thought the man had a gun in his hand. The man was not hit.
“I shot low to the ground,” said Mobley. “I didn’t shoot to kill.”
Tampa police arrested Mobley because they say Mobley was not on his property when firing the warning shots.
Brenda Mobley, Sam’s wife, witnessed the confrontation and said that she believed the man had a gun. “I actually thought he was gonna start shooting at us,” she said. “That’s the fear I had.”
Mobley believes drug dealers are threatening him because he has disrupted their business on the block. Tampa police say that it’s unfortunate that Mobley took it upon himself to clean up the neighborhood.
Mobley plans to fight the charges.
This is enough to make my head swim.
George Zimmerman. Found not guilty
One neighborhood watchman followed an unarmed teen in his vehicle then on foot, kill that unarmed teen, claimed self-defense, and would not be charged until the Governor of Florida appointed a special State’s Attorney to investigate. A jury acquitted him. A 17-year old is dead.
Marissa Alexander, guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
A woman who fired a warning shot in her own home was arrested, charged, found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 20 years for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. No one was shot.
Trevor Dooley, found guilty of manslaughter
Another man had witnesses that he was attacked and shot the attacker. Trevor Dooley was found guilty of manslaughter. The attacker is dead.
Michael Giles, found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
Still yet, an Airman invited by friends to go to a club was attacked. His attacker testified at trial that he had no reason to attack the man, but the Airman was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. One wounded.
Michael Dunn, hung jury on murder charge
A man who called a teen a “son-of-a-bitch” while going for his gun, and who shot through a car door killing that unarmed teen passenger in the vehicle, was charged with first degree murder, but the jury hung. A 17-year old is dead.
Timothy McTigue, found not guilty
One man claims the other was trying to drown him. Timothy McTigue shot Michael Palmer in the back of the head. McTigue was acquitted. One man is dead.
Jack Davis. He nor his mom were charged
A Miami mom told her 14-year old to get the gun. Jack Davis did so, shot and killed 20-year-old Reynaldo Munoz for allegedly trying to steal their waverunner from the dock. The mom claimed that Munoz threatened them, which was impossible because Munoz was deaf and could not speak clearly. Davis was not charged.
Yeah — my head is swimming.
Posted on 05/24/2014, in Conceal Carry & SYG and tagged Florida, Marissa Alexander, Michael Dunn, Michael Giles, neighborhood watch, Sam Mobley, Stand Your Ground. Bookmark the permalink. 24 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
Gov. Scott has been sitting on the warning shot bill and hasn’t signed it. Had he signed it there would have been no charges.
Had to read about the last two cases…..McTigue was charged but found not guilty by a jury.
No one in the Davis family was charge for the shooting Munoz. Reading about that one, they blame the detective in the case who royally messed up the investigation with assumptions of innocence. She let the lawyer husband take by shooter (son) away to get medical attention and then talk to his wife before she was interviewed. 6 mths passed before there was any real interview and by that time the wife changed her story to get around the deafness of Munoz. Their attorney had them speaking SYG and in the end no charges were filed. Like with TM’s parents, the Munoz’s only wanted a day in court, they now have to rely on a civil lawsuit for any justice. The lead detective in this case has also been demoted back to patrol, this wasn’t the first case she messed up on.
Munoz and Palmer were both shot in the back of their heads.
I’m still unsure about the Dooley incident.
Alexander’s “warning shot” was at her husband’s head and not into the ceiling as she first claimed. While I know my opinion of her situation is different from others as to her guilt or innocence, I do not feel it is right for Corey to now charge her with 2 other counts (for the children standing by their father).
Giles is a real travesty of justice. He was attacked and was SYG, yet his attorney for some reason changed his mind at the last second and didn’t ask for a SYG hearing.
Both Alexander and Giles have been caught in Florida’s 10-20-Life law which needs to go.
Dunn and Zimmerman–guilty as hell as far as I’m concerned.
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I am not mad about this because i stand by my word NW are suppose to watch not shoot! But i also stand by equal justice for all.
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On January 23, 2013, I wrote on the significance of the decision in the Dooley case. https://blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/significance-of-the-dooley-decision/
Dooley was removing himself from the altercation when David James rushed him, knocking him down. My first thought was that Dooley was doing what the law requires and the jury would acquit. It did not happen that way. The jury found that Dooley was the initial aggressor. I took the position that if not but for the fact that Dooley left his garage with a gun and approached David James, the two would not have come into contact.
I applied that reasoning to Zimmerman; i.e., if not but for the fact that Zimmerman left his vehicle to follow Trayvon, the two would not have come into physical contact.
M1, who comments here, disagreed with me, saying that I was not taking race into consideration.
After the verdict in Zimmerman’s trial, I humbled myself to M1, and wrote an updated piece comparing the Dooley and Zimmerman cases.
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towerflower,
You’re not alone. I stand with you in that position. At Dunn’s trial, I wondered why at closing argument, the jury was not told that Dunn’s interpretation of the law is incorrect. He drove away and failed to contact LE, saying it was self-defense no matter when or if he contacted LE. That’s not correct. It was an unsolved murder. LE is not required to assume a defense. In the same manner, if Dunn thought there was a gun, he would have contacted LE immediately to find it rather than waiting until he was arrested to tell them he thought he saw a shotgun then hold LE responsible for taking too long to find it. The prosecution should have been able to shred those excuses.
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towerflower: Gov. Scott has been sitting on the warning shot bill and hasn’t signed it. Had he signed it there would have been no charges.
How does that square with self-defense which states that you only have to have reasonable fear to Stand Your Ground?
Firing a warning shot is a provocative act much more so than brandishing a gun.
Are they going to make it legal to brandish a gun now?
Florida is an effed up state.
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The change came out of the Marissa Alexander case and some call it the Marissa Alexander law. There is so much more to this case than what the media has reported on nationally. But it has people fired up over not getting any time for a warning shot. There have been a few cases where the person didn’t want to kill another so they fired a warning shot to get them to back off. One (I don’t remember the name anymore) was a father who fired a warning shot into a wall to get his daughter’s abusive boyfriend to retreat when he started to come for him. He got 20 yrs.
I see Mobley going for a SYG defense because he said he thought they were armed but to answer your question I don’t know what the real difference is.
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TF:The change came out of the Marissa Alexander case and some call it the Marissa Alexander law.
No, the change comes because Florida is a racist POS justice system, and no one can reconcile why/how a woman who didn’t actually harm anyone gets sentenced to a mandatory minimum while a man who followed, shot and killed an unarmed teenager is only arrested after worldwide protests and being free for 44 day.
Instead of doing the right thing Florida makes their already convoluted laws even more Byzantine with this new proposed law.
TF: There is so much more to this case than what the media has reported on nationally. But it has people fired up over not getting any time for a warning shot.
So why don’t you inform of the facts that the media is covering up.
TF:There have been a few cases where the person didn’t want to kill another so they fired a warning shot to get them to back off. One (I don’t remember the name anymore) was a father who fired a warning shot into a wall to get his daughter’s abusive boyfriend to retreat when he started to come for him. He got 20 yrs.
I see Mobley going for a SYG defense because he said he thought they were armed but to answer your question I don’t know what the real difference is.
Yet, you’re convinced that Alexander was aiming for her husband ( an admitted domestic abuse), and not attempting to fire a warning shot. That’s another judgment call that the incompetent Florida law enforcement will have to make.
Let’s see Dooley lost his right to SYG because he raised his shirt and showed his gun which was legally considered brandishing, but now warning shots are going to be legal?
According to Florida law George Zimmerman’s following Trayvon didn’t give Trayvon the legal right to fear for his life and therefore invoke SYG yet you don’t see how allowing warning shots to be legal is a problem?
If you don’t see the collision between this new law and SYG your being obtuse.
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Roderick…..I had a misprint that I didn’t see until your post…..I meant to say people were fired up over her getting the time she got for a warning shot.
Yes there are some facts that the media doesn’t report on nationally, but you will find in the local papers. One is the misconception that she fired a warning shot into the ceiling. She fired it at her husband’s head, there are photos of the shot into the wall at head level and when it passed through the wall it then went into the ceiling. Ms. Alexander was under a no contact order for 1 year when the shooting occurred. During this no contact she conceived and gave birth to a baby with her husband. (the order was within weeks of expiring) I can’t confirm is she in fact lived in the home where the shooting occurred or stayed elsewhere due to the order and the fact the baby was born with some health problems and was hospitalized for at least 3 months and she might have been closer to the hospital for the baby. Yes her husband was known to be abusive but she also had a temper……she had her bail revoked before the trial when she violated the order of no contact and went once again to her husband’s home. She became angry when he wouldn’t let her stay and she struck him and left. He called the police, she did not. When the police found her, they arrested her and put her into a car and they did not notice any injuries on her. After getting into their car the police said she then claimed of a headache and injuries by her husband. They took her to the hospital where she had a bruise/knot on her head, something that wasn’t observed initially.
She didn’t win a SYG hearing because she had bypassed 2 doors to get out of the home, went into a 3rd (garage) retrieved a gun from her car and went back inside to confront her husband. She claimed the garage door wouldn’t open and she was forced to reenter the home but the police found nothing wrong with the door or anything to prevent it from opening.
Her husband gave one version on the initial 911 call, made by him–she never called, then he changed his story because he didn’t want her to go to jail and said he was responsible, he also had his older son change his story. He went back to the original version (911 call) when the trial came up.
I found the other story: Attacked by abuser
“In 2008, Orville Lee Wollard of Davenport was attacked by his daughter’s abusive boyfriend, who ripped the stitches from Wollard’s recent surgery.
When the teenager started shoving Wollard’s daughter, and with his wife calling for him to help, Wollard got his handgun and fired a shot into the wall.
Several weeks later, the boyfriend called police and filed a complaint. Wollard was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.
A jury rejected his self-defense plea. The judge in the case reluctantly handed down a 20-year prison term, calling it “obviously excessive.””
Wollard, now 58, is scheduled to be released in 2028.http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/sentence-a-crime-in-itself-mandatory-minimum-tales/nfJjN/
But I have said before the problem with these cases is with FL’s 10-20-Life law. It sets mandatory minimums when a gun is involved regardless of the circumstances or facts related to the cases. This law was in effect before the SYG law and was FL’s attempt at gun control by having long sentences for crimes dealing with a gun. Both people turned down plea deals….Alexander 3 yrs and Wollard 5 yrs. and both were found guilty and were sentenced under that law. Do I feel that Alexander deserved 20 yrs, NO, I also don’t feel it’s right to tack on 2 new charges for the children standing by her husband upping the potential sentence to 60 yrs. But I also don’t believe she was firing a warning shot.
I said I hadn’t made up my mind with Dooley. One of the things I used to compare is previous arguments that some have made was that if Z had flashed his gun to TM then TM had a right to defend himself. If this occurred with Dooley then did not his victim not have the same right? I have also said that if anyone fell into a SYG defense it was TM. GZ lost that the minute he left his vehicle to pursue TM on foot. I have also said that I feel that GZ is guilty.
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TF:I said I hadn’t made up my mind with Dooley.
One of the things I used to compare is previous arguments that some have made was that if Z had flashed his gun to TM then TM had a right to defend himself. If this occurred with Dooley then did not his victim not have the same right? I have also said that if anyone fell into a SYG defense it was TM. GZ lost that the minute he left his vehicle to pursue TM on foot. I have also said that I feel that GZ is guilty.
Definitely not the same. Dooley was 5’7 150lbs and 67 y/o while David James was 6’2 240 and 42 y/o. They were arguing over some kid skateboarding on the basketball court. Both of them were jerks and either one of them could have de-escalated the event and the fact that Dooley ‘brandished’ his gun should have informed James that Dooley was a foolish old man and he should have retreated and if he felt that Dooley were a danger he should have called the police. Yet James took the gun brandishing as some sort of challenge to intensify the encounter and even James’ daughter testified that Dooley had turned his back to James and was walking home when James grabbed Dooley.
As for Trayvon we know that George was following Trayvon in his truck before he called NEN and he basically admitted that he held Trayvon at gunpoint before shooting him because the police were on their way during the Hannity interview.
Unfortunately O’Mara was right about the jury—they didn’t have a clue.
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correction: They had a mutual no violence order but not a no contact order. They were living in the same house together.
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Mmmmm….am I mistaken and missed the fact that george zimmerman was on HIS property when he shot & killed Trayvon Martin? Did I sleep through that fact?
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Jueseppi, I know. Marissa Alexander was in her property, but she was charged and convicted. SYG doesn’t seem to apply to warning shots. Airman Michael Giles is serving time for protecting himself and the person he shot even said so. Trevor Dooley’s case is still before the court of appeals. The jury in his case found him guilty of manslaughter for being the initial aggressor. Judge Nelson would not allow the initial aggressor part of the law to be included in jury instructions in Zimmerman’s case.
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Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
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It boggles the mind. Yet we know SYG is racially biased. The message is if you’re White, your life has more value than the one you kill. It’s not fair.
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mindmyme,
It appears that LE and juries summarily believe claims of self-defense based on race. Just as 2dogsonly has pointed out, there are cases where both victim and shooter are White, and the shooter is not arrested. And, remember the case of Ralph Wald?
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“Yet we know SYG is racially biased”.
Of course that’s the reason that the NRA was pressing the FL legislature to espunge everything related to anyone who was acquitted due to SYG ( Amendment to HB 89).
No statistics, no evidence of racial bias. It sounds fairly clear as to what their true motives are.
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Here is SYG in over 55 HOA. Killer never charged even though he was not on his property.both are white, man shot was mentally ill.
Neither HOA nor police would/ could act but he would have been evicted in time.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-south-hillsborough/apollo-beach/one-confirmed-dead-in-apollo-beach-shooting
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I found one update to the story.
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What? Let me get this straight. Mr. Sam Mobley didn’t kill anyone but was arrested because he wasn’t on his property; Zimmerman who killed an unarmed teen and not on z’s property wasn’t arrested.
Talk about scales being unbalanced……wow.
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peni4yothot,
It boggles the mind.
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Xena, for sure.
Militia laws were not written for the Mr.. Mobley’s, Marissa Alexander and others.
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Mobley says that a convicted drug dealer approached him, threatened to get him out of the neighborhood, and made racial slurs. He thought he had a gun.
Okay, now I’m confused after reading the comments. So if your not on your property, and you are threatened and in fear for your life, unless you kill them, you can get arrested and charge for trying to scare them off. So in general to avoid being arrested and charged, you either take what’s coming, or shoot to kill.
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dreamer: So in general to avoid being arrested and charged, you either take what’s coming, or shoot to kill.
True. In the Gunshine State (FL) it’s better to kill
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If you’re white and shoot you must kill.
if you do not kill your victim, no matter what the race, you’ll be arrested and punished for missing.
if you do kill like you’re supposed to;
and your victim is white, you’ll probably get arrested, but still more likely be acquitted.
if your victim is black you probably will not be arrested. but if you are charged you’ll likely be acquitted/win SYG.
if you’re black and shoot you must kill.
if you do not kill your victim, no matter what the race, you’ll be arrested and punished for missing.
if you kill like you’re supposed to;
and if your victim is white you will be arrested and probably convicted.
if your victim is black you’re still more likely to be arrested but less likely to be convicted.
basically gun legislation provides for anyone to kill anyone, but not miss.
if you are white you can get away with killing almost anyone of any race. but if you’re black you can only get away with killing black people.
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