Plea deal for Utah homeowner who shot at burglar

[GreenStormCloud]

Recently there was a thread about a homeowner that fired a scare-away shot at a fleeing burglar. He was arrested for reckless endangerment. Usually we don't get to learn what happens unless the case is very public. This time the media has printed a follow-up story.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55816795-78/niederhauser-police-fired-plea.html.csp

A Davis County man who was arrested for shooting at a suspected burglar who was fleeing his property resolved the case with a plea deal Tuesday.

Clare Bindrup Niederhauser, 64, was charged in 2nd District Court with class A misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

On Tuesday, he entered a plea of no contest in abeyance to a lesser count of class B misdemeanor discharge of firearm from a vehicle, near a highway, or in direction of any person, building, or vehicle.

The case will be dismissed in 12 months so long as Niederhauser stays out of trouble, pays a $700 court fee and completes a firearms training course, which he will take from his defense attorney, James "Mitch" Vilos, who is a certified firearms instructor.

Niederhauser also had to surrender his handgun.

More at link

Sounds reasonable to me.

[ManiacJoe]

1. Nice to see that the paper did a follow-up.

The home owner fired at least two shots he should not have.
The police seem to have done the right thing.
The court seems to have done a reasonable thing.
Hopefully, he and others will learn from this.

[ileus]

2. Hope he gets his hand held life saving device back.