Retired Green Beret shoots intruder, gets court martial

[DavidI]

Retired Green Beret shoots intruder, gets court martial

BREVARD, Jan. 19, 2008 - Retired Army Green Beret James T. (Smokey) Taylor got his court martial this weekend and came away feeling pretty good about it.

Taylor, at age 79, is one of the oldest members of Chapter XXXIII (The Larry Thorne Chapter) of the Special Forces Association. He was placed on trial by fellow Chapter XXXIII members under the charge of "failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber" in the shooting of an intruder at his home in Knoxville , TN , in November.

The court martial, of course, was very much tongue in cheek. The event itself was deadly serious.

Taylor had been awakened in the early morning hours of November 5, 2007,when an intruder broke into his home. He investigated the noises with one of his many weapons in hand.

"It was just after Halloween, on Monday morning at 4:30," Taylor said. I heard this commotion at the door and grabbed my fishing gun, a little .22 revolver, to see what was going on. I got to the front door and this fellow had ripped my security door out of its frame. He said, 'you're going to have to kill me. I'm coming in.'"

When a warning to leave went unheeded, Taylor brought his .22 caliber pistol to bear and shot him right between the eyes.

"I was about four feet away from him when I shot," Taylor said. "Looking back now, I'm glad he didn't die, but that boy had the hardest head I've ever seen. The bullet bounced right off."

The impact knocked the would-be thief down momentarily. He crawled out of the house then got up and ran down the street. Taylor dialed 911 and Knoxville police apprehended the wounded man about 200 yards away, hiding in a hedgerow.

Complicating the case, as well as the court martial, the offender was released on bail but failed to appear for his court date. Knoxville police said the man was homeless. They did not know his whereabouts or why he had been given bail.

The charges brought against Taylor by his fellow Green Berets were considered to be serious. He is a retired Special Forces Weapons Sergeant with extensive combat experience during the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

"Charges were brought against him under the premise that he should have saved the county and taxpayers the expense of a trial," said Chapter XXXIII President Bill Long of Asheville , NC.
The trial was held at the Hampton Inn in Brevard, part of the group's regularly scheduled quarterly meeting. Long appointed a judge, Bert Bates, a defense counsel, Jim Hash, and a prosecutor, Charlie Ponds. All are retired Special Forces non-commissioned officers with extensive combat and weapons experience.

Ponds outlined the case against Taylor, emphasizing that the citizens of Knox County were going to be burdened with significant costs to again apprehend, and then prosecute and defend the would-be burglar.

"Proper choice of a larger caliber gun would have spared the citizens this financial burden," Ponds said, "while removing one bad guy from the streets for good. He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22 just wasn't big enough to get the job done. Hash disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing in choosing to arm himself with a 22.

"If he'd used a .45 or something like that the round would have gone right through the perp, the wall, the neighbor's wall and possibly injured some innocent child asleep in its bed. I believe the evidence shows that Smokey Taylor exercised excellent judgment in his choice of weapons. He clearly remains to this day an excellent weapons man."

Hash then floated a theory as to why the bullet bounced off the perp's forehead. "He was victimized by old ammunition," he said, "just as he was in Korea and again in Vietnam , when his units were issued ammo left over from World War II."

Taylor said nothing in his own defense, choosing instead to allow his peers to debate the matter. The jury, consisting of all the members of the Chapter, discussed the merits of choosing a larger caliber weapon as well as the obvious benefits to society of permanently deleting the intruder so he would never again threaten any private citizen.

The other side of the coin, that of accidentally causing injury to a completely innocent citizen if a more powerful gun had been used, also gained considerable support.

Following testimony from both sides, Judge Bates determined the charges should be dismissed. The decision was met with a round of applause. In fact, there was strong sentiment expressed that Taylor should receive an award for not only choosing wisely in picking up the 22, but for the accuracy of his aim under difficult and dangerous conditions.

After the trial Taylor said the ammunition was indeed old and added the new information that the perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out the door. "I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if it had gone through his forehead," Taylor said. "It was good for both of us that it didn't."

Meanwhile, back in Knox County , the word is out: Don't go messing with Smokey Taylor. He just bought a whole bunch of fresh ammo.

Tribune Editor Bill Fishburne is a member of the Larry Thorne Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association.

[Superman]

Where I come from, a small logging town in Idaho, burglars who are caught have what I would estimate to be a 50% chance of survival. Burglaries don't happen there very often. Indeed, crimes don't happen there very often. I can certainly show you plenty of houses that burglars would leave feet-first.

Retired Sargent Taylor should be ashamed of defending his turf with old ammo.

[legion]

Good thing I got rid of my .22 revolver.

[speeder]

That's a funny story. Usually a .22 will do the trick if your aim is as good as his was, but of course in the real world things don't always go like in the movies. I've seen a guy shot by the cops w/ a 12 gauge get up and walk to an ambulance. The gun misfired.

[Flatbutt1]

well how long will .22 ,.40 calibre ans 12 ga shot gun shells last on the shelf in a firebox?

[legion]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

well how long will .22 ,.40 calibre ans 12 ga shot gun shells last on the shelf in a firebox?

According to the brain trust on huntingnet.com, as long as 20 years if properly stored. I keep my ammo in a locker with desiccant packs. Humidity can cause corrosion in as little as a year.

[Jeff Higgins]

One of my cousins, a Seattle cop working undercover at the time, once shot a guy in the forehead with his .38 Special snubby. It was in a bar, and he happened to walk in right in the middle of a big fracas. The guy came after him with a very large knife, ignored orders to drop it, and continued to advance. When he fired, it looked for all the world to everyone present that he had scattered the guy's brains all over the bar; blood and crud just exploded off the back of his head, and he fell lifelessly to the floor.

Then he got back up. Really upset this time. Before my cousin could raise his revolver to shoot again, the bartender hollered "duck", and a Louisville Slugger came whistling over cuz's head and shattered the guy's face. That put him down for good.

Turns out the .38 had penetrated the skin but not the skull. The skin held it to the skull until it made it around to the back, where it ripped back out through the skin. The baseball bat had left a far more lasting impression than that peewee .38. Cousin Chuck went to a 1911 .45 and never looked back. Sounds like Smokey might want to do the same.

[Steve Carlton]

Aren't .45s slow moving bullets that don't tend to pass through too many walls and such, at least compared to other calibers?

[Moses]

It's pretty clear that Sgt. Taylors can of whoop-ass has no expiration date.

[Hugh R]

[QUOTE=Jeff Higgins;3736388]
Turns out the .38 had penetrated the skin but not the skull. The skin held it to the skull until it made it around to the back, where it ripped back out through the skin. /QUOTE]

I swear to God that exact same thing happened to a geologist at a consulting firm I worked at about 20 years ago. We were installing groundwatering wells at a Mobil gas station in South Central LA and he got hit by gang crossfire. He ended up being OK, but at first we thought for sure he must have been dead instantly. After that, we made Mobil hire a uniformed off duty LAPD motor cop to be with us in certain areas.

[DavidI]

While working in South Central LA, I saw a guy that was shot at close range with a 7.62 cal AK47 multiple times. One of the shots was dead center in the middle of his forehead. The round took a 3" circular portion out of the front of his skull. We were actually looking at his brain with white foamy stuff coming out of his head. Incredibly, this guy was conscious and praying. He survived the shooting, but would not cooperate with us. Even the paramedics could not believe it!

[Joeaksa]

Man after my heart. Hope he puts something larger (like a .45 auto) in his paw next time...

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Aren't .45s slow moving bullets that don't tend to pass through too many walls and such, at least compared to other calibers?

Yep, "big & slow", which makes it an excellent choice for home defense.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Aren't .45s slow moving bullets that don't tend to pass through too many walls and such, at least compared to other calibers?

Exactly right.

But my question is why did he only fire one shot?

[alf]

He must have served with my step dad who was the XO for Delta in Vietnam. His concealed weapon of choice was a .380 PPK he always had in his front jean pocket. When I asked him why not a .45 or even a 9mm he said..."son there are not too many elephants out there to shoot at and the PPK is a very accurate pistol."

[HardDrive]

No worries in Harddrives house. I have a .357 with 158gr. JHPs in it. I do worry about the neighbors, but I'll be sure to yell, "FORE!" before letting one fly.

Great story.

[KFC911]

I have a choice of various calibres (.22, .357 mag, 44 mag), but prefer the .45 ACP as my first choice for personal defense. Accuracy is not the issue...it's the simple physics of mass & velocity, and I'll opt for a large calibre (knockdown, "take 'em out" capabilities) vs. velocity anyday (PARTICULARLY on a "non-lethal" torso shot to an intruder). The safety aspects (i.e. not passing through several walls, etc.) before dissipating lethal energy is part of the equation too.

[on2wheels52]

'He said, 'you're going to have to kill me. I'm coming in.'

I wonder if the dufus has any power of hindsight.
Re unexpected head wounds, it's not possible to totally predict 'treminal' ballistics.
I think it was the Hatcher (?) studies in the 1900's that examined hundreds of hogs, all shot with the same gun, same lot of ammunition, and same impact point. No two wound channels were identical.
Someone out there has survived a .44 mag to the head, and someone has probably died from a bb gun. I'm happy all I've taken is a few airsoft rounds lately.
Jim

[masraum]

My mother was a nurse in an emergency room years ago. She told me a story that one night a guy walked up to the desk at the hospital and said that he'd been shot. She said he looked and seemed completely fine, but a little blood running out of his ear. Apparently he tried to commit suicide and shot himself in the head. The bullet went in his ear and zinged around the inside of his skull. He drove about 50 miles to the hospital. He eventually died.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Moses

It's pretty clear that Sgt. Taylors can of whoop-ass has no expiration date.

Agreed. Pretty sure a 90 year old special forces vet could destroy me.

I love how the guy calmly shot him in the head. That whole experience probably didn't even get his heart rate up.