[650] in libertarians
The Masters Incident in LA (part 1)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vernon Imrich)
Sun Feb 12 18:56:21 1995
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 18:53:45 EST
From: Vernon Imrich <vimrich@MIT.EDU>
Here's a long digest of a story that apparently has taken LA by
storm. It is of much interest in that it has swept up libertarian
city councilwoman Sandi Webb (Simi Valley) in the news. There
is a lot of controversy, but the outcome seems mostly good (IMHO).
If all you care about is the libertarian angle, see (part 2)
which is posted separately.
-- begin forward --
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 95 10:10
From: WIENER@pc.gcs.litton.com (WIENER, DAN x3708)
Subject: Masters shooting of tagger
To: libernet@Dartmouth.EDU (libernet)
I have recently been posting information on Firearms-Alert
regarding a shooting in Los Angeles that has touched a raw nerve.
Nationwide publicity is growing rapidly (20/20 will have a story on
it next week), and several people have asked me to also put it on
Libernet. I've combined my three previous reports into one long
one here. A follow-up later today will report on libertarian
councilmember Sandi Webb's involvement (she'll also be on 20/20).
Here's "Part 1" of the story, posted on 2-2-95:
The following information is a summary of newspaper reports (Los
Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Times) concerning a shooting at
1 a.m. on January 31, 1995 in Sun Valley. This has the potential
to generate a great deal of publicity, possibly on a nationwide
scale, so people may find it of general interest. For those
unfamiliar with Southern California, "Sun Valley" is not a real
city, but rather a tiny part of the City of Los Angeles, in the San
Fernando Valley near Burbank Airport.
William Masters was taking a late stroll when he spotted a crew
of graffiti vandals. He copied down the license number of their
car. The taggers saw him and demanded that Masters give them the
paper (one report says they also demanded his wallet). Masters
refused, and turned to walk away.
One of the taggers (Cesar Arce, 18) reached for his shoulder and
may have grabbed him. Masters pulled out a handgun he had hidden
in his fanny pack, turned, and fired point-blank into Arce's chest,
killing him. Another tagger (David Hillo, 20) says he turned to
get away, and was shot from behind in the right leg (buttocks?) by
Masters. Hillo fled in his car, but was questioned by police later
after seeking treatment at a hospital. Hillo admitted carrying a
screwdriver, but denied threatening Masters with it.
"We were minding our own business. He could have minded his own
and just walked on by," Hillo said. "We weren't going out to rob
people. We weren't going out to hurt people. Tagging, it's not
the greatest thing to do, it hurts property, I guess, but it
creates jobs. They pay people to clean it off."
Masters stayed at the scene until police arrived. He was
arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail. He
has not been allowed to talk to reporters. Police and prosecutors
are expected to decide today whether to press charges. If nothing
else, he certainly did not have a permit to carry a concealed
weapon, because Los Angeles does not issue CCWs (which is another
story altogether, involving recent lawsuits and a supposed
settlement which the city seems to be ignoring).
One of today's newspaper articles says that Masters "is believed
by Texas authorities to be the same man who spent four years in
that state fighting for the right to bear arms in public". In 1981
he was arrested in Austin for carrying two martial arts swords in
his belt. He pleaded no contest, paid a $1 fine, and then, acting
as his own attorney, appealed the case through the Texas legal
system, asserting unsuccessfully that the U.S. Constitution gave
him the right to carry the weapons. The U.S. Supreme Court refused
to hear his case.
According to the Daily News, "Masters' arrest touched a nerve
with the public -- who voiced support for him in calls Wednesday to
police and prosecutors. One offered to contribute money for his
legal defense. Another wanted to send him more ammunition."
Masters, 35, is a part-time actor and playwright, who has had a
variety of roles as an extra in several movies and TV shows. The
reporter who went to his home (a converted garage that he rents)
spotted an NRA sticker in the window. One friend said Masters is
a former marine, owns three guns, and knows karate. "I always
said, 'Bill, you're a very genteel gentleman in an age that has no
further use for you.'" Another acquaintance called him "sort of a
white-knight character, a good Samaritan type".
Here's "Part 2", posted on 2-3-95:
Here's additional information on yesterday's report concerning
William Masters, who shot two graffiti vandals (killing one) early
Tuesday morning.
Masters was released from jail and will _not_ be charged with
murder, according to Deputy District Attorney Robert L. Cohen:
"This whole thing is a tragedy. But the problem is that it doesn't
matter whether or not these guys really intended to hurt Masters.
If their actions caused Masters to have an honest and reasonable
belief that he was in imminent peril for his own safety...the law
makes this a (justifiable) killing."
The Los Angeles Daily News noted that "The District Attorney's
Office was deluged Thursday with calls sympathetic to Masters for
the second day in a row. Prosecutors insisted that they based
their decision solely on the facts of the case and the law." The
Los Angeles Times said that Cohen showed a reporter a thick wad of
messages that he said were mostly from the public, supporting
Masters, but denied that the outpouring had any effect on his
office's decision not to press charges. "We didn't do it to make
the public happy."
A few more details have emerged. According to Cohen, Cesar Arce
grabbed Masters' notes (containing the license number of the
taggers' car) and tore away part of it. Masters shoved the
remainder in his pocket, but then surrendered it to Arce after he
insisted. Then Masters turned to walk away, but he felt Arce's
presence behind him. Masters turned back with his 9 mm handgun and
fired. The first shot hit Arce in the side. A second shot, fired
within two seconds of the first, hit Hillo from behind in the upper
right leg. After the shooting, Masters tried to save Arce's life
by administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
I'd like to comment parenthetically that the Los Angeles Daily
News has done an *absolutely superb* job of news reporting.
They've had front page stories three days in a row, an editorial
supportive of Masters in today's paper, and they've *already*
printed a total of seven letters to the editor (all supporting
Masters). Their articles have been objective, detailed, and
comprehensive. Their reporters have done the hard legwork and the
research that ought to be the norm for good journalism. But these
days we have to endure so much lazy, shoddy, and biased journalism
that brilliant exceptions like this deserve special praise.
This case is not yet over, although the decision to drop murder
charges will prevent it from blowing up into a national cause
celebre. Cohen said he would ask the Los Angeles City Attorney's
Office to investigate whether to charge Masters with the
misdemeanor crime of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
My guess is that the L.A. City Attorney's Office will conclude
it _must_ press the misdemeanor charge. Failure to do so, in their
minds, would be an open invitation to everyone in Los Angeles to
carry a concealed weapon. But they have a dilemma. The decision
to charge Masters will be wildly unpopular, and will put the city's
whole policy of refusing to issue CCWs in a terrible light. That
refusal to issue CCWs will also be a potent defense argument for
Masters. I don't know if Masters can demand a jury trial for a
misdemeanor, but if so the possibility of jury nullification would
be very high.
Here's "Part 3", posted on 2-8-95:
The front page article in Saturday's Los Angeles Daily News
carried an interview with Masters. His attitude was regret that
he'd had to kill the tagger, shock over the emotional reality of
killing someone, but continued insistence that he'd done the right
things. Here are some interesting excerpts:
"I chose to arm myself. I knew eventually, at some point in my
life, I would eventually use it."
"When I was looking at the kid lying there, all I could think
was, 'He's just a kid. His life's just getting started. My God,
I've killed a kid."
"The first day, I spent crying. I'm an Irish Catholic. I was
taught the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill'."
"I thought I was prepared, but when I actually did it, I
realized I was never really prepared. It was very, very, very
different when you are the one under the thumbscrew. I got pretty
damn...scared."
"I shot him because he was committing armed robbery, not because
he was tagging. I'm not going to confront two gang-dressed people
at one o'clock in the morning. Only a moron would do that."
"Had they not noticed me, I would have kept right on walking and
forgot about it until I got home."
"He blocked the sidewalk. He wanted to know what I was writing
down. I knew I should lie to him, but I could not think of a
bloody thing to say. I heard myself saying, 'I'm writing down your
license plate number.' I thought, 'Oh, you idiot, why did you say
that?'"
"He said, 'Do you want me to do blank to you?' It was something
in slang. Then he said, 'Empty your pockets. Let me see your
wallet.'"
"I thought, 'Go. Just go. Get out of there -- and get on your
gun in case they follow you.'"
"I glanced back and saw Hillo over my shoulder. I reached the
conclusion they weren't letting me leave. I didn't know what
weapons they had. I was assuming that both were armed with a
screwdriver, if not a gun."
Masters said that as he turned, he saw Arce as a "black shape."
He fired the killing shot.
"He was about three feet from the muzzle. He was right there.
If he had a knife, or if he had a screwdriver too, he was the one
I had to take care of first."
Masters said even after firing the first shot, he saw Hillo as
a threat.
"He was close enough to dash at me. I couldn't just let him be.
I took aim and shot him in the leg."
Hillo maintains he never threatened Masters or tried to rob him.
"He's just trying to say anything to make himself look good," Hillo
said Friday.
Police said a major stumbling block in their investigation of
the shooting was that Hillo gave several different versions of the
incident -- and initially denied he even had been there. "He
changed his story every time we talked to him," Los Angeles police
detective Mike Coffey said of Hillo. "Masters, on the other hand,
he never did change his story. He didn't change anything."
Masters...said he doesn't think the city's practice of routinely
denying concealed-weapons permits would pass a legal challenge.
"The right to defend your life is the oldest liberty recorded in
civilization."
"That's what's been wrong for so many years. These liberals.
These people thinking government is going to do something for you--
that the government is going to be there to protect you. It
isn't."
"The only reason I got on the front page was that I was a murder
victim who was not murdered. People are relieved--thank God I
don't have to read about another victim."
"I just hope I'm not a hero for the wrong reason."
A Sunday Los Angeles Times story ("Slaying of Tagger Resounds
Deeply in Community") reported that "in the short time it took the
Los Angeles district attorney's office to conclude that he had
acted in self-defense, he emerged as a hero, an ordinary citizen
who many say boldly defended himself while standing up for his
community."
"Supporters lighted up the phones at talk show radio stations
and the police lockup where Masters was being held offering money,
legal assistance and pats on the back."
The article went on to analyze some of the psychological reasons
why this incident was resonating in Los Angeles. It quoted various
experts pro and con, and recapitulated events and reactions.
Tuesday's articles in both papers covered Cesar Arce's funeral.
The priest pleaded against revenge. But Arce's aunt, Myrtle
Caldera, said she expects Arce's friends to ignore the priest's
plea. "They're going to hunt him. They know where he lives. They
know where he takes his walks."
In an interview Friday, Masters said that if vengeance-seekers
come after him, "I am going to make sure I take as many of the
enemy with me [as I can]."
"That right there is telling you he's going to kill again,"
Arce's sister, Lilia, said Monday. The public response to Masters'
actions has enraged Arce's family. "People who are out there and
saying he's a hero are sick in the head. They should know the
difference between a hero and a killer. The must not have the
capacity to understand English."
Today's Los Angeles Times reports that prosecutors are now
trying to decide whether to charge David Hillo with Arce's murder.
They are first investigating Masters' allegation that Hillo and
Arce tried to rob him. The important thing about an attempted
robbery charge is that under California's "vicarious liability"
law, prosecutors can charge somebody with murder even if he did not
commit the actual act, but took part in a criminal act that caused
the death. This is common practice in California: if two robbers
get involved in a shootout with cops, and police kill one robber,
they'll very often charge the other robber with murder.
Finally, after trying desperately for a week to ignore the whole
thing, the Los Angeles Times today editorialized against Masters.
Understand that the L.A. Times is so rabidly anti-gun that it makes
Sarah Brady look like a wishy-washy moderate. In commenting on the
District Attorney's decision to not prosecute Masters, the Times
opined:
"But the decision, however pragmatic, leaves prosecutors in the
position of arguably implying that Masters was justified in using
the gun -- a gun he shouldn't have had in the first place. The
fact that he possessed the gun illegally -- illegal gun possession
is one of America's biggest crime problems -- puts a huge shadow
over the entire incident."
"It's a mistake to see this shooting as some sort of celebratory
act. Masters shouldn't have been carrying that gun, and he's no
role model. Might other vandals be deterred from spraying paint by
the thought that someone might shoot them? Maybe. But more
likely, some vandals will just start carrying something more lethal
themselves."
"Masters now says he will continue to unlawfully carry the gun,
which he does not even have a permit to own. That is punishable by
a fine of up to $1000 and/or a year in jail. The city attorney's
office, which would prosecute misdemeanor violations of the
concealed weapons law, should move on this case. Promptly."
-- Daniel Wiener (wiener@pc.gcs.litton.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Vernon Imrich | market failure, n. The inabilty of the |
| MIT, Dept. OE | market to recover from a blow by |
| Cambridge, MA 02139 | intervention. (The Exchange) |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| MIT LP: http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/libertarians/home.html |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
