Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-05-02 (Thursday)

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

Law & Order - "Castle in the Sky" - A homeless man and his daughter are
squatting in a penthouse and when the real owner shows up one night he
winds up dead.

Everybody gets this wrong, including Steve Lehto in his videos. Living
in a unit not yet sold in a mostly finished building is not squatting.
It's trespass. Squatting has to do with a hostile encroachment upon
ABANDONED land after a number of years which varies by state. Getting
the semantics right makes a huge difference in these discussions and who
can be arrested for what.

The fact that this guy was HIRED as a security guard to PREVENT trespass
is evidence that the property wasn't abandoned and that he cannot
convert it for his personal use.

Fortunately for the man his daughter can alibi his self
defense claim.  Doesn't the defense have to reveal that defense ahead of
time?  Doesn't matter, this is Law & Order.

I don't know if notice is required to assert self defense at trial.

Unfortunately for the man
the writers are on the DA's side so they concoct a convoluted way for
the guy to be convicted anyway.  I was half rooting for the guy to not
be convicted.

Why? The victim did nothing wrong. The perpetrator was entirely in the
wrong.