Mo. slaying case may hinge on property rights

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STEELVILLE, Mo. (AP) James Crocker had grown weary of the partying canoeists and rafters who encroached on his neatly kept property along Missouri's Meramec River. When he caught a man about to relieve himself on a gravel bar by his yard in July, a nasty confrontation ensued that ended with one person dead and Crocker accused of killing him.

Crocker's attorney, Michael Bert of St. Louis, said that Crocker was defending himself and his property.

"Here's a man in fear for his life and fearful he might suffer bodily injury," Bert said.

Prosecutors see it differently. Witnesses who testified at a hearing last month said Crocker was angry and raging, shooting into the crowd of people, narrowly missing two others before killing 48-year-old Paul Dart Jr., of Robertsville, Mo. Crocker has been charged with second-degree murder.

...Crawford County detective Zachary Driskill said he asked Crocker if he could have called police instead of taking matters into his own hands.

"I guess I could have, but it's my property and I was going to protect it," Crocker responded, according to case documents.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20130903/US-River-Trip-Shooting/