Justifiable homicide by an intoxicated shooter.

[CT-Mike]

http://www.vindy.com/content/local_r...2636886611.php

'It's definite he went to rob,' a
detective said of the man who
was killed .

CAMPBELL — Police do not plan to charge Nicholas Galanses in the Wednesday night shooting death of Ronald G. Harrison II.

"I discussed it with Law Director Mark Kolmacic, and unless something new comes up, we're looking at it as a justifiable homicide," Detective Sgt. Gus Nicolaou said Friday.

Kolmacic said a person may defend himself if he believes he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm. The duty to retreat does not apply if a person is in his home, he said.

"We're taking a close look" at the results of a breath test that showed Galanses had a blood alcohol level of .156. That is above the legal limit of .08 to drive a vehicle, but there is no law against drinking in one's own home, Kolmacic said.

Further, the law director said, there is nothing in the police reports to indicate his alcohol level caused any reckless behavior.

Galanses, 40, shot Harrison three times shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday in his (Galanses') garage, which is attached to his home in the 300 Block of Porter Ave.


Harrison, 19, of Bright Avenue, was hit in the stomach, the right arm between his wrist and elbow, and in the back just below his left shoulder blade, but at an angle indicating he was turning when the bullet struck, Nicolaou said.

Nicolaou said Harrison, whom Galanses said was raising a pistol at him, was shot at a distance of 5 to 10 feet, judging from where Harrison's weapon, which turned out to be a Daisy air pellet gun, was found.

Harrison, who was found lying in the street in front of 332 Porter, was wearing a nylon stocking cap over his head and face, according to the police report.

"It's definite he went to rob. He had stolen the pellet gun from a friend's house about an hour earlier," Nicolaou said of Harrison.

The Mahoning County Coroner's report on the shooting contained no new details, and said the circumstances surrounding the homicide are pending investigation. Harrison's body was sent to Cleveland to be autopsied.

The night of the shooting, Galanses told police he went to the garage door after the front door bell rang and asked, "Who's out there?"

On his way to the garage door, Galanses, who said he never answers his front door, picked up his .357 magnum revolver from his dining room hutch.

When he opened the door to the attached garage, he saw a man run into the garage from the front porch side of the driveway, raise a black handgun toward him and yell, "Give me the money ...!"

Galanses, standing halfway inside the dining room and halfway in the garage, said he feared he was going to be shot. He raised the .357 magnum and fired several shots at the intruder.

If the shooting is ruled a justifiable homicide, it will be the first in the area since October 2005, when Walter Swita used a German Luger 9 mm pistol to shoot an intruder in the head and chest in the living room of Swita's home on South Avenue.

Interesting that the victim had a BAC of .156. His motor skills and reasoning abilities had to be seriously affected with that much alcohol in his system.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[goldshellback]

That sounds pretty stright forward and justified.

[Duisburg]

you know I have been frightened about that happening to me

[simon]

BG won't go to court...thats to bad....oh well,in the BG business..."stuff happens"....buy the Homeowner another beer for his mindful community contribution.

[David in FL]

Well, that explains the poor grouping.......

[jeephipwr]

I would say with that revolver his hit ratio was pretty darn good for being tipsy. Yeah for him!

[AMH]

I have worried about this as well. I enjoy a few beers on the weekends.

[SevenSix9ine]

wow, with a BAC that high I wonder what he would of done sober, drawn a smiley face on perp?

-Alex

[SIGguy229]

Hmmm.....three shots.....three hits....stress fire...less than ideal conditions....works for me!! Maybe the BG should find another line of work.

[mech1369dlw]

Maybe the BG should find another line of work.

In this case he did find another line of work, he feeds the worms.

Another one bites the dust,
Another one bites the dust.
And another one's gone,
And another one's gone,
Another one bites the dust.
Hey Hey !!

19 year old slime ball runs up with a gun in his hand and says, "Give me the money". Well, he got some money. About $1.50 worth of lead. At that distance, should have roasted his eyebrows a little also. Dirt bags never learn, they just decay away.

[rstickle]

Maybe the BG should find another line of work.

Ummm...... He did, fertilizer!

[tns0038]

I have worried about this as well. I enjoy a few beers on the weekends.

While I won’t drink and drive, I too have been known to have a couple beers from time to time.

However, I do NOT see how one having a couple of drinks can affect our right to protect ourselves, in our own home.

[OPFOR]

It shouldn't affect your right to self defense. What it will (and should, IMO) do is open up every action you took to even greater scrutiny then it would already be subjected to. I enjoy a cold beverage on the weekends, and understand the risks that come with it. If my life is clearly in danger, I will do what it necessary to protect it, but I do so knowing that the can of worms involved in an SD shooting is much, much bigger if I am found to have been drinking.

[SelfDefense]

I think the MADD propaganda campaign has been very effective. Yes, alcohol does affect the nervous system. But no, at DUI levels alcohol it is hardly an impediment to successfully defending oneself as this story demonstrates. The fact that two beers could put someone in jail is simply idiotic. The law should be based on impairment not on some arbitrary level of BAC. The same standard should be used for a justifiable homicide, which it was in this case. We should be judged on actions, not apriori arbitrary definitions.

I have no problem with someone having a .20 BAC IF they can safely operate a motor vehicle. We don't incarcerate 80 year old drivers because they are old even though they pose a great risk driving a vehicle.

[digitalexplr]

I think the MADD propaganda campaign has been very effective. Yes, alcohol does affect the nervous system. But no, at DUI levels alcohol it is hardly an impediment to successfully defending oneself as this story demonstrates. The fact that two beers could put someone in jail is simply idiotic. The law should be based on impairment not on some arbitrary level of BAC. The same standard should be used for a justifiable homicide, which it was in this case. We should be judged on actions, not apriori arbitrary definitions.

I have no problem with someone having a .20 BAC IF they can safely operate a motor vehicle. We don't incarcerate 80 year old drivers because they are old even though they pose a great risk driving a vehicle.

I've buried family members and friends who have died at the hand of drunk drivers. I have watch family members and friends trying to resume some sembelace of a normal life while recovery from injuries recieved at the hands of drunk drivers.

After ten years as an LEO I have helped get victims, living and dead, out of the twisted wreckage of more alcohol related traffic accidents than I care to remember.

I have taken more than my share of DUI's into custody. One stands out. He did not understand what the problem was, he had only had, "a couple of beers" and besides no one was hurt. No one except the three dead and one in critical condition.

The fact is the NO ONE can safely operate a motor vehicle with a BAC of .08 or higher, let along .20. If you think you can you are the most dangerous driver on the road!

As far as the elderly drivers go, the state can and does revoke driver's license for those who cannot drive due to age.

This guy did good for the level of alcohol in him. He is indeed fortunate that the BG only had a pellet pistol and the incident happened on his own property.