What would you do?

[herb fellows]

You mean Florida still doesn't have the castle doctrine? That basically says the father could do what he did and the prosecutor has to prove he acted unreasonably.

If I saw a naked man standing in my daughter's room I'd go after him with a metal pipe too.

We are talking consensual 'visitation' here, are we not? He's not raping here, right? I believe the saying is 'it takes two to tango'. More than enough responsibility to go around here.
I don't think you're going to resolve anything beating him with a pipe, other than making a couple of payments on your lawyers' boat. I don't think you would look on this as your finest hour two weeks, or even two days, down the road.

[herb fellows]

Here's a twist... Nobody so far has put any blame on the daughter... I know in a father's eyes, his "little girl" can do no wrong, but we were all teenagers once, and know that it takes two to tango...

I didn't see your post, but it seems as if I plagiarized it! Great minds think alike? :-)

[crokett]

We are talking consensual 'visitation' here, are we not? He's not raping here, right? I believe the saying is 'it takes two to tango'. More than enough responsibility to go around here.

Right, that is to say we know that now. But at the time, who knows what the father was thinking? He heard strange noises and found a naked man in his daughter's bedroom. He didn't know if the man had access to a gun, knife or other weapon (obviously it was not on his person) or if there was someone else there. He also didn't know what the man's intentions were. I am purposely calling him a man because at the time I doubt the father realized his age. For that matter, if he'd been a year older, would it have been any less of a crime? Is there that much difference between 17 and 18?

Do you have a daughter? I have two. If I found a naked man in my daughter's bedroom I would clear him out as quickly as I could. I probably would not use a pipe but I would make it unpleasant for him. Then and only then would I stop to ask what he was doing there. I'm not saying the daughter is blameless, I am just trying to point out what the father might have been thinking at the time. He didn't know (or claims he didn't) that the boy was visiting his daughter at night. And as long as we are assigning blame, what about the boy's parents? Where were they?

[Uncle Cracker]

If I found a naked man in my daughter's bedroom I would clear him out as quickly as I could. I probably would not use a pipe but I would make it unpleasant for him.

Therein lies the difference... Creasing his skull with a pipe would probably be viewed as extreme, and that is why the guy is in trouble...

[shoottx]

I understand but where I come from the police can't arrest anyone willy-nilly. A prosecutor has to go to a judge to get an arrest warrant. Castle doctrine puts the onus on the prosecutor to prove there is enough evidence for the warrant, not for the homeowner to prove that there is not. .

A minor with a pipe concussive wound to the head, reported by a hospital ER, and how long do you think it would take a prosecutor to get a warrant. The prosecutor would not involve the dad with the pipe until after the arrest. In saying that most of the facts of any case come out after the arrest and are discussed in front of a Judge.

[shoottx]

And as long as we are assigning blame, what about the boy's parents? Where were they?

Assigning blame if fun! The reality in this case is everyone has a part in this whole incident, including the boys parents. And I am sure that everyone will assign the blame differently.

My problem with this is remembering way back to when I was that age, and recalling what my parents did and din't know about. Which was particularly challenging living in a town of 4000, when the dad was one of the business people in town. But there were some secrets.

[tpd586]

Another way to look at it.

I do not know the laws in Florida, but in a lot of places sexual contact of any kind consenual or otherwise with a person under 16 is a felony. Now if they are the same age, or within a year or two most laws have a Romeo Juliet exception to the rule that could be used. However in the heat of the moment it is hard to expect that a father is going to stop to ask for ID or be able to correctly age the person he believes to be his daughters attacker. There is a standard doctrine which most states use in their laws to varying degrees, known as the reasonable man test. It asks what would a "reasonable man" do when placed in any given situation.

[pierhogunn]

naked teenage boy, in my house, IN MY DAUGTER's room?

Step 1. Kill the boy, seriously, dead, that is my little girl
Step 2. Remove the door from my little girls room, she obviously does not need "privacy"
Step 3. repaint the room, I have a double barrel shotgun, I will probably not manage to hit him with all of the 00 buckshot I keep for just such an emergency

any questions?

[430752]

I'd do it

I'd like to think I'd use something less than a metal pipe, but if it were the first thing I found, I'd use it. I mean, 4am, dark, daughter's room, naked man, daughter is 15 without known prior romantic tendancies, how to know it weren't an intruder, rapist, etc.? Story is different if daughter is older or known to have a boyfriend/dating.

[182much]

I would get out of jail eventually.........he'd NEVER get out of the "box"

[Uncle Cracker]

I would get out of jail eventually.........he'd NEVER get out of the "box"

"Eventually", yes... In perhaps 20 years. That is really not helping your daughter as much as you might think. Remember that she was in on this, too.

[just started]

I think I am a reasonable man and if I found a naked man in my daughters bedroom in the middle of the night, he would instantly be flying out the window under the impetus of a couple of 12-gauge shells!

[Uncle Cracker]

You guys are just puffin' up here... Remember that this minor was invited/given access to the house by the daughter. Can you image the wrongful death suit that his parents could bring if you killed him? This guy has issues to settle with his daughter, not so much with her "friend".

[pierhogunn]

okay, so a bit more reason shed into my paternal rage moment, maybe I should forgoe murdering the kid, and just duct tape him to a piece of scrap in the garage, call his parents and have a "discussion" with them

I'm still removing my daughters door...

[pelligrini]

If the boy had been stopping by for a year I wonder if there isn't some sort of 'Eminent domain' or squatters rights law on the books that might apply.