Weld investigates Make My Day case
Wounded teenager may have entered home by mistake
By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News
September 15, 2005
LONGMONT - A drunken teenager was shot early Wednesday after breaking into the home of a neighbor, who may have been defending himself under Colorado's controversial Make My Day Law, the Weld County Sheriff's Department said.
Nathan Weathers, 19, was reported in serious condition in the intensive-care unit at Longmont United Hospital late Wednesday, after being shot once by a 9 mm handgun, authorities said.
He also suffered injuries in a motorcycle wreck shortly before he entered the neighbor's house, perhaps thinking it was his home, authorities said.
The 2004 graduate of Skyline High School in Longmont was shot about 4 a.m. after entering through a rear window at the home of James and Cheryl Haflich. They live about a block from Weathers' home in an affluent, rural Weld County subdivision.
The forced entry and shooting initially was investigated as a burglary, said Weld County Undersheriff Margie Martinez.
Investigators changed course later Wednesday, however, after learning that Weathers was in a drunken stupor when he entered the Haflich home.
Instead of pursuing burglary charges, Martinez said, the sheriff's department will recommend that Weathers be charged with trespass for the break-in, plus drunken driving and other traffic charges for the motorcycle accident, which did not involve any other vehicles.
"Burglary requires the person to have the intent to commit a crime," Martinez said. "Because he was in a highly intoxicated state, we do not have information to show it was his intent to commit burglary once he was inside the house."
However, she said, the sheriff's department believes the Make My Day Law does apply in the case, thus shielding Haflich from charges.
The Weld County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on possible charges that might be filed, or whether the state's Make My Day law might apply.
Legislators passed the Homeowner Protection Act in 1985, when Colorado was in no mood to coddle criminals or anyone perceived to have wronged a law-abiding citizen. Legislators also felt that a series of court decisions favored criminals.
But the Make My Day nickname stuck to the law after being lifted from the dialogue of a 1983 Clint Eastwood movie, Sudden Impact.
The star portrayed "Dirty Harry" Callahan, a detective inclined to shoot first and observe the niceties of the law later, if at all.
Critics of the law contend it has been misinterpreted to shield killers who should have been charged.
The undersheriff said investigators do not believe Haflich, 49, a Greeley used-car dealer, knew Weathers, a one-time starter on the Skyline Falcons football team who lived with his father, Steve Weathers, 46.
The families live about a block apart, across the large, well-tended lawns that separate homes in the Meadow Vale Farm subdivision, where prices start at about $350,000. The subdivision is about fives miles east of Longmont in Weld County.
Both houses face south and are second from the corner. However, the two-story Haflich home is lighter in color, with a wrap-around front porch, three-car garage on the east and a large deck. In contrast, the one-story Weathers home has a small front entry, a front-facing garage and a patio in the rear.
"I don't want any bad press for our area," said Charlie Robertson, a neighbor. "I don't think it was a burglary. I think it was just a situation were he was confused about which house was which."
Steve Weathers declined to be interviewed.
Robertson said the neighborhood talk was that Nathan Weathers had been drinking and was joyriding his father's motorcycle after midnight.
His son, Matt Robertson, 20, said he had only a passing acquaintance with Weathers, although they had graduated from high school in the same class and lived near each other.
Weathers, Matt Robertson said, "was overall a pretty friendly kid. He was usually pretty respectable."
Skyline Principal Tom Stumpf said Weathers "always was a well-meaning kid."
But Weathers, bleeding and injured from the motorcycle accident, was boozily moving through the Haflich house when he awakened them, according to the undersheriff's description of the 4 a.m. clash.
Blood splatters, presumably from injuries suffered when he spilled the motorcycle on the north edge of the subdivision, showed his path across the deck.
"They were yelling at him to get out and he proceeded toward them," she said. "He was advancing on them."
Haflich fired three rounds, one of which struck the teenager.
"It was not a life-threatening wound," the undersheriff said, suggesting that the injuries from the motorcycle wreck were the cause of Weathers initially being listed in critical condition.
Judy Franco, a neighbor across the street, said Weathers and his father were cordial but kept to themselves.
"He was a very quiet boy," Franco said. "I just saw him going in and out of the house. They stayed to themselves, usually waving to us but not really outgoing."
She said Steve Weathers was an engineer who rode the motorcycle, and added she had never seen Nathan Weathers take it out.
Most residents said the subdivision, protected through Neighborhood Watch, was typically quiet except for the noises of wildlife and the sounds of cattle during calving.
However, Todd Marriott, who lives in another area of the subdivision, said he had called authorities twice within the year after alarms and a forced door indicated intruders had entered his home.
Marriott said he stood behind Haflich's decision to shoot Weathers, saying the teenager had crossed a threshold by breaking into the Haflich home.
Nathan Weathers "made the decision to break into their home," Marriott said. "(Haflich) had no other option. He was defending his family in his house."
Topic: Bikes, booze, guns....this has it all! COLORADO (Read 2672 times)