On today's episode of Great Moral Dilemmas of the Day, we bring you the perplexing case of a vigilante pharmacist. The year was 2009, and Jerome Ersland was working at Reliable Pharmacy, the store he owned in Oklahoma City. It would not be a good day...
Two armed punks came in and tried to rob the store. Ersland, not a druggist to be trifled with, pulled out a gun and shot 16-year-old Antwun Parker in the head.
Video of the incident shows the second mope fleeing. Ersland follows him out of the store, but the bad guy is already gone.
It would seem an open and shut case of self-defense -- until security cameras depict what happened next.
Erland returned to the store and could be seen digging for something behind the counter. Then he retrieved another gun and methodically moved toward Parker, who was laying wounded on the floor. Just to make sure Parker lost his interest in robbery, Ersland pumped him full of five more bullets, killing him.
In Oklahoma City, he was hailed as a hero for taking out a bad guy. Parker's accomplices, Anthony Morrison and Emanuel Mitchell, were subsequently convicted of first-degree murder in the death of their friend, plus conspiracy for organizing the heist.
But jurors didn't seem so enthralled with Ersland once they learned the full breadth of the incident. In court, his defense was hoping to shoot for a manslaughter charge. The jury decided instead to convict him of murder.
He won't be sentenced till July 11, but he faces the possibility of life with parole.
So what do you think, dearest reader? Was this a case of a man simply protecting himself and his employees? Or was this merely a cold-blooded execution disguised as heroism?
Two armed punks came in and tried to rob the store. Ersland, not a druggist to be trifled with, pulled out a gun and shot 16-year-old Antwun Parker in the head.
Video of the incident shows the second mope fleeing. Ersland follows him out of the store, but the bad guy is already gone.
It would seem an open and shut case of self-defense -- until security cameras depict what happened next.
Erland returned to the store and could be seen digging for something behind the counter. Then he retrieved another gun and methodically moved toward Parker, who was laying wounded on the floor. Just to make sure Parker lost his interest in robbery, Ersland pumped him full of five more bullets, killing him.
In Oklahoma City, he was hailed as a hero for taking out a bad guy. Parker's accomplices, Anthony Morrison and Emanuel Mitchell, were subsequently convicted of first-degree murder in the death of their friend, plus conspiracy for organizing the heist.
But jurors didn't seem so enthralled with Ersland once they learned the full breadth of the incident. In court, his defense was hoping to shoot for a manslaughter charge. The jury decided instead to convict him of murder.
He won't be sentenced till July 11, but he faces the possibility of life with parole.
So what do you think, dearest reader? Was this a case of a man simply protecting himself and his employees? Or was this merely a cold-blooded execution disguised as heroism?
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