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El Reg reports
A father who shot down a drone that was hovering over his family home in Kentucky has been cleared of all charges.
Dad-of-two William Merideth thought the quadcopter was spying on his daughters in their yard in Hillview and blasted the gizmo out of the sky with a shotgun. That earned him the title "Drone Slayer" from pro-privacy quarters.
Merideth was arrested shortly after in July and charged with criminal mischief and wanton endangerment.
He appeared before the Bullitt County District Court on Monday this week and after a two and a half hour hearing, Judge Rebecca Ward dismissed the case against him.
"I was in my right to protect my family and my property", said Merideth.
The judge agreed, telling the court: "He had a right to shoot at this drone."
David Boggs, who owned the downed drone, was hoping to get the cost of the machine in compensation and said he will ask the Commonwealth's Attorney's office to take the case to a grand jury--or consider pursuing a civil case against Merideth.
Previous: Man Arrested for Shooting Down Drone Flying Over His Property
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday October 29 2015, @06:08PM
Without a distinct "chain of evidence" you can't know that the Video Evidence wasn't tampered with. Also, the whole issue of it being dangerous to have fired the gun into the air holds no water. Here's what the person defending his home/privacy said and I have no reason to doubt the validity of the statement. "Now, if I’d have had a .22 rifle, I should have gone to jail for that. The diameter of those things are going to come down with enough force to hurt somebody. Number 8 birdshot is not. Number 8 is the size of a pinhead. The bottom line is that it's a right to privacy issue and defending my property issue. It would have been no different had he been standing in my backyard. As Americans, we have a right to defend our rights and property." Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/kentucky-man-shoots-down-drone-hovering-over-his-backyard/ [arstechnica.com] He could have shot at it with a much higher powered weapon, but was smart enough not to do that. You can go all anti-gun / nra / whatever, but one of the reasons to own a gun is to protect yourself and your family. The judge also noted that there was not reason to believe there was any danger. 'I don’t think anybody’s life was in danger, and I’m going to dismiss that.' Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/drone-slayer-cleared-of-charges-i-wish-this-had-never-happened/ [arstechnica.com] Those charges are in regards to his firing the shotgun into the air. "Long story short, after that, they took me to jail for wanton endangerment first degree and criminal mischief...because I fired the shotgun into the air." Source: http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man-arrested-for-shooting-down-drone-cites-right-to-privacy [wdrb.com] So, in reality, the one charge that mattered, the Judge threw out, because she felt there was no case. Also, please note that the Drone Pilot had everything. "They didn’t confiscate the drone. They gave the drone back to the individuals," he said. "They didn’t take the SIM card out of it…but we’ve got…five houses here that everyone saw it – they saw what happened, including the neighbors that were sitting in their patio when he flew down low enough to see under the patio." Source: http://www.wdrb.com/story/29650818/hillview-man-arrested-for-shooting-down-drone-cites-right-to-privacy [wdrb.com] Yes, the "Drone Operator" was not acting responsibly with his new toy. His new toy got shot down, because he was invading the privacy of someone with a shotgun. Glad no one got hurt, but it sounds like we have one smart person and one dumb person. It's just that in this case the smart person was the one holding the shotgun.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"