Over the weekend I received an e-note from Nathan in Asheville with the latest developments in the criminal case against an Asheville firefighter who shot a cyclist in front of his wife and child last month on Tunnel Road.I have pasted the latest article from the Mountain Xpress below. Nate is curious to know if the New Charge will be: Failing to Kill a Cyclist
by David Forbes in Vol. 16 / Iss. 3 on 08/12/2009
A grand jury has dropped the charge of attempted first-degree murder against Charles Alexander Diez, the Asheville firefighter accused of shooting at a cyclist. Diez is now facing a felony assault charge that carries a much lower potential penalty.
Currently free on a $200,000 bond, Diez was served a warrant Aug. 6 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Attempted first-degree murder, a Class B2 felony, carries a 125- to 157-month prison sentence for someone with no criminal record. The assault charge, a Class E felony, carries a 20- to 25-month sentence.
Diez has no prior criminal record and, according to police, was sober at the time of the incident.
Grand juries deliberate in secret, and District Attorney Ron Moore says he submitted both the assault and attempted-murder charges. He told Xpress that he doesn't know why the grand jury rejected the murder charge.
Asheville police had charged Diez, a firefighter since 1992, with attempted first-degree murder after he allegedly fired a .38-caliber handgun at cyclist Alan Simons July 26. The bullet ripped through the lining of Simons' helmet and, according to police, came within less than an inch of striking him in the head.
Simons was riding with his wife and 3-year-old child, and Diez had begun arguing with Simons, saying it was unsafe to have the boy in a child bike seat behind him. When Simons began to walk away, Diez allegedly opened fire.
Moore said he would "talk with the officer involved and see if there's any new evidence. If there is, we can re-submit the charge [to the grand jury]."
6 comments:
this post has been Twitterized! ive also forwarded it to a local news reporter whos a cyclist and might wanna do a story on it. now ever redneck firefighter, cop, judge, whoever...is going to proclaim "open season" on cyclists the deem "breaking" the law!!
Guess I'll have to put the flak jacket back on
Ohhhh, that ruffles my feathers on so many levels. First of all, why in the world is their a distinction between attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill? Is that NOT the same thing? Shouldn't any intent to kill be attempted murder? Gotta love our justice system. How low will our country continue to sink?
so, yeah - maybe it is unsafe to put the kid behind the bike (debatable), but for sure it's unsafe to shoot at someone's head.
I am having strange feelings about the thought of a gun being pulled and triggered on a fellow riding his bike with his kid and wife close by. Verbal, then physical. Finger in the trigger housing? A fraction of a second, the hands, the truck door, the force of power and manifestation. At least in this one example of the million'th happeneing every day in this fine Nation nothing has yet reached chaos. The now, tell me this has been happening forever while the USA with all its Kenny Chesney overfloweth occupies a place called the cradle along the drying Tigris and Euphrates. Life is good while the blue barrels over flow and everything is more than it can stand on its quieter own merit. NEWS FLASH: LOOK UP OFTEN, WHEN YOU FEEL IT. THERE WILL BE A C-130 OR C-5 TOONLIFTER OVER YOUR HEAD HEADING EAST ON THIS SIDE, WEST ON THE OTHER EVERY 20MINS, THAT IS AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT CONSIDERING THE HISTORY OF THIS FINE NATION. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LOOK INWARD, THAT's IT, THAT'S ALL IT WILL TAKE.
This entire placement of now has not being going on very long at all.
Crazy! - Glenn
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