From the last post. Much love to Dan for doing what is right.

Just senseless.

Good Im glad they at least have some people in custody, any idea if lee county has any connection to sean?

I'm so angry right now.

Florida has the death penalty right?

Just some little punks! I can't believe it, they took our hero away from us for nothing! They should pay dearly for this!

RIP #21
HAIL!

Yes they do greg

SAK2 -

Highly unlikely there is any connection between Lee County and Sean. Lee County is not close to Miami. Maybe the older suspect knew Sean from football along the way somewhere, but it's just as likely there is no connection.

Thanks SAK. Thats encouraging to hear.

These punks killed a man cuz their sorry @sses didn't want to work hard and get their own money! I don't care if they didn't expect him to be home - it's HIS home! What makes these punks think it's ok to steal from people? Sean worked hard for his money and the rest of us work hard for our money but have to worry about some lazy punks who don't want to work hard for their money. I'm mad and sad.

Just guessing but they probubly wanted the braging rights of saying they robbed Sean, pathetic I hope they get the book thrown at them.

17,19,26 are the ages of the detainees. Go to: local10.com for more details.

Harissa, L-A-Z-Y, you nailed it. They didn't want to work to get ahead, so they figured they could steal from a guy who had money. Just makes me so angry.

Enjoy the electric chair fella's.

How would this relate the Michael Wilbon or Antrell Rolle's theory that Sean was murdered by people from his past, wanting to get back at him for something he'd done to them?

If this turns out to be the true story, I don't think they'll be eligible for the death penalty as that only applies to 1st degree murder. I'm no legal expert, though.

JJWILSON, WE DO NOT NEED THAT KIND OF TALK.

TAKE IT ELSEWHERE. NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR THAT.

WHAT? You mean it wasn't retalation to Sean for living his life as a "Thug"? It wasn't because he missed the rookie symposium? You mean to tell me that Wilpunk and Cowuss could be wrong?

What goes around, will come around for these men.

I am so angry right now.

Knew someone would ask, so here are some details:

Florida differs slightly from other states. First-Degree-Murder, Felony Murder (roughly, murder committed during the course of a felony), Capital Sexual Battery, and Capital Drug Trafficking are all charges that can be punishable by death upon conviction of the crime, unless committed by someone under 18 at the time the crime occurs.

If forcible breaking and entering is a felony, then any suspect 18 or older could be charged with Felony Murder.

However, Florida is currently not signing any new death warrants (for those convicted) until the execution method is fixed. (They had some problems with people not dying quickly enough, more or less.)

Does this really make any sense? Of all the wealthy pro athletes who live in South Florida, they pick #21?! Whose house, by all accounts, was more modest-looking from the outside than he could afford?

I hope these are the guys. I really do. But something doesn't sit right with me.

thanks for that info, good to know tafka

It would be nice if they meet a nice big redskin fan in jail though, "you got purdy teeth boy"

Here is a good bet for how suspects in this type of case might be charged (State of Florida Statutes):

Robbery

Robbery is the forcible, violent or threatening taking of property from another with intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person or owner of the property. Robbery is a second degree felony. If in the course of a robbery the defendant carries a firearm or other deadly weapon, the robbery is a first degree felony. Home invasion robbery occurs when the defendant enters a victim's home and robs the occupants in their dwelling. Home invasion robbery is a first degree felony.

H E L L O

This is just a story from the media we don't trust.

They might be all the things you have said up here but maybe not.

Don't be like Wilbon.

I hope these are the right guys.

I don't think they're abstaining from trying capital murder cases, there is just a hold on executions, centered around a case in Kentucky. The last execution by lethal injection in Florida was severely botched and they f'd the guy all up in the process of killing him.

I cannot wait to hear what Wilbon and Shapiro have to say about this. Now that it looks like Taylor was targetted because he was wealthy/away for the regular season and NOT because of any associations, I am eager to see how they will use this to STILL put blame on him instead of recognizing him for what he ended up being: the incredibly unlucky victim of random violence.

space, I don't see what the problem is? They still accomplished what they set out to accomplish, right? They still reached their established goal. If the person who was sentenced to die, suffered somewhat along the way, thats just part of the ride.

Like his girlfriend uncle said. Sean was a free safety until the end. He made sure his wife and child was safe. He will always be the Reaper and the man for protecting his wife and child in my eyes. All those that came out with the negative bs needs to go and say sorry to his family and little girl.

Seems strange that 3 "kids" would drive clear across the State to do this. I'm very interested in learning about how they linked these 3 to this crime.

Grow up, jj.

Open your eye's, and stop looking at what 'color' a person's skins happens to be.

js,

Florida is still prosecuting death penalty-eligible cases. A death sentence is generally backed up with a "life imprisonment - no parole" edict, either by sentencing or statute, in the event the execution does not take place for any reason.

This was reporetd in the miami Herald also.

Investigators believe the young men learned of Taylor's house through someone who unwittingly set up the burglary by bragging about the football star's wealth.

Space, thanks for the back-up on that. No one wants to hear that kind of talk.

I hear what you're saying on the 'cruel & unusual', but what about the victim, was their life not effected in that very same manner?

"cruel and unusual punishment"

An underneath route with Sean Taylor and LaRon playing safety.

Soup,

It's not unusual for "bad guys" to travel out of town to commit crimes. It makes it harder to track them down, if you think about it, as the local police probably know them already, but the out-of-town police do not.

That is certainly good to hear, I just hope that if they are the ones that did it...they will get what is coming to them. But remember this is just the initial phase and they could just be in for questioning...so until they are officially charged i'm going to fall back on this one.

I am against the death penalty. I can't believe how tempted I am to abandon those principals, but I guess thats why "fans" won't be on the jury. Life in prison, no chance of parole, no hope. Hard labor if possible (I think Florida still has a prison farm).

Lets stop with the racial stuff. Statistics would dictate that the assailants are probably black, but what does that matter? I swear I don't understand what the big deal is about the "epidemic" of black-on-black crime. I, for one, would not feel any better if Sean was killed by a white person or if Sean himself had been white. I don't understand why black-on-black violence is any worse than violence in general.

Another new post from Jason is up.

JJ take it elsewhere.

JM, right now thats what I'm struggling with the most. The fact that essentially ST was killed for nothing, which is what makes this that much harder to fathom. They ended up gaining nothing, from this break-in because they took nothing. Its just so senseless, and such a waste of a young life.

jm220 hit the nail on the head.

I do hope that this lead turns out to be correct. I would love to have some closure on this case as would his family.

As an aside, imagine if they were correct and Sean wasn't home. We could well be mourning the death of his wife and/or child.

Wilbon will use the B.S. that it wasn't random because they targeted Sean Taylor's house. He'll ignore the fact that they really just targeted a "rich guy's" house and it would not have mattered if he was an investment banker that grew up in Potomac.

Liberal, I guess the problem I have with 'life in prison' is that at what cost to the taxpayers over the rest of the life of a 19 year old? Lets say that he/she lives to be 80, we're talking for the next 61 years he/she is living off of the taxpayers dime.

I don't want to get into a debate on this, I'm just really angry right now. ST is dead, because someone wanted to take the easy way out of things, and make a name for themselves by ripping him off.

Perhaps all of our anger and speculation reveals we need to calm down, stop speculating and wait until more "facts" are released.

We don't even know yet if these are the murderers...

jj, your comments about the race of the perpetrators have no basis in anything except your own biases. Most people get killed by people of their own race, so I don't know why you felt the need to mention that the assailants were "probably black." If you are white and you get murdered, chances are a white person will be responsible.

Greg, thanks to the appeals process it actually costs more to give someone the death penalty than it does to sentence them to life without parole.

Good thing here is, whoever did this will likely be charged with Felony Murder even if they didn't intend to kill ST. Under Florida law (and the law of most states), felony murder is when your actions in the commission of a felony result in the death of someone else, even if you didn't intend to kill them. Here, these guys broke into ST's house at night, which is the definition of burglary -- a felony. So even if they didn't intend to kill him, ST died as a result of these guys' actions in committing a felony.

Penalty for felony murder under Florida law? THE DEATH PENALTY.

Wilbon will use the B.S. that it wasn't random because they targeted Sean Taylor's house. He'll ignore the fact that they really just targeted a "rich guy's" house and it would not have mattered if he was an investment banker that grew up in Potomac.

Posted by: LiberalMike | November 30, 2007 01:33 PM
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Nope. Someone from the hood bragged to these dudes about where Sean lived and how much money he had. So they tried to break into his house.

If he were an investment banker (code for not black, I am assuming here) he would not have had friends in the bad part of town telling his business.

This is actually how most people end up getting their house broken into. Somebody tells somebody else about an easy job, so the hoodlums give it a try.

I would say Wilbon is way more right than wrong.