Word: goetz
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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More than two years after Bernhard Goetz pulled out a revolver and shot four black teenagers who had demanded $5 from him in a Manhattan subway car, his case went before a New York City jury last week. The panel of two blacks and ten whites, half of whom have been victims of crime, will try to settle a question millions have debated since the December 1984 episode: Was the subway vigilante justified in defending himself against what he saw as an imminent attack, or was he a trigger-happy racist poised to strike at the slightest provocation...
...Goetz case meandered through the court system since his arrest...
Baker said the defense would seek to prove that Goetz fired five times in rapid succession. Police have said that Goetz told officers he shot all four youths then turned back to Cabey and shot him again, saying, "You don't look so bad, here's another...
...January 1985, a grand jury refused to indict him on attempted murder charges, accusing him only of illegal weapons possession. A second grand jury was empaneled, and in March 1985 it indicted Goetz on the current charges...
...judge later dropped the attempted murder charges, but the state's highest court reinstated them in July, holding that the prosecutor was correct to argue that Goetz's actions must be judged by whether he acted as a "reasonable man" might have in the same situation...