The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 15: It Was Either Him or Me
Self-Defense pg 5: Rico’s Ranch Hands
Later that night…
Eddie and Arnold have hogtied Rico, and are hauling their heifer back home.
EDDIE
Ah, so that’s how you do it.
STEER
Don’t I get any sleep?
ARNOLD (to Rico)
Now you jest stay put ’til the sheriff comes tomorrow.
On the way back home, Arnold recognized a few more of the Morgan brothers’ cattle on Rico’s land.
The brothers spot some cows with a circle-M brand
ARNOLD [isn’t that Eddie?]
Pass me another rope, Eddie. We got more cows to rustle back.
Rico’s ranch hands ran out to stop them.
Cowboys run out, firing their pistols and rifles.
But then Rico did something strange:
Rico, still hogtied
RICO
Whoa, boys!
Tying and leaving Rico (is that a play on RICO?) outside could be said to put him in danger from wildlife. Rattlesnakes, for example, have become deadly in recent years because the non-deadly ones get killed…
Plus the issue of an untended fire, and death or injury by exposure (temperatures can drop a lot in the semi-desert at night, and, if the sheriff takes long enough, the heat of the day)
How confident does Arnold have to be? For instance, if Arnold genuinely thought he was taking the Morgan Brothers’ cows back, but was in fact stealing Rico’s lawfully owned cattle? Or if he’s suspicious that they belong to Morgan Bro.s? And what standard of proof would apply if the Morgan Bro.s claimed to own the cows that had been taken back, but it was their word against Rico’s?