I love keeping a low profile. "lawyer killed for his 43 guns"

[stevenhyde]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1734980,CST-NWS-smother26.article

Attorney Carl W. Kuhn represented Terry Bratcher on several traffic offenses in DuPage County, then later paid him to repair his cars and do chores around his home in rural Bartlett.

Bratcher responded to the help by smothering the 82-year-old Kuhn in his home as part of a plan to steal the lawyer's extensive gun collection, DuPage County authorities said Tuesday as Bratcher appeared in court to face first-degree murder and home-invasion charges.

After Kuhn's slaying last Friday, Bratcher and another man allegedly stole 43 firearms from his home in hopes of reselling them, officials said.

"They wanted the guns," said DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba, whose detectives began investigating after Kuhn -- an enthusiastic gun collector and longtime official with the Illinois State Rifle Association -- was found dead in his home Friday night.

During Bratcher's first court appearance Tuesday, the 43-year-old West Chicago man was ordered held without bail in the DuPage County Jail.

A second man charged in Kuhn's death, 21-year-old Keith Allen of Chicago, remained jailed on $3 million bail.

Both men have implicated themselves in statements to police, DuPage County officials said.

In a videotaped statement, Bratcher showed investigators how he smothered Kuhn by pressing the older man's face into a bed cushion, prosecutor Robert Berlin said.

A phone call Bratcher made to Allen the day of the murder helped link the two men to the killing, Berlin said.

Bratcher allegedly entered Kuhn's home first on Friday -- a routine occurrence -- then later called Allen, who joined him at the home and assisted in the murder and gun theft, Berlin said. Guns taken from Kuhn's home -- including rifles, pistols and shotguns -- later were found in Bratcher's garage, officials said.

But a number of other weapons weren't taken from the house, though it appeared a safe in the home had been damaged in an attempt to force it open, a law enforcement source said.

Bratcher himself contacted police Friday night to say he had found Kuhn dead inside the home, the source said.

Kuhn, a World War II veteran, had worked for more than 50 years as a lawyer in DuPage County, and was active in organizations that included the American Legion, Knights of Columbus and Illinois State Rifle Association.

"He was a great guy, a civic-minded guy," said Richard Pearson, executive director of the rifle association. "Whatever he got involved with, he gave it his all."

[Honu]

and sadly why I say never let any kind of thug around your house no matter how much you think they want help or they say they need it !

[CarlosDJackal]

This is why they invented Discrete Cases.

I hope the (guilty) scumbags fry for this. :mad:

[John_Wayne777]

I'm not a criminal defense attorney...

...but if I was, I would keep my clients well the hell away from anything involving my personal life. I sure as hell wouldn't have them in my home.

[SeriousStudent]

I'm not a criminal defense attorney...

...but if I was, I would keep my clients well the hell away from anything involving my personal life. I sure as hell wouldn't have them in my home.

No more callers, we have a winner.

Exactly right. All my firearms are hidden, and stay hidden. You never know much about the "service personnel" - cable guy, repair tech, etc. How many of them are going to pass on "Gee, that guy had a huge gun safe!" to some thief?

And as for allowing some certified scumbag on the property..... :eek:

[Jer]

I'm not a criminal defense attorney...

...but if I was, I would keep my clients well the hell away from anything involving my personal life. I sure as hell wouldn't have them in my home.

Bingo. I don't even give people on Craig's List my address or my phone number and they just want to buy a computer part or something. Not really a high risk demographic but I still don't trust anyone. Inviting a criminal over to your home regularly and letting them get close to you.... asking for death. RIP to the deceased but I really feel bad for his family. His actions is causing them sorrow and pain.

Be safe out there people. This world is a lot more real than most realize.

[SteyrAUG]

I'm not a criminal defense attorney...

...but if I was, I would keep my clients well the hell away from anything involving my personal life. I sure as hell wouldn't have them in my home.

To be fair he represented the guy on traffic tickets not a B&E case.

And it could be ANYONE that plots against you. They need not be a typical looking dirtbag, lots of times it is a friend of the family or even a family member. Sad too because it sounds like the lawyer was a decent guy WWII vet, old time lawyer (when the profession meant something) and apparently willing to try and help a guy out when he can.

As for keeping a low profile, that only works so far. There will always be somebody willing to hurt or kill you for what you have or what they "think" you may have. Could be your watch, car or just the fact that you live in a nice house. So unless your plan is to drive a Sanford & Son pickup, wear Salvation Army clothes and live in a crap neighborhood you are always going to be a potential target for somebody.

The reality is there are a lot of shitty people out there and they tend to victimize decent people the most. And in this case what made him a victim the most was the fact that at 82 he was extremely vulnerable. If it wasn't the guns I'm sure they'd have eventually seen something else they'd consider killing him for. That is how these pieces of shit think.

[John_Wayne777]

To be fair he represented the guy on traffic tickets not a B&E case.

And it could be ANYONE that plots against you.


Of course...and that's why I'm exceptionally careful about who I allow in my house or near my house. Ditto my car.

If it were up to me there would be armed guards at the entry points to my neighborhood keeping anyone who doesn't have business there out.

[dbrowne1]

There's a reason why insurance companies charge a lot more to insure guns, and why they're not included in most homeowners and renters policies. They are HUGE theft targets and one would be wise to keep a low profile about gun ownership.

Ditch the NRA and guns stickers on your car, don't leave gun/shooting related trash visible outside, keep gun-related stuff of any kind out of plain sight from windows, don't let casual house guests or service people see any of it, and don't talk about your gun ownership and where you live with people you don't know.

[dbrowne1]

I'm not a criminal defense attorney...

...but if I was, I would keep my clients well the hell away from anything involving my personal life. I sure as hell wouldn't have them in my home.

Yes. That's why lawyers have offices. All my ammo and gun stuff gets shipped here too.:D

[jmp45]

There's a reason why insurance companies charge a lot more to insure guns, and why they're not included in most homeowners and renters policies. They are HUGE theft targets and one would be wise to keep a low profile about gun ownership.

Ditch the NRA and guns stickers on your car, don't leave gun/shooting related trash visible outside, keep gun-related stuff of any kind out of plain sight from windows, don't let casual house guests or service people see any of it, and don't talk about your gun ownership and where you live with people you don't know.

Same with guitars and amps. +1 for Craigslist, never at home if possible. I sold 3 guitars lately, meeting in an open parking lot at mall 25 miles away.

[Iowa Don]

drbrowne1 said it all: keep things out of sight, and especially any gun-related stuff off your car or home windows, as well as the BS signs about armed and dangerous and the rest of that crap. All you are doing is sending an invitation to thieves or home invaders to come on in when you are gone.

And don't be too chatty at your range until you get to really know people. I used to visit a now deceased retired Sheriff's Dep. Captain regularly who also had an FFL. You might find 8 to 15 people down in his basement talking and having a good time without booze. Some people talked too freely just the same.

One fellow regularly talked about how he had built a secret compartment in the headboard of his bed! Yup, you guessed it. He came home one night and found his guns all gone and the bed destroyed. Just because you FEEL safe talking it doesn't mean you should THINK you're safe. Notice I stress the difference between emotion and logic.

Keep your shit covered in your SUV, pickup, or whatever. Like the man said, keep the gun safe hidden. If you own your home, build in an extra closet or create a strong room in the basement. If you rent like I do, Zanotti makes some pretty good (no, they ain't Ft. Knox, but,,,) safes that you could put in a closet and bolt to the floor.

If they really want it, they'll get it, but we might as well make them work like hell to get it, hadn't we?

This applies to all your house entry/exit and safe room doors. Door hinges: drill into the stationary loops of the hinge from the inside of the door and into the pins, but not completely through. Then tap and put allen screws in them. I use 1'8" to 5/32" drill and screws. When you've finished , you effectively have 3/8" of hardened steel holding each pin in place. Now the pins can't be knocked out easily. So even if the they get in through a window they still can't get out the front or back door because you have double key deadbolts on them, don't you?

Replace the hinge screws with some 12 4" screws. put a heavy duty striker plate for the lock with more big screws in place. A drill and a file can be used to make a large striker plate from 1/8" plate that will allow for more than just 2 screws. More work, naturally. It's up to you.

For the closet/safe room this is a cheap and effective method. Screw some 1" plywood, strand-board, etc. to the inside of the door. That makes it very hard to just smash a hole in the door.Put some #12 3" screws into the wood work all around the casing. Makes it hard to pound the door in. Put a commercial grade or Medeco double key dead bolt on the door. Be sure you have at least a 1" throw on the lock bolt.

If you happen to be in a insecure area put1 lock at knee height and 1 lock shoulder high. If you're real serious, drill a hole at each end of a 1/4" 1" steel bar by "X" ('"x" being the distance between the thickest part of the door jambs from one side of the door opening to the other). Use that bar as template to drill a hole in each casing. two common hex head bolts to slide in the holes. This will prevent the door frame from being spread apart and is simply slid out of place after unlocking the door.

Then you'll have done what you can do and still not spent a lot of money to be left behind when you move. Put a cheap inside thumb turn/outside key lock in place of the good stuff when you leave.

[SteyrAUG]

Of course...and that's why I'm exceptionally careful about who I allow in my house or near my house. Ditto my car.

If it were up to me there would be armed guards at the entry points to my neighborhood keeping anyone who doesn't have business there out.

How sad is it we have to live like that.

[armakraut]

We live like this because the justice system isn't allowed to do its job and often times ends up being pointed back at you. The boots on the ground (cops) fight with one hand tied behind their back most of the time. They need to make bad visits to bad people, they need to hunt bad guys and be recognized among the most respected members of the community, just like doctors and lawyers used to be. An old acquaintance of mine has their own local radio show, one time he went on a rant about how Obama and other liberals should quit their day jobs for a while, go through POST, then put on a badge and gun. He'd like to see how they'd handle getting dispatch calls night after night directing them to roll up on blacked out houses in an effort to defend people too lazy to purchase a firearm and protect their own lives, property, and dignity.

The only real justice is accidental or incidental, because at the top the system cares about the letter of the law and what they can get away with. Most lawyers and prosecutors don't care about right and wrong, they consider the concept a hindrance to the written law. We have CFR's that likely go to the moon and back several times in 10pt type. How many 10yr/250k crimes is everyone here guilty of if someone went through your house with a fine tooth comb?

[SteyrAUG]

We live like this because the justice system isn't allowed to do its job and often times ends up being pointed back at you.


I know that, just saying it is sad.

I knew a different country once.

[HAMMERDROP]

I know that, just saying it is sad.

I knew a different country once.

I hear you ... Damn shame we have to cast the evil eye on anyone we dont know but that helps keep us on our toes in 2009.

Michael