It's doubtful that Bob Orlosky planned to become a soldier in the rural border war when in 1993 he bought a large piece of property outside the community of Jamul, about 20 miles east of San Diego. The electrical contractor then in his 40s found himself, however, in circumstances that spiraled out of control, so much so that in the past six weeks, he's been on trial for first-degree murder.
Today, a jury acquitted Orlosky, 56, of that murder charge and some other counts, but were unable to agree on lesser charges such as voluntary manslaughter. The District Attorney announced he'll be retried on those unresolved counts. I generally don't post on items I directly cover for my main job, but in this case I make an exception because it fits in so well with what I've been writing about.
I've previously written on this blog that the Mexican border has in some areas dissolved into open warfare. Add some of the great difficulties facing our rural communities, and this now-56-year-old man truly had his hands full -- to overflowing. Orlosky, by my observation a rather mild-mannered person, was terribly miscast as a front-line warrior, completely unfit to make the sort of life-or-death split-second decisions required by someone in his precarious position. He might be a fine electrical contractor, someone who worked on large commercial projects throughout the Southwest. A soldier, no.
Some background. After he bought, he found that illegal immigrants from the border, about 10 miles to the south, would cross his property on their trek north. On one occasion, he counted 125 people in a group walking across his land, without permission.
Then there were the robberies. Jamul used to be just before the end of civilization. While some western stretches of town have become highly populated, most of it remains quite rural. His place was on a hill along a road that had a name that didn't end with "boulevard" or "avenue." His ended with "Truck Trail." He was in the middle of nowhere.
His property was large enough to store electrical equipment and a trailer that housed his offices. It made for an inviting target and, when he testified, he said his losses ran into the many tens of thousands of dollars.
Making things worse, in the past five years, the cost of construction materials has skyrocketed, and there was a corresponding jump in their scrap value. Chief among these materials has been copper. As an electrical contractor, Orlosky always had a lot of copper on hand. The thefts just got worse. It was usually drug addicts who stole copper and resold it to recyclers for quick money and, the unfortunate coincidences continuing to build for Orlosky, the East County area of San Diego is full of methamphetamine addicts.
By this time, he'd bought an AR-15 assault rifle. In mid-November 2006, he used that rifle to apprehend three copper thieves. Plagued by illegal immigrants crossing his land and drug addicts stealing his livelihood, Orlosky reached his fateful evening just two weeks later.
According to Orlosky's own testimony, sometime around 7pm on Dec. 1, 2006, alarms from security sensors went off warning him that people had entered his property. He saw a Jeep Cherokee go by and witnessed people enter his equipment yard. He got into his own pickup truck and drove to where they went, and pulled to the side of the road and waited. He got out of his truck as the Jeep came down the hill.
Here's where things get dicey. The young man driving the Jeep testified that he and one of his passengers were interested in buying homes, and there were real estate signs there that prompted them to drive into the area. Seeing Orlosky by his pickup, they slowed down to see if he might need help.
Orlosky recalled it differently. He tried to block the Jeep's path with his pickup, but the Jeep came quickly down the hill, straight at him. He fired the AR-15 repeatedly as it went past -- it did squeeze by his truck. The other man said to be interested in purchasing a house, Charles Crow, was struck by a bullet in his head and died. A second passenger was wounded.
What the mens' intentions really were remains unclear. The sheriff's lead investigator testified that they had sold copper to recyclers in the past, but there was no evidence in the truck that they were trying to steal something that night. The jury obviously didn't believe the driver or the person who was wounded.
Orlosky made the really boneheaded move of going to Las Vegas for several days -- he claimed to handle a new business venture -- and was arrested for murder when he came back.
Overwhelmed man just protecting his property? That's obviously how the jury saw it, since he was acquitted of murder.
A man completely out of his element fighting a two-front rural border war? Absolutely.
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To be clear, I covered the trial about once a week. I saw a lot of important stuff, and missed some other key portions. I saw enough to get a feel for what happened. I listened to the testimony of the Jeep driver, the sheriff's detective and the defendant.
The story portrayed on local talk radio was of Orlosky getting railroaded by an out of control liberal DA's Office. Since it's likely I'll have a hand in covering the retrial, I'll keep my opinions to myself for now on that issue.
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So much for Barack Obama's integrity. This is turning into, by far, the most challenging week of his campaign.
First, it's learned that after his anti-NAFTA campaign tirades, he reassured Canada that it was just political talk and that our northern neighbor had nothing to worry about. He denied that he'd contacted the Canadians in that manner and was caught being way, way undertruthful. Political lesson number one, never lie to the media because they'll rub your face in it.
Second, his major Chicago political backer has gone on trial for corruption, and is accused of a highly dubious land deal involving Obama.
Now rival Hillary Clinton is getting back into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. As of this writing, she's headed to a big win in Ohio and is narrowly leading in Texas. Both offer a bucketful of delegates.
Obama has had it pretty easy to this point. The measure of a candidate, indeed any political leader, is how they react when under pressure. When things go poorly. Now we have our chance to examine how Obama handles himself, and how his campaign conducts itself, when he's under a microscope.
