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  • MONDAY AUGUST 15 2005 7:00 PM

"Marine of the Year" Charged With Attempted Murder

Submitted by MissTyrios

Edited by MissTyrios

Last month, Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir was named "Marine of the Year" for his service in Iraq. But today, he faced charges of attempted murder after opening fire on a nightclub crowd outside his apartment in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Early Saturday morning, police said, he pointed a 12-gauge shotgun out the window of his second-floor apartment and fired a single shot at a noisy crowd leaving nearby nightclubs. Lissette Cumba, 15, and Kelvin Castro, 20, were both struck in the leg by fragments. They were treated at local hospitals and released.

Cotnoir, a married father of two daughters, told police he feared for the safety of his family after someone threw an empty juice bottle through his bedroom window.


Cotnoir pled not guilty, saying publicly that his job as a mortician preparing the bodies of dead U.S. soldiers took a severe psychological toll on him during his 10 months in Iraq. He claims he meant to only fire a warning shot.

[Victim Lissette] Cumba's uncle, James Rodriquez, was visibly angry after Cotnoir's arraignment.

"She's been crying all night," he said of his niece. "If this man is sick, why was he holding weapons in his house?"

James Stokes, a retired minister who went to school with Cotnoir's father, said he does not believe Daniel Cotnoir was trying to kill anyone.

"This man is a wonderful person," he said. "Something might have happened when he came back from Iraq. ... He's out there picking up body parts," he said.


Cotnoir will undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. He is charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and one count of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

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Comments
GramNegative

GramNegative

I'm lost
October 2004

AUG 15, 2005 07:31 PM

30% of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems

His "warning shot" was pointed down into the crowd instead of in the air? It's good to know he wasn't working crowd control while in Iraq...

Marty_512

Marty_512

Waynesboro, VA
January 2004

AUG 15, 2005 07:37 PM

that's fucking crazy. i was born there. blackeyed

filmME

filmME

Vancouver, BC
May 2003

AUG 15, 2005 07:37 PM

Get those troops home. Man, its just ont doing anything good being over there.


*waits for bones_708 to say something stupid*

[Edited on Aug 15, 2005 7:38PM]

Cyric

Cyric

I'm lost
October 2003

AUG 15, 2005 07:43 PM

Why was he charged with a crime? Are'nt we supposed to just support the troops?

Phoebus

Phoebus

Italy
OLD SKOOL

AUG 15, 2005 07:52 PM

Thanks for the brilliant contribution, Cyric. whatever

Cyric

Cyric

I'm lost
October 2003

AUG 15, 2005 07:55 PM

Thanks!

jayenh

jayenh

Fairbanks, AK
March 2004

AUG 15, 2005 07:56 PM

Cyric said:
Why was he charged with a crime? Are'nt we supposed to just support the troops?


Yes. They are also issued "get out of jail free for bratwurst grilling atrocities" cards.

whatever

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

AUG 15, 2005 07:57 PM

It was my understanding that being shot in the leg is specifically not intent to murder, and the charge is limited to assault with a deadly weapon. Why is the DA choosing to approach the case this way?

I might be mistaken though, that might just be for NY state.

SPANKY84

SPANKY84

Killeen, TX
November 2004

AUG 15, 2005 08:02 PM

[

His "warning shot" was pointed down into the crowd instead of in the air? It's good to know he wasn't working crowd control while in Iraq...


We’ll how do you know it wasn’t a ricochet? I’m sure he felt threatened enough to encourage his actions.

[Edited on Aug 16, 2005 7:03AM]

dead_milkman

dead_milkman

Calgary, AB
July 2005

AUG 15, 2005 08:03 PM

Umm... SirPsychoSexy... he was shooting a shotgun... from a window above a crowd. Hardly a precision shot to the leg. 12g shot could as easily have killed.

MissTyrios

misstyrios

NEWSWIRE

Allston, MA

AUG 15, 2005 08:03 PM

SirPsychoSexy said:
It was my understanding that being shot in the leg is specifically not intent to murder, and the charge is limited to assault with a deadly weapon. Why is the DA choosing to approach the case this way?

I might be mistaken though, that might just be for NY state.



I'm fairly certain it was because he fired indiscriminately into a crowd.

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

AUG 15, 2005 08:09 PM

If you take 200,000 people and send them to a place when they are in danger and bear witness to being shot or blown up from the second they get there to the second they leave...
All I am saying that with that many people statistically you will still get plenty of results like this one, even with the mandatory "post-battlefield therapy" that they have established recently.

This is a problem that every society that goes to war has faced since time immemorial.

robosagogo

robosagogo

State College, PA
September 2004

AUG 15, 2005 08:09 PM

dvldg said:
[

His "warning shot" was pointed down into the crowd instead of in the air? It's good to know he wasn't working crowd control while in Iraq...



We’ll how do you know it wasn’t a ricochet? I’m sure he felt threatened enough to encourage his actions.

[Edited on Aug 16, 2005 7:03AM]

Why are you sure of that?

GramNegative

GramNegative

I'm lost
October 2004

AUG 15, 2005 08:12 PM

dvldg said:

gramnegative said:

His "warning shot" was pointed down into the crowd instead of in the air? It's good to know he wasn't working crowd control while in Iraq...



We’ll how do you know it wasn’t a ricochet?


I dont, but firing into the sky usually means you don't get a ricochet.

I’m sure he felt threatened enough to encourage his actions.


Yeah, thats where you can work in the mental health angle. The question is whether a court of law will find his actions justified, not encouraged.
I don't think leaving a night club justifies the use of lethal force - at least one of the victims of his shot did not throw the bottle thru his window.


[Edited on Aug 15, 2005 by GramNegative]

PaulNikon

PaulNikon

Melbourne, FL
February 2003

AUG 15, 2005 08:18 PM

If I had a wife and two kids. I would have done the same thing to protect them. Could have easily been a bottle of gasoline.

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