GRAND JUNCTION |No criminal charges will be filed in a fatal January shooting prosecutors say is covered by Colorado’s “Make My Day” law.
Mesa County authorities announced Wednesday that no criminal charges will be filed in the death of Randy Cook, KKCO reported . Cook was shot and killed on New Year’s Day by Joe Hoskins in Hoskins’ home.
Video surveillance confirmed that Cook was among a group that forced entry to the home, District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said in a letter to Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey.
“I am very sorry that Colorado’s criminal justice system does not have an adequate way to address this tragic, travesty of a situation,” Hautzinger wrote.
Colorado’s “Make My Day” law protects an occupant of a dwelling from prosecution for using deadly physical force when someone has made unlawful entry and there’s a reasonable belief crimes have or will be committed. The law was adopted in 1985.
Hautzinger noted that it makes no difference how the occupant has conducted himself, or how much the occupant has done to further inflame a given situation.
Cook died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
At a January vigil for Cook, his brother told reporters he wanted to see charges brought in the death.
“It is concerning that nobody’s behind bars for this,” Darren Cook told the station.
Concerns that anyone should be behind bars, much less Hoskins, for this incident. I feel sorry for Mr. D. Cook’s loss in this case. What was Mr. R. Cook doing breaking and entering into Mr. Hoskins’s home in the first place? Mr. Hoskins should have the right to defend his home, his life and the life of his family.
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