MISSOURI - Man shot in road rage upset that prosecutor won’t charge

OFF THE WIRE
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A motorcyclist who was shot in the chest by a motorist during a road rage incident in O’Fallon, Mo., spoke out Tuesday, asking for a grand jury to hear the case and criticizing the St. Charles County prosecutor for not filing charges.
“But for the grace of God, I would be a dead man,” the motorcyclist, Keith Randell, 49, of St. Ann, said Tuesday, reading from a statement at his attorney’s office in Clayton.
“This is the result of an aggressive driver,” Randell said. “He chose to shoot me when he was not in fear of any serious injury.”
St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas said Monday he would not file criminal charges against the motorist, adding the man was justified in shooting because the motorcyclist reached into his car and punched him first.
On Tuesday, Banas said his decision was final, unless police presented new evidence.
Randell said Tuesday he slapped the driver. But the driver, Arthur Setchfield, and witnesses say Randell punched him. Either way, the driver used potentially deadly force to protect himself against unlawful force, which is allowed under Missouri’s so-called castle doctrine law, Banas said.
Setchfield, 65, of O’Fallon, Mo., told a reporter during a brief phone interview Tuesday that Randell was wrong.
“He can talk all he wants if he wants his 15 minutes of fame,” he said. “My side’s the truth.”
The incident happened the afternoon of May 26 at the Bryan Road exit at Interstate 70. Randell was riding with his wife on separate Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and Setchfield was driving with his wife and 9-year-old grandson and a dog in a Mazda 6 sedan. Each thought the other had cut them off.
Banas said the intersection is confusing but it appeared the motorcyclists had turned into the wrong lane.
Setchfield yelled at the motorcyclists, and he and Randell began arguing.
When Randell approached the car on foot, Setchfield took his semiautomatic .380-caliber handgun out of his glove box and placed it in his lap, according to a police report. They continued arguing, and Setchfield said Randell spit at him and he may have spit back. After that, Randell hit Setchfield in the face, and Setchfield then fired one shot at the motorcyclist, Banas said.
After the incident, Setchfield dropped off his wife and grandson at home before driving to the O’Fallon police station and telling them what happened.
According to a police report, Setchfield went up to an officer in the station’s parking lot, appearing upset, and told him, “I’m the one who shot him, officer.” The confused officer asked him to explain.
“I am the one you’re looking for. I shot him after he punched me in the face,” Setchfield said. “I had no choice. Damn it, I’m scared.”
Setchfield told police that as Randell approached the car, he could ‘see fire in his eyes“ and got his gun out because he was concerned for his family’s safety.
Randell is represented by personal injury attorney Robert Pedroli Jr. who would not comment on whether he would file a civil lawsuit in the case. The law protects people justified in using deadly force against civil litigation.
Randell, a mail hauler who works for a federal government contractor, had the bullet removed on Monday. He said the bullet broke two ribs and narrowly missed his heart and spinal cord. He maintains that Setchfield was the aggressor and stopped abruptly in the road, forcing him to stop. Randell said he feared the driver would back up and hit him. He said he slapped Setchfield in reaction to being spit at.
As he recounted what happened, he broke down and his attorney finished reading his statement. “What is this world coming to when any silly driving situation turns into a shooting?” the statement read. “The law shouldn’t protect this.”
Pedroli said legislators around the country have gone too far in broadening gun laws and have been influenced by gun lobbyists. Banas said a grand jury would not like the fact that no matter what led to the confrontation, a motorcyclist walked up to a car driven by a grandfather with a grandmother, child and a dog.
“The only person that is missing here is Mother Teresa as a passenger,” Banas said.
He pointed out that he is bound to uphold the state statute. “It’s a very difficult case, and I don’t necessarily agree that he should be able to use that much force in this situation, but the statute gives him that, and that’s what we’re left with.”
Randell disagreed. “I am not getting justice because of the Missouri castle law,” he said.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/13/3655984/man-shot-in-road-rage-upset-that.html#storylink=cpy