Dude forces his roomate at gunpoint to sell bitcoins!

[saddambitcoin]

Damn. This reminds me of the Party Monster guy, Michael Alig. He also beat his roommate in the head and went to prison for 17 years. Macaulay Culkin made a movie about him.

[pawel7777]

He does not have a prayer at arguing this was self defense. He went and got a weapon then returned and murdered his roommate. I don't think NY even has the castle doctrine. That means even if someone is in his home trying to kill him, he is obligated to try running away and not fight.  He's a murderer and his life is over.
 

What if the other guy had a shotgun and threatened to kill him? And if there was no other way to run away from the apartment?

All depends on circumstances.

[TaunSew]

Blood on the streets - time to buy? 

[Cryddit]

So here's how I read it. 

Guy A trashes the apartment.
Guy B says "you gotta pay for that"
Guy A says "I'm broke cause I used my money to buy weed"
Guy B says "you're not broke, you've got all that Bitcoin crap."
Guy A says "I'm holding on to that."
Guy B says "You gotta sell it and pay for the repairs."

... and it escalates from there. 

Of course it could also start with guy B wanting to buy drugs or something with Guy A's money.

We don't know what went on just from the article.

[wickedgoodtrader]

Story sounds suspect. If you can get to the kitchen to grab a hammer and then return to beat him.. you can easily gtfo the door. Logic says this guy beat the other guy with a hammer and then made up some bogus story about how he was tied up at gunpoint.

[stevenh512]

What are you going to do when someone comes into your home, ties you up and attempts to kill you?  When you escape do you think you are jsut going to waltz out of the apartment?

In this particular instance? That's exactly what I'd do. If he could break free of his restraints, make it to the kitchen, grab a hammer and come back to kill his attacker without getting shot then he obviously wasn't in as much danger as you think he was in. He would have been better off leaving the apartment and calling the police, holding someone at gunpoint is a serious enough crime that he'd probably be safe for at least several years.

I'm all for self defense, I keep a gun, a crossbow and several knives and swords where I can reach them if I ever need them and I wouldn't hesitate to use them against an armed attacker if I thought it was the only way to save my own life. That being said, if I can safely get away from my attacker (which was clearly the case here) I have absolutely no right to come back and kill him later.

Yes, but they still intend to charge him of murder, not manslaughter.

As they should. He clearly could have (and in fact, did) gotten away from his attacker safely and he made the conscious decision, instead of running away and calling the police, to grab a weapon and come back and use that weapon. How anyone can argue that it was self defense or even voluntary or involuntary manslaughter is beyond me, it's clearly premeditated murder.

[thriftshopping]

What are you going to do when someone comes into your home, ties you up and attempts to kill you?  When you escape do you think you are jsut going to waltz out of the apartment?

In this particular instance? That's exactly what I'd do. If he could break free of his restraints, make it to the kitchen, grab a hammer and come back to kill his attacker without getting shot then he obviously wasn't in as much danger as you think he was in. He would have been better off leaving the apartment and calling the police, holding someone at gunpoint is a serious enough crime that he'd probably be safe for at least several years.

I'm all for self defense, I keep a gun, a crossbow and several knives and swords where I can reach them if I ever need them and I wouldn't hesitate to use them against an armed attacker if I thought it was the only way to save my own life. That being said, if I can safely get away from my attacker (which was clearly the case here) I have absolutely no right to come back and kill him later.

I think it really depends on how much time elapsed between the time he broke free from his restraints and the time he hit his roommate/captor with the hammer. If it was a very short period then he could claim that he did not know that he could escape the apartment to safety.

If however several minutes passed then the self defense claim is more shaky as the several minutes would have given him more then enough time to escape

[BittBurger]

Bitcoin:  Satans Currency.

The signs are everywhere.  Murder.  Intrigue.  Greed.  Theft.  Deceit.  Suicides. 

-B-

[windpath]

That's just about the only way to hack securely stored bitcoins, with a $5 hammer....

[HysteriaBit]

Wow this is some serious shit I guess the owner of the forum will be contacted by the police soon to see if they have anything in pms etc.

[windpath]

Wow this is some serious shit I guess the owner of the forum will be contacted by the police soon to see if they have anything in pms etc.

They were roommates and business partners, why would the send a PM?

[Flashman]

Wow this is some serious shit I guess the owner of the forum will be contacted by the police soon to see if they have anything in pms etc.

He's getting used to it 

[koshgel]

Fucking nuts

Not even sure what parts of the story to believe. Must have been in some serious money troubles to go to that extent. Doesn't feel very much like self-defense.

[seabass1985]

That's absolutely crazy, the drop in bitcoin is going to create a huge crime spree!   

[freedomno1]

I cant believe someone acutally tied someone for Bitcoin. I cant believe someone murdered someone because of a conflict related to Bitcoin.

Also, he is protecting himself.. why is the court charging him so much?

Well this is a bad example of the 5 dollar method of stealing a persons bitcoins since they are usually secure.
Duck tape and a hammer
That said this is crazy stuff.

[Baitty]

Real sad news...cant believe its happended any more updates on it?

[Bitcoins101]

1. $2750 rent per month for one-room apartment in Queens??

That's a bargain these days.

[ivonna]

Wow this is some serious shit I guess the owner of the forum will be contacted by the police soon to see if they have anything in pms etc.

They were roommates and business partners, why would the send a PM?

Not only that but the portion of the story that is relevant  has nothing to do with their business. I would think all the relevant evidence would be in their apartment and in their brokerage accounts

[untel]

They seem seemed to be some nice gentlemen of Bitcoin:

https://i.imgur.com/GusmJfo.png

We need some memes on these pics 

Dude! The guy is dead...

[Q7]

I kept reading this again and again was wondering, why does he need to force him to sell the bitcoins at gunpoint. Why can't he just rob him and take away everything.