Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
An Indiana Law 3L was arrested last week, accused of firing a rifle from his Bloomington apartment balcony. Jesse Sneed, 27, was charged with criminal recklessness in connection with the incident, in which no one was hurt. Sneed (pictured, top left) was summarily suspended on Friday and cannot return on campus, according to a university spokesman. Here are reports from TaxProf and ATL.What jumped out at the Law Blog were reports that he was apparently aiming his rifle at his Real Estate Transfer Finance and Development casebook (pictured, top right). The book was found in the parking lot, shot clean through by two rounds, according to investigators. Sneed, who reportedly had an AR-15 and an AK-47 in his apartment, is reportedly set to undergo a psychiatric evaluation while awaiting a court appearance.
Punchline #1:
The Law Blog reached out for the authors of Real Estate Transfer Finance and Development, law professors Grant Nelson (pictured, bottom left) and Dale Whitman (pictured, bottom right). The book, now in its seventh edition, was first published in 1976. As far as we know, it's the first time it's been shot at."Are you serious?" said Whitman, the former dean of Missouri Law who is teaching this semester at Wash U Law. "Wow, he must not have liked that class very much." Pausing to reflect upon the meaning of all this, Whitman then added, "I've had people that say my scholarship is shot through with holes, but I've never had anyone prove it literally."
Punchline #2, from a Georgetown law student:
For instance, is it ever justifiable to shoot your casebook? (Answer: A classmate of mine familiar with the book says this was most likely self-defense.)
Who says lawyers aren't funny?
Comments
Hmmm...
The deep-seated problems with real estate finance continue.
Posted by: threetorches | October 25, 2007 9:26 AM
Not surprising at all. When I was in a 2-year paralegal studies program many years ago, one of my classmates ceremonially and individually burned every single page of her 2-volume family law text at the end of the semester. If I had owned a fireplace at the time, I might have done the same thing. Ended up selling my copy to another student instead, as I recall.
Posted by: Elaine | October 25, 2007 9:38 AM
That is so funny!
Posted by: Coturnix | October 25, 2007 9:49 AM
For those sort of classes, I always made certain to sell the book to some unsuspecting fool who was taking the class the following semester. It wasn't always easy keeping a straight face, but I did always manage to make some sort of neutral -> positive statement about the class, prof., book, subject, or something.
My most vivid memory involved the Meso-American archaeology class I took as a junior. The class could have been better titled "My vacation in Mexico ... with slides." The guy actually managed to make the Aztecs boring. I told the guy, with an absolutely straight face mind you, "you'll see lots of pyramids!"
Posted by: dogmeatib | October 25, 2007 10:04 AM
"Indiana, Our Indiana (BLAM), Indiana, we're all for you (BLAM!)"
Posted by: Rev. AJB | October 25, 2007 10:47 AM
My apologies for the number of "always" in my post, I knew I was tired this morning but...
Posted by: dogmeatib | October 25, 2007 11:07 AM
Soooo, are they going to throw the book at him?
Posted by: G Barnett | October 25, 2007 11:21 AM
Well, so much for protecting ourselves from school shootings by holding up our school textbooks!
Posted by: Kristine | October 25, 2007 11:30 AM
I didn't take that particular course in law school (thank God) but really, a casebook that a bullet can penetrate?
Posted by: kehrsam | October 25, 2007 11:35 AM
kehrsam:
Well, they are pretty powerful rifles...
Posted by: jba | October 25, 2007 11:36 AM
I'm so proud of my law school right now.
Posted by: Doug | October 25, 2007 1:48 PM
In case some of you weren't aware of the reference....
Posted by: Skemono | October 25, 2007 2:55 PM
Although everyone has the right to shoot a book, even with a military assault rifle, one might question this man's grasp of what is socially appropriate on the basis of him choosing to do it in a parking lot.
I'm very much in favour of the right to own and shoot firearms for personal interest, and keep them for self-defence, but this is the sort of stupidity that gives responsible sporting shooters a bad name and lends fuel to the fanatical "ban all guns" lobby. Surely there must have been a firing range, or some remote place somewhere, where he could take both weapon and book and proceed to wreak his vengeance?
Criminal recklessness, eh? I'll back that charge; once the bullet's gone through the book, who knows where it's headed next? He's lucky it wasn't some poor innocent bystander's head. And as for the psych evaluation... maybe, maybe not, but at least he warrants getting checked out to see if he actually realizes that discharging military firearms in an urban environment, in anything but the most extreme circumstances, is grossly irresponsible. The fact that he couldn't keep his patience long enough to get out to a safe place to do this indicates that maybe he isn't the sort of person who should shoot unsupervised for some time...
Posted by: Justin Moretti | October 26, 2007 12:20 AM
Yes, although the punchline and some distance from that day make for some easy humor, in context it wasn't quite so funny to have part of Bloomington closed down, buses delayed, and words like "sniper" showing up in the morning information streams.
Posted by: Kevin Makice | October 26, 2007 2:57 AM
thank you
Posted by: sohbet | September 8, 2008 8:22 PM