BREAKING NEWS: Schaffer not guilty of murder or voluntary manslaughter

Wow! Congratulations!!!

Congrats!!!!!!!

Wow...

In the future if, and when, someone does to Aaron what he did to Shan, I'm sure Aaron's family will be accepting of a 'not guilty' verdict. After all they know how it feels to be in the shooter's shoes. Something to ponder anyway.

Congrats Aaron not that I approve of killing people but karma always comes around and karma showed up for Bowers!

Karma huh well I guess we will all sit back and wait for karma to make it back around to Mr Schaffer. Walk onto an unarmed mans proerty and empty your gun on him and get off on self defense!

Said very well happymother!

congratulations mr. schaeffer thank goodness there are still people out there who are not afraid to protect their families by any means necessary.good job sir. also thanks forand t the service to our nation. we need more people like you in this country. people are afraid to protect themselves their families or their property for fear of being lynched by the police and thrown in a cage and forgotten about. authorities want all of us to be weak cowards calling on them to protect our families ourselves and our properties. this system has made cowards out of a big portion of the polulatiom and it is ridiculous good job mr schaeffer.

Only good Karma for Aaron. Congrats brother.

Mr schaffer was a coward if he was scared enough to take a gun and shoot an unarmed man. That is a coward the fact you are praising him for his military services are sickening just because you were once in the military does not give you an excuse. he is an average citizen now and should get the police if he feels he needs to protect his family. Stacy is a big girl if she wanted to go home it was her choice. I sure hope all military men and women are not as unstable as mr schaffer. Using Bowers background of once shooting a man now gives mr schaffer the same background only difference is Bowers served his time Mr schaffer however took the easy way out and played the self defence card. It is what it is and one day he will have his judgment day where he will then pay eternally

Schaffer is a MURDERER and does not deserve any praise!! Truth be known he was also discharged from the military and shot an unarmed civilian!! So he has murdered twice! He was protecting no one. Was his family there and in imminent danger? No. So to say that is utter nonsense. He went to Bowers home and shot him like he planned. Him and Stacey got $400,000 for this crime. Shaffer claimed self defense for shooting an unarmed man who answered the door and walked out in his socks and got shot by a cold blooded murderer!! Shaffer showed no remorse for HIS actions. He is a killer and will probably kill again if given the opportunity.

I would be careful what you write. Libel is something that can come back and bite you.

Regardless if the jury of 12 found this a not guilty verdict, it should scare anyone living in Greene county where a man can illegally take a weapon to another man's property and empty his weapon into the man then walk free. Regardless of the deceased's past, he was UNARMED on HIS OWN property. He could not tell his side of the story so we let a killer go free because his story was that he was afraid for his life which is the only story that could be told. The gunman was not protecting his family nor the friend as he left her at a station. I have no faith in the system after following this story because now apparently anyone can pull onto your property armed and justifiably kill you if you appear to be threatening them or ask them to leave your own property. Anyone commenting to this as great job or praising the killer, wake up you fool.

Apparently straight shot is not concerned that they will not be allowed to ask someone to leave their property, this travesty should tell every property owner to be prepared, anyone that comes to your home can now kill you and claim they felt threatened. Many guilty have walked as many innocent have suffered, neither should have anyone claiming praise for it. Gross display of your biased.

YES, Gcr! The jury, that's what bothers me the most. How could 12 people say this was okay? I have a feeling that if the jury was from out-of-county the results might have been different? Would love to know what they were thinking and who they were!

Unfortunately part of our judicial system is to deface the parties as well as discuss facts. Also it is unfortunate that people use emotions to make decisions and many times they will be moved by the defacing more the the facts. Facts are all that should be allowed, to much drama and character slamming for the average individual to process without emotions playing a part. Cut out the defacing and presumptions and listen to facts and the shooter would be behind bars. Unfortunately we now have a killer free to do it again, stats show most convictions come after repeated offenses, which is sad, how many times have we watched the news or read the paper on a new convicted that has a rap sheet. We know the system is broken, non convictions based on withheld data and defacing characters and playing on jury emotions, facts are many times playing a smaller role, great broken system. Jury education prior to trial needs to be a program to foster a jury mentality on non emotion based decisions...

This was 100% an emotional decision by the jury as the two attorneys paid for by Aaron after claiming in court he needed a court appointed attorney played on emotions. The attorneys made him out to be a rescuer. He went and got a gun to kill. No one was in danger!! Stacey is no victim. She uses drugs and is an alcoholic that has not raised her two children for that reason. But the prosecutor did not bring any of that up. The jury made the wrong decision!! Yes now we have a murderer walking the streets of Linton that does have a bigger than God complex. He was overheard in court during break talking to his wife saying when he gets off for this he knows what he wants to eat first. Also,he told he the would be home within days because the jury was buying the story. He could see it!!

Also, Stacey got off the stand and winked at Aaron. And yes Stacey did get $400,000 for the murder of Mr. Bowers.

I am not sure what Indiana's civil lawsuit regulations are, but if I were the family of the victim, I would find out and exhaust all resources to seek justice. He may be free but I would not allow it to be easy or cheap.

I can not believe people are congratulating this man. He just made it clear to the rest of the scum bags in this area that it is okay to carry a gun illegally, go on an unarmed persons property and shoot them in the back of the head. Aaron said their was a verbal confrontation but that could all just be a well thought out lie. Isn't there another trial coming up for the murder in Jasonville? I hope that jury is better educated!

To HAPPYMOTHEROF2:

Your comment proves my point exactly. I find it ridiculous that protocol for protecting one's family is to hide like a coward and call the police and wait for them to come and do FOR them what they should have done FOR THEMSELVES. I am truly sorry if my OPINION on the matter has offended anyone, that was not my intentions for posting my comment. The freedoms we have, one, being the right to speak freely as well as the right to incorporate the press, social media, or any other avenues we see fit to express our thoughts, feelings, and opinions without the fear of reprise from our government or any other entities, is one of the many things that make our country great.

Crazy Kentuckian, seriously protecting ones family? Where in this story was the deceased attacking anyone's family. It was clear he was unarmed and on his own property, it is hard to be a threat to the shooters family from your own property. There was no physical confrontation merely a story of a verbal suggestion of threat and the a killing. You sir are clearly biased. To read this story and claim the man was protecting his family is beyond foolish, it shows your complete inability to process data. It is this type of arrogant ignorance that murderers walk free, and repeat offend, rapist walk free and repeat offend..etc.

So your are saying we should not call the police when we are in danger instead go to someones house who we fear that is home minding their own buisness and just shoot them because that makes more sense than calling the police? In that case why do we even have police we should just all walk around carrying illegal guns shooting people in their own homes! If anyone had the right to shoot anyone it would be Mr Bowers because Mr schaffer was an unwanted guest on his property that would not leave!

Word of life, given all the knowledge you have posted, you must have been present? Wait I believe there were no witnesses, you absurd to make claims that you were not a witness to. If you are claiming a trained and highly decorated veteran? Also you are providing your opinions which does not make any sense to ridicule others for stating their opinion, but then be ok with giving yours. In terms of training, I know a lot on the topic, this case is not indicative of a highly trained military veteran, a veteran I know he is, but the actions are the opposite of highly trained military. Again you ridicule others for their opinion, yet express yours freely, after all unless you were there all you have is an opinion of the truth.

Word of life, you are simply displaying your biased to the scenario and claiming facts that you were not a witness to. Again manslaughter at minimum was required, yes he was found not guilty, so were many other Criminals, that does not make one innocent, murderers all over the world are found not guilty by juries. This man killed another man on his own property and unarmed, now manslaughter by definition is the killing of a person but with mitigating factors, so the shooter claimed he was threatened, ok mitigating factor, this is the actual definition of manslaughter vise murder in the first. Brother educate yourself, don't rejoice in something like a killing and hold your statements to facts not hearsay or a single story without a witness. The only witness in this case was the shooter, the victim lay riddled with bullet holes. I know a bit about veterans, not the work of a highly trained, not even close, but it looks like the work of a coward.

This commenting on this man doing the right thing and negatively speaking of the police?? Seriously if you feel negative with the police you are likely shady. This could happen to every home owner, forget the deceased past for a second, would the shooter walk free if it was anyone else on their own property and a claim was made you threatened him? The jury said yes, you can be shot and killed on your own property unarmed for a verbal threat, verbal. Anyone thinking this is a good precedence is seriously simply biased to the shooter, this can never be ok or no one is safe. People all of this was avoidable, first the police are good, second don't illegally arm yourself and go to another's property to deal with a domestic scenario that could have cooled off by morning. Thinking it through it feels planned, sounds planned, was it? We will never know, regardless it was manslaughter for nonsense that did not require taking a weapon to that home on that night, it could have waited a calm morning could have prevailed. Last who takes a weapon illegally to another mans property with no intent to use it.

Word of life. Yor aw obviously am idiot defending a MURDERER.

Aaron was a generator repairman in the National guard. He was not in the combat arms branch. He is not highly decorated. He has no awards for valor, and I question his statement about killing a Iraqi civilian.

Question all u want. He was in combat. HE IS NOT GUILTY!!!! I was at the trial btw. And yes I will defwnd him. So will at least 12 others.

If we are allowed to protect ourselves from a threat on someone else's property then what is considered a threat. Many people have different opinions of what a threat is. Also how do we know for sure Mr. Bowers threatened him since there were no witnesses. I am not taking either side but it seems Mr. Shaffer went there with the intent to kill. I questioned my thoughts on that and after knowing he unloaded his gun after Mr. Bowers was down and at a close range does make me think the outcome of the trial should have been different. I know Mr. Bowers was a bomb ready to explode so that might be why the jury considered Mr. Shaffer to be innocent.

You guys mentioned the police. Here is something to ponder.......what if the police were called and they went out there and emptied their clip on Mr. Bowers in the same manner Aaron did. Do you believe the outcome would be the same??? I doubt it. There would have been outrage!

Straight-shot, or biased friend of the shooter, either way, a jury verdict of not guilty simply means there was some form of doubt, it does not mean you are innocent of a crime. If you believe the 12 jurors will defend the decision you are likely wrong and foolish to speak on their behalf. Your statements are easily identified as misguided biased incapable of reviewing facts rather than hearsay from an friend, as in the shooter. The valor and honorable military mentions are easily enough to find facts on. I know hundreds that have seen combat personally. None would have acted in this manner. Being prior military and seeing combat does not make you highly trained or highly decorated, so Seal ? Delta? Ranger? Not.....so trained.. Not highly trained.

Jonace if the Iraqi story has merit, as in it was stated to someone by Aaron, that individual has a duty to turn it over to the security department of his employer to investigate, it would definitely be questioning his character for a clearance.

Jonace and Concerned GCR. You are both complete idiots. You mention he was in the National Guard and was a Generator Repairman. Well guess what during the majority of the "War" it didn't make a danged bit of difference what your MOS was because 99% of the missions were the same. The basis of the mission's were the same as being Military Police. Going out on missions all hours of the day and night driving the roads and back roads looking for the enemy and providing security in the area. One thing you might want to take a look at the next time you see a National Guardsmen in uniform. Look what the name plate says just over the heart. I'll just tell you to save you the effort. US ARMY. When we are deployed we are all one Army, the US ARMY. If he said he killed a Iraqi civilian he probably did. You know what the same civilian that was his buddy thru the day or maybe even had dinner with him in his home. That same civilian that he killed probably was taking a shot at killing him but lost. Had it been a wrongful kill he would have been tried and reprimanded. Obiviously this was not the case and I am sure there was a report and an investigation that the Security clearance folks were privy to. I'm not sure where anyone got their information about Stacy receiving $400K but for one it's none of your **** business secondly, I seriously doubt they had that much Life Insurance on Stacy or Shan. $400K is what a military spouse would receive if their spouse was killed in action. Shan Bowers was absolutely not a military person. If you don't think your military is not properly trained you got another thing coming. Our men and women all receive the same level of training, we are very well trained to the best job possible to accomplish the mission. The other area's of the military do indeed receive a much more speciailized training. Seeing combat does not make you highly trained the training before you get to combat and experience of multiple deployments is what makes you highly trained. Lastly, you don't know how any combat veteran would have acted/reacted in this case. If you have been to combat you know that many of our fellow veterans return with different degrees of PTSD. Again if you are half as smart as you think you are you know that several of our Brothers in Arms return and end up committing suicide. This young man did what he thought was the right thing to do and 12 juror of his peers found him not guilty. Although I have little to no confidence in our Legal system, this is one I believe they got right.

Hey Jeff Hall, I served with Schaffer in Afghanistan and Iraq, I know all about him and what he did over there. He was a Fobbit. I'm sure if he killed a unarmed Iraqi civilian he would he been court martialed. Jeff it would be best for you if you didn't believe everything Schaffer tells you.

Ya, know what I've never spoken to Mr. Schaffer, I was speaking in general because most was speaking in general about Guardsmen, which is why I spoke to you, the rest of what I had to say was more to the others and particularly to GCR. I spoke of my experiences of deployment, we had a young man that did indeed kill a Iraqi civilian. They were supposedly fighting over a weapon. You know as well as I do the statement about the civilian's were your friend part of the day and may be back later to shoot you.

Good withdrawal Jeff, probably not a good idea to throw some of that stupidity out there. Yes I know a lot about combat veterans, I work with hundreds and deployed myself in Afghanistan. I work with combat veterans we discuss this case regularly, there is disgust among us with the statements made on training and valor as well as concern for the verdict and now a killer is free.

In one of the first reports on this incident published in this paper (http://www.gcdailyworld.com/story/2073360.html), Schaffer told how he had previously shot an unarmed man:

.....Dallaire wrote that during the interview, Schaffer told him a story about how he had shot an unarmed civilian while deployed overseas in the military. The civilian had put their hand inside a vest, but it turned out the civilian was not reaching for a weapon but for a note that when translated, said "Thank you.".......

While searching the site for this article, I came across another article that I found interesting - http://www.gcdailyworld.com/story/1931929.html

This wasn't the first time Mr. Schaffer faced Felony charges.

You people have too much time on your hands.

As Paul Harvey once said on national radio "If you want to get away with murder do it in Greene County, Indiana. " Shan and I had our differences but nobody deserves to be murdered.