This is very sad news. This was a clearly a case of cold-blooded murder. This student was never in danger, and he made the decision to butcher and slaughter an unarmed man like an animal. There was never any proof that Mr. Rice was the same person who supposedly broke in the house before. Acts of vigililatism are an affront to a civilized society, and should not be tolerated whatsoever. I hope Mr. Rice's family sue this killer and his family for every single penny they have.

@Leroy: Your comment is ridiculous.

I graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 2006 and while I was there, two students were murdered in their homes during attempted robberies similar to the one cited above. Many of my friends and classmates had been robbed and assaulted, sometimes at gunpoint. Hopkins students are seen and treated as an easy targets for theft and robbery. I hope this serves as a warning and makes future would-be criminals think twice before assuming that university students are easy marks.

Sorry Leroy,Sorry Leroy, but Mr. Rice is solely responsible for his own death. He chose to break into the house. He knew that if he was caught by a homeowner or tenant that he could be killed. It is an occupational hazard of his trade. Mr. Rice got what he deserved and I doubt he will be missed by anyone in the Baltimore Community other than maybe a family member. The majority of the community is very glad he is gone!!!!

Finally a criminal is not going to be supported by my tax dollars. This person clearly was not going to change his ways. I am very satified with the out come. Many Hopkins students are our future leaders and should be able to safely live near campus.

My question is, why did this innocent defender of his life and property need to have this threat of prosecution hanging over him for four months? It was clear from day one that he was in imminent fear for his life or serious personal injury, and so was justified in defending himself.

Leroy, your view is ludicrous, but even so I hope you're never put in fear of your life as the poor student was and have to make a decision about life and death.

A person who breaks into a home should always be considered a threat to life and therefore the resident who kills him is entirely correct.

Portilillo should be given a medal.

Leroy---the chances of Mr. Rice's family to win a lawsuit are slim--mainly because of the circumstances of where he was at the time that he was. The standards for civilians using force to protect themselves against intruders are much lower than for professional police officers using force. Now, that doesn't mean that some attorney may not file suit, hoping for some settlement to make the case go away, but it is much less likely, and chances of winning are slim.

JHU2006---Sorry, but this miscreant's death does not seem to have slowed the amount of crime being committed in the general area of where students reside east of the campus. There have even been a fair number of burglaries in the very block Mr. Rice was killed. And, yes, students are seen as an easy mark by area criminals, but most kids don't take University advice to heart, and live in places which are easy to break into.

Won't this just encourage other nerds to go all Yojimbo on people?

I can`t help but beleive if this tragedy took place anywhere else in the inner city of Baltimore they would have tried to prosecute to the fullest.The potential of someone having a smirk on their background but put under these same circumstances would have been looked upon I know in a less favorable light.

@Leroy: ...Really? Rice was a guy with an insanely long record. If blood is on anybody's hands, it's on the county for letting him walk.

WOOT!

I was so happy to hear this. Pontolillo was completely justified in his actions. You always have the rights to defend your own home. There was no murder committed but self-defense. Had Rice not gone at him in the garage he would have never been hit with the sword.

Oh, Leroy, you sir have as much intellect as a lamp post.

Unfortunately this student had to endure the threat of prosecution hanging over him for months because when this story broke it was national news. They had to give the illusion of possible punishment and wait for everyone to forget about this for a while. Otherwise the Leroy’s of the worlds would try to use this as some sort of soapbox to get on every TV and radio news program to make this a race issue instead of what it really was – a career criminal forced into early retirement.

@buzoncrime.com: University students aren't choosing to live in unsafe areas against better advice. Most have no choice. Until the 2007 construction of the towers, there was only enough campus housing for freshman and sophomore students. Even now there is not enough campus housing for all students. The prosperity-poverty pocketing layout of Baltimore neighborhoods (vs. the usual graduation from one extreme to another) makes this type of crime inevitable. And not all students come from environments where they needed to learn street wisdom.

No one's to blame really. It's just (as titled the autobiography of Fela Kuti I just finshed) "this bitch of a life."

JHU2006---I was responding mostly to your idea that Rice's death would be a warning to JHU attackers: unfortunately, most criminals living within easy striking distance of JHU are probably unaware of Rice's death, since they don't generally read the paper or internet or even watch the news. But what's worse is that they don't care, and don't believe it'll happen to them. I would agree with you if Hopkins students consistently were viewed as "too tough" by the thugs, buy you and I know that's not gonna happen. They're not really scared of police; and their "bench" is deeper than either.
My point about the university is that they make every reasonable effort to keep their students safe and aware, but the students are busy, and like many young people blow off warnings as overblown paranoid stuff.
While it is true students cannot live on campus once they are in their junior/senior years, they don't seem to take enough care to not only be aware of the neighborhood they may be renting in, but the security of their particular building and apartment. That having been said, it is important to use what locks that are available. Supposedly the university will send security to inspect a premises for free, but I don't know if they are really doing that or if anybody uses that service.
Your point about the hyper-segregation of safety and socioeconomic class is well-taken.

This should be a lesson to criminals - don't be where you don't belong. This jerk was breaking in to someones property. If you want your city back - you are obviously going to have to do more than is alredy being done. The police do not have enough funding to supply more officers to the city, so i say create a C.O.P unit and supply them with samuri swords! One less criminal infesting the streets of baltimore I say.

I bet Leroy has broken into his share of homes!

What is truly an affront to civilized society is that a criminal with 29 convictions is allowed to roam free. Whatever happened to the three time loser laws? This dirtbag had only been out of prison three days when he broke into the students apartment, yet there a those who condemn the student for defending himself and his property while defending the career criminal. With the way the economy is going more and more citizens are going to have to defend themselves because we won’t be able to afford enough police to enforce the laws.