Bernhard Goetz

Re “Jury Orders Goetz to Pay $43 Million for Shooting,” April 24:

Real good message we’re sending impressionable young people; if you commit a crime against someone and your victim fights back, years later a jury can tell your victim that he/she fought back too hard and reward you with tens of millions of dollars from your victim’s pocket. Of course, most crime victims don’t have that kind of money, so instead, you’ll be entitled to a percentage of your victim’s yearly income, in addition to any assets he/she may have. Why work for a living when you can be so lavishly rewarded?

The time is right for a law that says if you’re injured during the commission of a crime or while being pursued, then are found guilty, you cannot sue for anything that happened to you in connection with that crime. Until people are forced to take responsibility for their criminal actions, crime will continue to pay, and pay big.

ANNIE CAROLINE SCHULER

West Hollywood

* The jury in Bernhard Goetz’s civil trial has just handed the keys to the kingdom to the punks and cowards who prowl our streets. When one man is not allowed to defend himself against four admitted predators, it is time to drop the American flag to half-staff or strike colors completely because we are no longer the land of the free. I am outraged.

JERRY W. PARSONS

Carson