Don Purse, a Scottsdale resident and owner of several Valley mobile home parks, claimed he was in fear of his life last year after he shot his former tenant, Danny Morales.
Morales, 51, was 20 years younger than Purse and bigger when he allegedly attacked Purse on December 11, 2012. But the facts show that Purse had a couple of advantages, himself: He had a .45-caliber pistol in his hand. And he was seated in the driver's seat of his pickup, apparently with the motor still running.
The incident is one of three similar cases we reviewed for our feature article in this week's New Times, "License to Kill."
The other two cases also involved men who were sitting in their vehicles when they shot unarmed men standing just outside: The high-profile, road-rage cases of Scottsdale lawyer David Appleton and John Chester Stuart. A grand jury refused to indict Appleton. Stuart was convicted last month by a second jury; the first trial ended in a hung jury even though Stuart had represented himself.
The Purse case has been low-profile so far, having been covered only by one or two TV stations on the day of the shooting. But like the Appleton and Stuart cases, the shooting of Danny Morales and the lack of any charges so far for Purse symbolizes the permissive self-defense laws in Arizona.
We're not saying Purse wasn't justified, because we weren't at the scene when Morales was killed. Evidence detailed in a preliminary police report shows that Purse probably took at least one punch to the face by Morales.
But the fact that Purse was in his car, armed, and Morales was on foot, unarmed, certainly raises questions. A paucity of witnesses makes the case even more problematic, as our story relates. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has not yet received the case for review from the Sheriff's Office.
Arizona law states that, with some exceptions, citizens are presumed to be acting in self-defense when they use deadly force against people who have entered or are attempting to enter their home or vehicle with bad intent. As a defense lawyer told us, the ultimately standard is reasonableness -- that is, the law doesn't protect people if it's clear no threat existed.
When witnesses are few -- or there are no living witnesses, as in the case of Appleton -- police and prosecutors must rely on the word of the person who used deadly force. For better or worse, depending on which end of the gun you're on, Arizona law clearly leans toward protecting the person claiming self-defense.
If you're claiming self-defense, that means less risk of prosecution for doing something that you believed saved your life. The law also has potential for abuse. Since the Trayvon Martin case in Floria, debates are still going on around the nation about "stand your ground" laws and whether they need to be changed.
Senator John McCain says the State Legislature lawmakers should review Arizona's self-defense laws in light of the Martin case. Firearms advocates tell us they don't expect any changes next year from the gun-friendly Legislature.
Our feature article this week gets into the nitty-gritty of the debate. In it, you'll hear from David Appleton about the night he shot Paul "Tom" Pearson, family members of one victim, and various firearms and legal experts.
One of the most satisfying desserts I’ve encountered recently is the kunefe made at TurkDish, a small family-run restaurant tucked deep into the folds of a Chandler shopping center.
There are many fine renditions of kunefe (or knafeh, one of many regional spelling variants) made around metro Phoenix. But the baked-to-order kunefe at TurkDish is notably great. It’s the kind of photogenic dessert you eat with your eyes first: Its glossy, syrupy crust, coated in thread-like phyllo dough, resembles something like a bright orange bird’s nest. You plunge your spoon into its crust, generously varnished with syrup, and spoon out the sticky, sweet-savory clot of melted cheese lurking beneath. The stretchy cheese, so hot and soft it’s almost liquid, melts right into your jaw. It’s really something.
Kunefe seems best enjoyed with something hot to drink, and the natural choice here is Turkish tea. But whether you order dessert or not, a meal at TurkDish inevitably ends in traditional fashion: with tea. The dark, slightly bitter liquid is poured into short, tulip-shaped glasses, and whisked to your table at the end of your meal as a complimentary token of hospitality.
Fresh-baked kunefe with tea is one of the distinct pleasures of dining at TurkDish, but it’s not the only one. Since opening in early 2015, the restaurant has quietly amassed a neighborhood following, thanks to a satisfying menu of traditional Turkish specialties, including popular staples like döner kebab.
The small restaurant itself is bland yet comfortable, outfitted in standard strip-mall four-top tables and booths. Any discernible ambiance is derived from the dining room’s sparsely decorated walls, which feature kilim rugs and framed landscape art of Istanbul. Service is informal yet also attentive, which elevates TurkDish from a quick-and-dirty takeout joint to the kind of space you don’t mind spending time in.
This is an especially good place to come with a group — the more mouths around the table, the more excuses you have to linger over the top-notch selection of meze starters.
There’s an appetizer sampler plate, a safe bet for larger groups, which includes staples likes hummus, fresh pita bread, sarma (rice-stuffed grape leaves), and baba ganoush. All of it is terrific, but the baba ganoush — rich, smoky, and creamy — is exceptional.
Sigara borek, long, cigarillo-shaped pastries stuffed with cheese and parsley, are so crisp and delectable, you may as well order a whole plate of them. And there’s ezme, a chunky and spicy relish-like salad made with roasted eggplant and peppers. The flavors are bold and bright, a nice counterpoint to the creamy and meat-laden dishes you are likely to come across during your meal.
It’s worth looking at the small salad menu, if only for fattoush. The brightly colored bread salad is markedly fresh and full of texture, thanks to extra-crispy shards of toasted pita, tossed with fresh hunks of cucumber, tomato, and red cabbage. The fattoush is dressed simply with olive oil and lemon, and a dash of tangy sumac spice.
Don’t overlook the lahmacun, a dish sometimes described as “Turkish pizza.” The thin, round flatbread features a baked-in layer of spicy minced beef paste, beautifully seasoned with tomatoes, onions, and parsley. The texture of the flatbread is gorgeous — thin, slightly chewy, elegantly crisp. To eat it like you would in Istanbul, squeeze some lemon on it, roll it up into a thin flute, and enjoy.
Scratch-made falafel, meanwhile, are available as both a starter or an entree, and they’re some of the best you’ll find anywhere in town. The falafel is cleanly fried, nicely craggy and crisp, suffused beautifully with fresh herbs.
But you came for the döner. Often described as the Turkish analog to gyro, both beef and lamb varieties at TurkDish are made in-house. The slow-roasted meat is highly seasoned and sliced into thin, delectable scraps. The beef döner, on a recent visit, was so tender and slippery, you could fold it right into your mouth.
Other highlights include Adana-style kebabs, named and modeled after the famously spicy kebabs of Turkey’s fifth-largest city. On a recent visit, the juicy, sausage-like kebab was beautifully grilled and served off the skewer, a sort of long, thin, densely seasoned tendril of meat.
Apart from dessert, the most indulgent thing I’ve ever eaten at TurkDish is Iskender kebab. The butter-perfumed dish involves meaty döner slivers, served over cubed pita bread and bathed in a butter-infused tomato sauce. Plain yogurt, whisked lightly and poured on the side, melts into the dish, turning the sauce into a light cream. It’s wonderful.
At TurkDish, even a humble side of white rice is capable of inspiring joy. Twice, on separate occasions, I’ve overheard a diner inquiring about the rice. Why does it taste so good? I heard a woman ask her server recently. The short answer, according to my server: butter, lots of it. It makes for extra-fluffy rice that delivers a surprising amount of savory flavor.
At one time, TurkDish was known for selling fresh-baked goods on Saturdays. The restaurant no longer keeps baked goods in stock, unfortunately, but you can still place orders ahead of time. On the bakery menu is simit, a round pastry known as a Turkish bagel, and börek, a spinach and cheese phyllo pastry that’s especially popular around the holidays.
Always available, though, is the aforementioned kunefe, an indulgence that’s well worth a trip to TurkDish, along with a delicious and readily available walnut-stuffed baklava. And, of course, there’s always hot Turkish tea.
Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday noon to 8:30 p.m.; closed Monday
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A set of 18 patches were published on Wednesday to improve the X.Org's Xfbdev frame-buffer device X server for old Atari and Amiga hardware.
The patches enable all non-packed frame-buffer layouts to use ShadowFB acceleration and evdev is used rather than the broken KDrive keyboard driver. With Atari, 1/4/8 bpp modes now work while 2 bpp isn't yet supported. On Amiga, 1/4/8 bpp also work while 2/3/4/5/7 bpp modes are not yet supported and there's also some keyboard mapping issues.
Uytterhoeven says about his Xfbdev patches, "I haven't benchmarked it yet against XF68_FBDev 3.6, but it's unusable slow on my Amiga 4000/040, even for just moving the mouse pointer. May be due to excessive TLS syscalls with recent glibc. It is usable on ARAnyM on Intel Core 2 Quad."