In the fall of 1992, Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16-year-old male Japanese exchange student, was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a local family. On the evening of October 17, 1992, Hattori and his host brother, Webb Haymaker, set out for a Halloween party. Dressed in a tuxedo in imitation of John Travolta's character from 'Saturday Night Fever,' Hattori and Haymaker, who was dressed as an accident victim, mistakenly arrived at the wrong house.
The home they approached belonged to Rodney
Peairs, a 30-year-old supermarket butcher, and his wife, Bonnie. When the two teenagers rang the doorbell and received no answer, they started to walk away. Bonnie Peairs, startled by their costumes and their appearance at her door, slammed the carport door and told her husband to get his gun. Rodney Peairs retrieved a. 44 Magnum revolver and went to the carport door.
As Hattori, who had limited English and was not wearing his contact lenses, turned back toward the house with a cheerful demeanor, saying, 'We're here for the party,' Peairs yelled 'Freeze!'. It is believed that Hattori may not have understood the command or seen the weapon, possibly thinking it was a Halloween prank. When Hattori continued to move forward, Peairs fired a single shot from about five feet away, hitting him in the chest. The bullet pierced his left lung, and he died in an ambulance from blood loss minutes later. The Peairses did not emerge from their house until police arrived approximately 40 minutes after the shooting.
Initially, the police did not charge Rodney Peairs, believing he was within his rights to protect his home. However, after protests from the Japanese consulate and the governor of Louisiana, Peairs was charged with manslaughter. During his trial, Peairs' defense argued that he was scared for his life and had the right to use deadly force to protect his home, a concept known as the 'castle doctrine'. In May 1993, a jury acquitted Rodney Peairs of manslaughter after deliberating for just over three hours.
Following the criminal trial, Hattori's parents filed a civil lawsuit against Rodney Peairs for the wrongful death of their son. In this trial, Peairs was found liable for Hattori's death. The court determined that Peairs's use of deadly force was not reasonable under the circumstances, noting that Hattori and his friend had announced their presence and Peairs did not see a weapon. The court awarded Hattori's parents $650,000 in damages.
