The biggest thing to take away from the William Roundtree assault case is you can’t take the law in your own hands the way the defendant did on May 1.

It is good fortune that the jury found him guilty of assault inflicting serious injury, otherwise we wonder if the floodgates wouldn’t open for assaults on trash collectors, postal employees and meter readers simply because a property owner might believe they are trespassing.

Judge J.C. Cole called it a despicable crime on the level of straight up street fighting and we couldn’t agree more.

The fact that Roanoke Rapids Safety Officer Walter Johnson had every right to follow-up on a nuisance complaint becomes blurred in the often self-righteous argument of divine property rights.

The arguments presented in court this week showed little evidence that Johnson encroached on Roundtree’s property and even if he did the defendant took things too far in what is supposed to be a civilized world.

Property rights are sacred until the point they hamper a neighbor’s rights to enjoy their property, whether it may be vermin from tall grass or injury from appliances thrown haphazardly in a yard.

Whatever the problem, Johnson had a right to follow up and testimony indicates he only went to check on the progress being made when he saw there were improvements.

It’s almost like the Castle Doctrine, many think the law makes it open season on anyone who steps into your yard or may come to your door by mistake. The law clearly wasn’t written that way and nowhere in trespassing laws does it say you can beat a city worker or private citizen unmercifully without creating consequences for yourself.

We believe Roundtree was the one who erred in his decision to beat down a city employee even if testimony, which it did not, showed Johnson was acting the least bit aggressive to the defendant.

While there is genuine distrust of law enforcement and government workers, law enforcement still remains the best defense in cases like this and this case might not have been brought to trial had the defendant simply called authorities to sort the matter out.

Sure, law enforcement may side with a fellow government employee but it could have clearly prevented what Judge Cole aptly described as a despicable crime from happening.

Even if there had been 10 years of harassment by the city as Roundtree has claimed, this is not the way people are supposed to function as civilized humans.

While we believe the jury could have found Roundtree guilty on more of the charges, we believe they followed the case law given and applied it fairly, especially when they found Roundtree guilty of the despicable crime of assault inflicting serious injury.

And we applaud a verdict that sends the message if you take the law into your own hands you should be prepared to suffer the consequences — Editor