Somehow we don't see much sympathy being generated from this

The family of Donald Rice, the 29-time burglary arrestee who was killed with a samurai sword by a renter who caught Rice breaking into his home, wants the Johns Hopkins University student who dispatched the intruder to be charged with an (unspecified) crime:

"'There's nothing there but his arm. So how is his arms of bones and flesh gonna do anything to a sword,' said [sister] Peggy Rice."

You've got things a little mixed up, Ms. Rice. Your brother's "arms of bones and flesh" (which were quite capable of being used to injure or murder someone) were engaged in carting someone else's belongings out of their house, and presumably were used first in order to "do something" harmful to the student once he accidentally interrupted your sibling's crime spree. That seems to be why the sword was used - for self-defense, in order to protect the student from an attack by your family member. You know, ma'am, if your poor, innocent, misunderstood brother hadn't been caught in the middle of committing multiple felonies in someone else's residence, he would be alive and well today.
"'I don't understand why my brother went that way. But like they say, you've got a bad seed and a good seed in every family, but it still didn't mean for his life to be taken,'"

The student from all reasonable accounts certainly didn't wake up that morning intending to take a life. Your brother was responsible for causing this situation, and he paid dearly for his actions.

Please go away now. Thank you.