Posted on 06/19/2012 11:56:09 AM PDT by Zakeet
The beating death of a Texas man who was allegedly sexually assaulting a 5-year-girl will be treated as a homicide investigation, the Lavaca County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
The girls father, 23, whose name has not been released, says he caught Jesus Mora Flores, 48, trying to molest his daughter on his ranch earlier this month. After hearing the girl scream, the father found her and removed Flores from on top of his child, the statement said. He proceeded to inflict several blows to Flores head and neck area, the statement said.
"At this time, I believe the homicide investigation should be sent to the grand jury," Heather McMinn, the Lavaca County District Attorney, said in the statement. She went on to say the sheriff was correct not to arrest the father at the time of the incident, but "all evidence surrounding this homicide will be presented to the grand jury as soon as possible."
Sheriff Micah Harmon, according to the statement, believes the girls father is remorseful, and did not intend to kill Flores. He called the case "traumatizing" for the girl and her entire family.
[Snip]
The grand jury will consider this week if the father will face any charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The father will probably not be indicted, and if he is, he will have a strong defense. My guess is that the Grand Jury is being convened to: (a) provide cover for politicians, and (b) attach jeopardy so that the father cannot be later tried for his actions.
At least this is the first dupe thread I’ve seen today. As you know, there are lots of other previous threads on this story in the past 4-5 days.
But you make good points. You should also point out that this is a homocide before other FReepers get in a tizzy over the use of that term.
He should get a medal.
Even if he gets indited, no jury would convict. Bring it on.
justifiable homicide.
IANAL, but to the best of my understanding, this does NOT necessarily mean they regard the father as a criminal - it just means that they believe that molester’s death was due to human action. (It was.)
The grand jury will clear him. You can bet the farm on that (with bushes and dead body removed, of course).
We’ve known it was a homicide since day one - that was never at issue. The only question is whether it is justifiable homicide and all the evidence clearly says YES.
“Jesus Mora Flores”
Is this a white hispanic? Or some other kind of hispanic?
Did he have Skittles?
Seriously, lucky for the father the perp was Hispanic, or Jessee Jackson would be calling for him to be hung.
“Even if he gets indicted, no jury would convict.”
####
You have a LOT more confidence in current American juries than I do.....
If I had been there, I would have given the father my cane to help.
Of course this was/is a homicide. It is appropriate for the Grand Jury to review the facts of the case. IMHO, after the Grand Jury has reviewed the facts, the father of the victim should receive a public award.
Of course it’s a homicide. The point is that from what we know about it, under Texas law (and any code of morality that allows the use of violence to defend the innocent) it was a justifiable homicide.
It’s Texas ... the grand jury will dismiss it.
In that part of Texas and with the facts being what they are, the Rev Jackson is more likely to be hung than the father.
Not quite true. Almost all the laws that provide for justifiable homicide for self-defense also allow for it in defense of others. Obviously in particular when the "other" is a child.
So this case is at least a close relative of self-defense. :)
Jesus Mora Flores should have been strung up and everyone around the area invited to take a whack at him.
I’m wondering if a blow to the temporal artery caused the death. If nothing else, I’m curious about that.
But I hope the father isn’t indicted.
Jeopardy wouldn’t vest if a grand jury is convened and does not return an indictment. In order for jeopardy to vest, the father of that poor little girl would have to be indicted, and then have the jury acquit him. Or, much easier and less risky, Governor Perry could pardon him and that would be that. (I’m assuming that the father could not be charged with a federal crime, so the governor’s pardon would clear him of all possible charges.)
THe Grand Jury REFUSED TO INDICT father.
Scratch one sheriff. The Prosecutor will probably escape unscratched.
THere are some sane people in Texas and 12 of them sent sexual predators a notice that they are fair game.
Texas Justice Served Ping!
Wonderful news!
He just needed killin’.
Yep...Dad protecting family. The way it should be!
Good news. Thanks L. I’d ask for a change of venue to Williamson county if it had gone to trial.
Woo hoo! Great news!
He did. Now no other children will ba asaulted by him.
Thank you “Dad” for making Texas a safer place to live!
+1
Actually, it doesn’t quite work that way in Texas. Even a good prosecutor and sheriff may send the most clear-cut self-defense/defense of others cases to a grand jury - for some good and not so good reasons. I’ve talked to some DAs and judges here over the years, and this is what I got from them.
1. Some Texas DAs automatically send every single potential case of justifiable homicide to the grand jury, even the ones that are pro-defense. Why? Because this eliminates any potential accusations of corruption and further puts the responsibility of deciding whether an event was justified on the people of the community instead of some lawyers who may or may not be out for a promotion or elected position. I don’t see a problem with this, really.
2. Other Texas DAs will send cut-and-dried cases to the grand jury for an equally good reason - to protect the actor from civil suits. While Texas law makes it all but impossible to not have such a suit tossed out by the judge (if he follows the rules), it is still possible for a suit to be filed (in fact, multiple suits) and a corrupt or activist judge could let it stand and proceed. Even if it is tossed out, it is possible for the other party to file suit after suit to financially destroy the actor (who would have to pay an attorney to defend him each time.) However, if a Grand Jury returns a no-bill, there isn’t an attorney in the state that would touch a wrongful death suit related to it. Don’t really have a problem with this either.
3. Some DAs run all these cases past the Grand Jury for a different and less-savory reason - to get their ‘activity’ numbers up and to show they’re ‘doing something’ to get re-elected.
AWESOME NEWS!
This just reported minutes ago on Fox News: The father of the victim WILL NOT BE CHARGED WITH A CRIME!!
EXCELLENT!
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