Dad acquitted in slaying of driver who killed sons

Assoc. Press ^ | 08/28/2014 | By JUAN A. LOZANO

[Responsibility2nd]

AP article. I excerpted as best I could. Read the entire article.

Did the jury do their job?

[cripplecreek]

Did the jury do their job?

Yes.

JOHN ADAMS (1771): It's not only ....(the juror's) right, but his duty, in that case, to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgement, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1804): Jurors should acquit even against the judge's instruction...."if exercising their judgement with discretion and honesty they have a clear conviction that the charge of the court is wrong."

U.S. vs. DOUGHERTY (1972) [D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals]: The jury has...."unreviewable and irreversible power...to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge."

[WayneS]

The gun used to kill Banda wasn't found and there was little physical evidence tying Barajas to the killing.

Further complicating their case was that there were no witnesses who identified Barajas as the shooter and gunshot residue tests done on Barajas came back negative.

...prosecution witnesses told jurors during questioning by Cammack that more gunfire had taken place well after Banda was shot — pointing to the possibility that the actual shooter was still at large — and that a search of Barajas' home failed to find any evidence that directly or indirectly linked him to the crime scene.

Cammack also used 911 calls to create a timeline that suggested Barajas would not have had enough time to shoot Banda.

It sounds like the prosecution did not build a good case against the guy. He probably did kill the drunken child-murderer, but the it appears the 'state' failed to prove it.

[WayneS]

...so yes, the jury did its job - without even having to resort to jury nullification.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

The father did his job.

[wideawake]

No gunshot residue, no weapon recovered, two other potential killers at the scene who fled - not a whole lot of hard physical evidence, and no credible eyewitness testimony.

[Greysard]

Did the jury do their job?

Probably. It's a private matter, even if it was Barajas who killed the driver. Sometimes people make mistakes that are too costly. Life is like that. Don't drink and drive.

[henkster]

Did the jury do their job?

I tell my clients that in all criminal cases, there are four truths:

1. There's your truth

2. There's the state's truth

3. If someone had a video of everything that happened as it happened, you'd have that truth, but;

4. None of them matter. Only the 4th truth matters. And that's what the jury says the truth is.

[Gay State Conservative]

My 18 year old niece was killed by a drunk driver years ago.Upon arrival at the hospital my sister and BIL saw a young guy sitting in the ER with a few scratches on him.After being told their daughter was dead it occurred to my BIL,as they were leaving the ER,that that might be the guy who killed her.He learned some time later that it was.He said that if he had been certain of it while there he literally would have killed him.And I believe him.

[gorush]

[dead]

The lack of a gun provided the thin reed of reasonable doubt that allowed the jury to acquit. Good job by the jury.

[Gay State Conservative]

And that's what the jury says the truth is.

There's justice,there's jury nullification...and then there are OJ juries.

[cripplecreek]

I don’t care if they had Hollywood level quality film of the event, video and handwritten confession. I would still go with not guilty.

[SkyDancer]

Killed by a Samolian drunk driver in the wrong lane, head on collision, in the US illegally. Never deported, DUI charge only.

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[Izzy Dunne]

LOL !

Oops!

[WayneS]

It also occurs to me that the prosecutor may not have expended a whole lot of resources trying to build a case against Mr. Barajas...

[MamaTexan]

No witness, no residue, no weapon?

Yep! They did a good job.

[Responsibility2nd]

It could be all officials from the cops to the DA “worked” together to ensure the father was treated fairly in light of this terrible tragedy.

It could also be the father didn’t actually shoot the drunken SOB.

Maybe the mother did.

Who knows?

[WayneS]

...and Mr. Barajas (and/or his friends)...