Falfurrias police investigate shooting death

Corpus Christi Caller ^ | April 12, 2011 | Mark Collette

[solosmoke]

CORPUS CHRISTI — Falfurrias police are investigating the death of a man shot during the weekend.

Ramiro Carrera, 25, died early Monday at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, said Ric Ortiz, chief investigator for the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office.

Carrera had a single gunshot wound the chest, Ortiz said.

Police could not be reached for comment.

[solosmoke]

Hello everyone. I am in need of help, as my father has had to use his gun to kill a man in self-defense, and is now being charged with first-degree murder. I am sure most of you don't know who I am, as I generally lurk around here, only posting on pets or weird sections (it's the only thing I know enough about to take a chance at talking about), but I know this is the place to get answers and support when our rights are in jeopardy. I can't say too much about the case, but basically he went with his wife and stepson to check on his late father's house which was being burglarized on a regular basis. Cars were parked in the driveway when he arrived, so he went to get the drivers to move, which started a huge argument. Ten to fifteen people came out of the house threatening (they did more than that but I don't know the details) him and his family, chasing him to his car. His car was surrounded, and when one of the men reached under his shirt for something, my father shot him. Under normal circumstances in Texas, this would not be considered murder, but self-defense. Unfortunately, this happened in a small town where everyone knows each other, and the sheriff was friends with the man my father shot. My father was in the Marines for 16 years and fought in Viet Nam. He and his new wife are poor, as his business is small (he sells plumeria and has very small nursery which makes next to nothing, as his plants have been dying due to frost/droughts for the past few years). He needs a good lawyer, but so far the only one he has found that will help him plead not-guilty instead of trying for a reduced charge is very expensive. We have raised only 5% of the total needed to hire this lawyer, who has glowing recommendations from those in the know.

What I am asking of this community is any advice, prayers, or, God willing, anyone willing to donate to help get a lawyer that understands that self defense is not a punishable offense. If I am overstepping my bounds by posting this here, I apologize. I am just sick over this and I don't know what else to do. Please feel free to give any advice, prayer, etc. and if you agree that my father (who is 65 and frail, by the way) should not be punished for shooting a threatening man and are willing to help out, send me a private message and I will give you the pertinent information. Thank you for looking, and have a blessed day.

[Joe 6-pack]

Sorry to hear about your predicament! Don’t know what to tell you, but I can pray, and bump the thread!

[bgill]

Keep looking for a good lawyer. Find out if your father can counter sue for tresspassing or some other offense to have them back down. Also, find out if there were any drugs involved with the men. Good luck and hope things work out for him.

[solosmoke]

Thanks for your reply. Right now, the DA is pursuing charges, but the family involved is not. I am not sure why none of the guys threatening him were arrested, but I am sure it has a lot to do with the fact that they are friends. This is probably the same reason why they waited until the next day to take statements from them, as they were all very drunk.

[solosmoke]

Thank you so much! Prayers are welcome! (so are bumps!)

[MileHi]

The NRA might offer some advice.

[solosmoke]

Yes, thank you! My father mentioned petitioning them, and we are looking into it. Great idea!

[Carlucci]

20 years ago, I served on a jury in Texas in which a guy argued self defense in an argument under very similar circumstances. Be advised that Texas has a clause in its statute that says self defense is justified "if a reasonable person in the same situation would have not retreated."

This "retreat" clause was a real sticking point on our jury. The prosecutor made it out to seem like you had to be totally cornered with you back against a wall before self-defense was justified.

[solosmoke]

In your opinion, with his car surrounded and a man reaching under his shirt for some unknown item (all the while verbally threatening my father), do you think this falls under that category? If he had moved the car, he would have surely ran someone over. If he hadn’t shot the man, he might have been shot himself. What do you think?

[Carlucci]

In our case, the defendent said that the deceased was making a move under his shirt too, but no gun was found on the body (though his relatives were swarming the body and could have removed it)

I think being surrounded while in a car would make a strong case for self-defense.

Our defendent took the stand, and the prosecutor got him to state that in hindsight he probably could have ran, since he didn’t know FOR SURE that the other guy had a gun. That sealed his fate with a lot of the jurors. Plus, he got wishy-washy and stated that he was only going to try to hit the deceased with the gun and it went off, so it shed more doubt on whether even he thought deadly force was necessary.

Our guy was a good guy, and he killed a gang hood. He tried too hard to make it sound like he didn’t want to kill the guy, when instead he should have been saying, “I was certain that I was about to be killed and I had no other choice.”

We spent a long time deadlocked, with 10 for conviction and 2 for acquittal, with me being one of the 2. The judge wouldn’t accept a hung jury, so in the end we flipped and went “guilty”, but the entire jury signed a note to the judge asking for leniency in the sentencing. I never found out how much time he got.

[solosmoke]

That is very interesting. Hopefully when the time comes my father will be as stubborn as he is now. The guy he shot ran off into his house and didn’t die until the next day, so there’s no way to know if he had a weapon on him at the time. What I am having a hard time understanding is why he was charged with 1st degree murder. Involuntary manslaughter or even 2nd degree murder. It’s not like he showed up there with the intention of doing what he did. He felt like he had no choice. I think the police involved did a great disservice to the justice system by charging him in such a way.

[solosmoke]

Woops, meant to say “instead of involuntary manslaughter....”

My brain is somewhere far away, obviously.

[Tainan]

South Texas Bump...item for your list sttention

[SwinneySwitch]

South Texas ping!