Trial of Texas father raises legal, moral issues

[kent]

Crime of passion/temporary insanity?  Whatever it takes if I'm on the jury.

How about you?  Oh, and for the anti-gun crowd, imagine bare fists, a rock or stick was used so you don't have to ramble on about guns - the issue is payback.

ANGLETON, Texas (AP) — David Barajas denies killing a drunk driver in a fit of rage after his two sons were fatally struck in 2012 on a rural road in Southeast Texas.


His defense attorney says Barajas is a good man, a grieving father and not a murderer. At the same time, his defense hasn't publicly suggested who else might be responsible for Jose Banda's shooting death.

Barajas' trial is set to begin Monday in a case with many complexities: No weapon was recovered, no witnesses identified him as the shooter and many in Barajas' community have strongly sympathized with him, with some saying they might have taken the law into their own hands if faced with a similar situation......

news.msn.com/crime-justice/trial-of-texas-father-raises-legal-moral-issues

[djAdvocate]

crime of passion.  voluntary manslaughter with time off for good behavior.

next? 

[NancysSummerSip]

Has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Period.

No weapon(s) recovered, no witnesses, no means of tying the father to the deceased with physical proof? I have no doubt that the state wants to find a killer, but without some means of establishing Barajas' whereabouts in relation to the murder scene, via credit card receipts, closed-circuit security cameras that caught him at or near the scene, DNA material or cell phone records that show any calls he made pinging off a tower near the crime scene, all the gut feeling on earth cannot be used to convict him.

FWIW, I doubt I could sit on a jury and convict the guy regardless. Losing one child is bad enough. But two, and to a drunk driver? Death would almost be too good for the scumbag.

[NoNamePerson]

Gary Plauche case:

Not going to post video but here is another case. It was caught on camera as news media was there when they brought the guy back. There was no doubt about who did it. Gary was a casual friend when I was spending a lot of time in Baton Rouge and it just about blew my mind when this hit the news. The last person you would have thought would do something like this. But who is to say what you will do when it comes to your child.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Plauche

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I'm confused about some of text in the link. He and his sons were pushing the broken-down car down the dark road, very close to their home. Bandra (the drunk-driver), struck & killed the two boys. If he was shot minutes after the accident, that would mean Barajas would have had to have the weapon in his car. That's the only way he could have been able to shoot him within minutes of the incident. I can't picture him (Barajas) leaving the scene - especially with two critically injured children - to do a 50 yd dash to his home, retrieve a weapon & return to shoot the perp.

The trial will focus on prosecutors' allegations that Barajas shot 20-year-old Bandra in the head in December 2012 near Alvin, about 30 miles southeast of Houston. Minutes earlier, Bandra's car struck Barajas' sons as they pushed the family's broken-down truck down a dark, narrow road just 50 yards from their home. Twelve-year-old David Jr. died at the scene; 11-year-old Caleb died at a hospital.

[TheHaitian]

And let's not forget:
- negative for gun powder residue
- no weapon was retrieved
- no witness

It will be a tough sell to the jury pool!

[Tennesseer]

I would swear we had a previous thread about this case a while back.  There were some good comments in it.  Unfortunately, I cannot locate the old thread.

[TheHaitian]

Aug 17, 2014 15:25:40 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I would swear we had a previous thread about this case a while back.  There were some good comments in it.  Unfortunately, I cannot locate the old thread.

Yes there was, when the event just happened.

[Tennesseer]

Aug 17, 2014 15:36:24 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Aug 17, 2014 15:25:40 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I would swear we had a previous thread about this case a while back.  There were some good comments in it.  Unfortunately, I cannot locate the old thread.

Yes there was, when the event just happened.

Thanks Carl. Glad it is not just me who remembers it.  Now where was the damn thread posted!

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Since this happened Dec 2012, I did a search using the words "2 Boys Killed by Drunk Driver" and came up with this thread started shortly after the incident (in YMOT.

You're Welcome:

notmsnmoney.proboards.com/thread/30764/wrongs-make-right

[Tennesseer]

Aug 17, 2014 15:45:11 GMT -5 ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ said:

Since this happened Dec 2012, I did a search using the words "2 Boys Killed by Drunk Driver" and came up with this thread started shortly after the incident (in YMOT.

You're Welcome:

notmsnmoney.proboards.com/thread/30764/wrongs-make-right

You're the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sam_2.0]

No gunshot residue? Are they sure the guy was shot in the head and not some projectile object from the car crash?

[fairlycrazy23]

Aug 18, 2014 16:43:58 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

No gunshot residue? Are they sure the guy was shot in the head and not some projectile object from the car crash?

The residue should be on the suspect, I am sure they know the victim was shot.

But without hard evidence, all they have is motive and opportunity. Looks like it will be hard to even prove, let alone convict.
Do jury's decide punishment in Texas?

[zibazinski]

Not sure but if I was on that jury, you'd have to prove so much that the man did it or I'd be voting NO. I'm not totally sure I'd vote YES even if he did do it. I'd go crazy if someone killed a loved one of mine.

[Sam_2.0]

Father acquitted by jury today.

[EVT1]

Aug 18, 2014 19:55:35 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Not sure but if I was on that jury, you'd have to prove so much that the man did it or I'd be voting NO. I'm not totally sure I'd vote YES even if he did do it. I'd go crazy if someone killed a loved one of mine.

Don't worry- you wouldn't make it that far   Probably wouldn't make it past the questionnaire. 

But no gun, no GSR, kind of hard to convict a person. 

Maybe the drunk driver was suffering from affluenza-  should not judge him so harshly.

[jkapp]

No gun, but the dad had a holster for the type of gun used, and bullets for the type of gun used...so, for me, that means he had a gun at some point - I don't know too many people who buy a holster and bullets for a gun, but not the gun

[Tennesseer]

Aug 27, 2014 21:33:27 GMT -5 jkapp said:

No gun, but the dad had a holster for the type of gun used, and bullets for the type of gun used...so, for me, that means he had a gun at some point - I don't know too many people who buy a holster and bullets for a gun, but not the gun

One thing ìs for sure-someone at the immediate aftermath of the accident  murdered the guy ìn what reads like a rural area.  How many people could have been at the scene I do not know.

[EVT1]

I just hope they let him off because of the lack of evidence, not justifying a murder.

While horrible- I could not kill someone in that situation. I would not give anyone a pass that did so either.

[whoisjohngalt]

Aug 27, 2014 21:55:19 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

I just hope they let him off because of the lack of evidence, not justifying a murder.

While horrible- I could not kill someone in that situation. I would not give anyone a pass that did so either.

I can't stand it when people make such statements.

What people say/think they would do in any particular situation and what they actually do - could be very very different

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2014 22:43:06 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Aug 27, 2014 21:55:19 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

I just hope they let him off because of the lack of evidence, not justifying a murder.

While horrible- I could not kill someone in that situation. I would not give anyone a pass that did so either.

I can't stand it when people make such statements.

What people say/think they would do in any particular situation and what they actually do - could be very very different

That's logical... and logic has no business here. This is the Internet!

[djAdvocate]

Aug 27, 2014 14:52:10 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Father acquitted by jury today.

classic example of exigent circumstances, from my cursory overview.....

[Shooby]

EVT said: I just hope they let him off because of the lack of evidence, not justifying a murder.
While horrible- I could not kill someone in that situation. I would not give anyone a pass that did so either."


You couldn't kill someone that just mowed over and killed your 2 children? If was going to kill someone, that would absolutely be the time. And, sorry, you dont' know what you WOULD do in that same situation either.

[EVT1]

Aug 28, 2014 5:28:36 GMT -5 Shooby said:

EVT said: I just hope they let him off because of the lack of evidence, not justifying a murder.
While horrible- I could not kill someone in that situation. I would not give anyone a pass that did so either."


You couldn't kill someone that just mowed over and killed your 2 children? If was going to kill someone, that would absolutely be the time. And, sorry, you dont' know what you WOULD do in that same situation either.

That's a load of shit.  In a traffic accident situation you have no idea what the hell happened and are in no position to make a determination.  Maybe there are more details to the story, but my first reaction in a fatal crash is not to go home and get a gun and execute the person that may or may not be at fault.

Change the facts, say the driver was not drunk, maybe he had a medical event, maybe a mechanical failure, then what?  Are drivers that cause fatalities automatically susceptible to being shot by an angry parent in your opinion?

But whatever- I guess you know me better than I know myself.

[Shooby]

If your kids are laying there DEAD, I think you are going to have a visceral reaction to a DRUNK who mowed down your kids.

[Shooby]

But ,guess what? This guy never has the chance to mow any one down again.

[EVT1]

Aug 28, 2014 11:31:17 GMT -5 Shooby said:

If your kids are laying there DEAD, I think you are going to have a visceral reaction to a DRUNK who mowed down your kids.

And how do I know the person that hit them was drunk?  I smell alcohol- that enough to justify murder?  Maybe they had a couple beers and a stroke-I am in no position to make that determination.

I maintain I do not shoot anyone after a crash- plus it would land me in jail and I have no desire to spend any time there.  

Going to have to look into this story a little more.

 

[EVT1]

Hmmm- don't think this would ever happen to me- wouldn't have my kids in the street pushing a truck at night on a dark road in the first place

[Shooby]

You can maintain whatever you want. Nobody thinks they will be in those shoes until they are. But, if anyone is going to go "off" over anything, killing someone's kids is probably #1.

[djAdvocate]

Aug 28, 2014 11:54:06 GMT -5 Shooby said:

You can maintain whatever you want. Nobody thinks they will be in those shoes until they are. But, if anyone is going to go "off" over anything, killing someone's kids is probably #1.

i think it is equally hard to predict that you WOULD kill.  in other words, you can say what you will about EVT NOT killing in that situation, but you can also make no claims that you or anyone else WOULD, without, as you say "being in those shoes".