This time, there can be little doubt that there is a peculiar disease in the air around Laredo, Texas, where the meaning of the Castle Doctrine has become so bizarrely twisted as to reflect a Kafkaesque vision of justice.
From J-dog comes this AP report of the glorious acquittal of Jose Luis Gonzalez:
It took the jury of eight men and four women three hours Friday to find Jose Luis Gonzalez, 63, not guilty of murdering Francisco Anguiano, who was 13 when he and three friends broke into Gonzalez’s trailer to rummage for snacks and soda one night in July 2007.
“I thank God and my attorney, the jury and the judge,” Gonzalez said in Spanish after the verdict. “It was a case where it was my life or theirs, and it’s a very good thing that they (the jurors) decided in my favor.”
Their life of his? Well then, it certainly seems just that Gonzalez was acquitted for killing the vicious 13 year old Anguiano. After all, no one wants Gonzalez killed in his own house, right? Except for one problem. It seems that Gonzalez’s, and the jury’s, perceptions of right and wrong differ from those of disinterested observers.
The facts of the case tell a very different story.
Gonzalez had endured several break-ins at his trailer when the four boys, ranging in age from 11 to 15, broke in. Gonzalez, who was in a nearby building at the time, went into the trailer and confronted the boys with a 16-gauge shotgun. Then he forced the boys, who were unarmed, to their knees, attorneys on both sides say.
The boys say they were begging for forgiveness when Gonzalez hit them with the barrel of the shotgun and kicked them repeatedly. Then, the medical examiner testified, Anguiano was shot in the back at close range. Two mashed Twinkies and some cookies were stuffed in the pockets of his shorts.
Gonzalez claimed that the 13 year old was about to lung at him when he blew him away. You know, one of those dreaded backwards killer lunges. So he shot him in the back.
Up to this point, it’s bad enough. No, it’s worse than bad enough, but not as bad as it’s about to get.
You see, this was a case that “sparked outrage” in Laredo. Not because of what Gonzalez did to a 13 year old boy, but because “many thought the man should not have even been charged.”
Can it even be possible for people to believe so blindly, so absolutely, that killing people is given right, no matter what the facts, circumstances or result? The problem is not necessarily with the Castle Doctrine, but the doctrinaire way in which some view the power this gives them to murder at will. And when there is no need to harm another, no less kill them, than shooting them in the back as they kneel before you on the floor is an execution. But then, they just love executions in Texas.
Imagine the pride one must feel to be a citizen of Laredo in the Sovereign Nation of Texas.
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By no particular coincidence, when I teach my carry classes, I strongly encourage people not to hold anybody at gunpoint, if they can avoid it.
“Chase ’em away; let the cops sort it out. They probably won’t actually do that, but, hey, that’s the way it goes.”
It’s not just that tempers (understandably; having somebody invade one’s home is frightening, infuriating, and humiliating; I am speaking from personal experience) run high, but all sorts of stuff can go wrong.
Change the facts on this around, with the homeowner holding them — on their knees, with their back to him is the best way to do such things, as I understand it — and he hears a sound behind him . . .
Maybe it’s another kid. Maybe it’s Fluffy the Cat. Maybe it’s the thirty-year-old convicted strongarm robber who is teaching the trade to young acolytes.
Much less to go wrong if they’re gone. Even with the issue of execution aside.
This reminds me of a time when I had to evacuate from Hurricane Ike, and expressed my horror that the Sheriff’s Department purposely decided not to evacuate over 1,000 prisoners from Galveston Island, despite warning of “Certain Death” for resident who intended to wait out the storm.
The reaction to my horror? I was scoffed at and told “Good! They deserve to ******* die.”
This also from a state where I have a co-worker who was told by her dad not to marry anyone unless they liked to hunt and ride ATVs.
Closer to being on topic here, I can’t say I’m surprised at such a reaction, but I am still quite disgusted that one can act in such a way to another human being, especially ones we should be taking care to nurture into respectable adults.
While I covered the Galveston jail disaster here, I’m having some difficulty seeing how you took that from this post about Gonzalez acquitted for executing a 13 year old. If it’s just the Texas connection, there’s plenty of posts about bizarre stuff in Texas around here. Feel free to check this out. Texas seems to have more than its fair share of oddities.