Texas homeowner acquitted of killing teen intruder
September 27th, 2008 . by TexasFredTexas homeowner acquitted of killing teen intruder
LAREDO, Texas (AP) - A Texas jury acquitted a man accused of killing a boy who broke into his home looking for a snack - a case that sparked outrage in this border city, where many thought the man should not have even been charged.
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.”
Gonzalez said he was sorry for Anguiano’s death, but “it was a situation in which I feared for my life.”
Texas law allows homeowners to use deadly force to protect themselves and their property. In June, a grand jury in Houston cleared a homeowner who shot and killed two burglars outside his neighbor’s house despite the dispatcher’s repeated request that he stay inside his own home.
Full Story Here:
Texas homeowner acquitted of killing teen intruder
I just love a feel good story, and THIS is a feel good story, unless you’re the burglar.
In Texas, the home owner is King of the Castle, thus the term The Castle Doctrine, and I guess, at some point in time, the bad guys are going to catch on to the fact that here in Texas we not only can, but many of us WILL punch their ticket to hell if they come around doing things that they just shouldn’t be doing.
I know there will be a few folks that read this and say, “Oh my God, that TexasFred guy is one mean, hard-hearted son of a bitch, all those poor boys were doing was looking for snacks and something to drink, surely he wouldn’t just shoot someone down like that”, well, guess again!
You’re right on this part though, I am a mean and hard-hearted son of a bitch if you come breaking into MY house, and I don’t care WHAT time of day or night it is. If a man is hungry or thirsty and he comes to me and says “Fred, I’m hungry man, can you help me out?”, you betcha, the guy is going to get something to eat and drink and anything else we can do to help him out.
But if he breaks in to my house, and tries to steal it from me, he has placed our lives in danger by that act alone, and that is all it takes. If my life or the life of my wife and family is threatened by a home invader, it’s all over, you’ll read it on the blog and see it in the news.
Let me be crystal clear on this, I don’t WANT to shoot anyone, I don’t go out looking for situations that place me in a position of having to shoot, but when circumstance places you in a position of you or them, I vote for ME and MINE every time, and once in a while, the criminal element of this nation leaves you with no other alternative.
I know that some states believe homeowners are supposed to retreat and surrender the home to the criminals, and that deadly force is only to be used as an absolute last resort. Thank GOD I don’t live in one of those states. There are many reasons to love Texas, but our common sense gun laws are the best reasons I can think of right off hand, God Bless Texas!
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Hey, Fred, do you know the beginning of the story? Why was the homeowner on trial, anyway? Doesn’t seem like charges should have been filed to begin with. Sounds like another insane DA enjoying his moment on television.
Paul, read the full story, it’s there, and it was some BS too… The locals were none too happy, this should never have been an issue except the 3 that didn’t get shot claimed it was murder…
You break in to MY house it’s NOT murder, not here in Texas…
The man should never have been charged! Criminy! Was the DA related to Sutten? Or whatever his name is?
In every nation that has strict gun control laws, violent crime has risen. Now why is that? Because criminals know that they can attack someone and they will not be able to fight back.
In Texas criminals are learning that if you attack someone you can and will be shot. Violent crime is down.
Jeez. And this DA is running uncontested in November. There needs to be a MAJOR write-in campaign.
Thank God that, literally, there is at least ONE state that recognizes the ultimate sacrosanct status of one’s home.
BZ
I really need to get myself a “nug.”
Just like the American Express Card…
I think in my state you can defend yourself, but usually must do it in court. If people, including 13 year olds, just respected others, no one would be dead or in court.
It seems so simple. Why don’t they get it?
Maggie
Maggie’s Notebook
Fred…AMEN BROTHER…Boom - Boom - Out - Go - The - Lights! You reminded me of a day long ago when I lived in West Texas and a child made me fear my life for a split second. We can all make a sound judgment in a split second…the basic story is correct and factual, but the devil’s in the details! Either way…justice was done as it was done in this case!
Once in Texas…I had one of those screen doors that is solid 1/2 and screen 1/2. I’m busy around the house and I hear noise and a bit of rubble outside the screen door (we all leave our BIG doors open…screen shut to keep bugs out :). I go to the screen and look out…I see nothing.
Minutes go by and I hear something again…I again go to the door as I’m drying a plate with a cup towel coming from the kitchen. I see nothing. I account for all pets, and my infant/toddler son. Blow it off AGAIN.
AGAIN…I hear something…a strange sound…a thud…definitely a ROCK. I hear a ROCK hit my porch! OMG…in my little home town…do I have an unsavory person on my porch??? I actually put my baby child in his room, shut the door, grabbed a kitchen knife (BIG ONE) and headed for the door! I turned the corner again…and see NOTHING outside the screen.
I have the knife by my side…and open the door in haste and bump the intruder on the head. I then gasped, asked the small intruder if he was OK,…quietly placed the large knife away and asked him if I could help him.
You see…my intruder was a small boy…a mere tike…not tall enough to see over the 1/2 door…and drug a big rock up to the door so that he could knock or see in, but I heard him and opened the door before he had the chance.
When I asked him what he was doing there…he simply said…”My Daddy wants to know if we can borrow some cookies?” I gave him an ENTIRE ZIPLOC BAG of cookies…and he was all smiles as he left.
I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t even try to find out. After he left…I COULDN’T BELIEVE THAT I WAS SO SCARED…and it turned out to be a little boy with a poignant question that would forever mark my soul.
I say if these punks got shot…they had it coming. If they’d have moved a rock over that would have made them tall enough to ring the doorbell…they could have just stated, “My Daddy, Or (I, ME, WE) would like to borrow some snacks and sodas. Their wishes would have been granted and life would have continued in it’s “pay it forward” fashion.
Sorry Fred that I’m so long winded…but DAMN…did your post bring back a blast from the past. You know I’m one of your favorite “normal” people though
Got my gun loaded, got my knife handy, and I’ll never shoot or stab somebody that didn’t “NEED KILLIN’”…
So this kid and his buddies are too stupid to know what can happen if you break into someone’s home?
Oh well.
One less idiot in the gene pool.
Perhaps the DA was a Johnny Sutton wannabe… maybe he thought if he prosecuted a person for defending himself and his home (like his border) President Bush would call him a friend.
The right to own property implies the right to defend it and without the right to defend property you don’t own it..you are just sitting on it until someone decides to take it away from you.
I’m with you on this one, a good ending. We have the right to protect ourselves and our property.
This will certainly be seen by many in some other states as bloodthirsty barbarism.
Meh. Call it what you want.
I personally call it Justice.
God bless Texas.
It hasn’t bee that many years ago that I greeted an unwelcome intruding guest with my husbands deer rifle…I never saw the man again! Nuff said!
A group of teenage boys don’t break into a house for snacks and soda, especially at night. Anybody that would believe that is a fool. Those thugs were there to rob the trailer and if possible, injure and rob the occupant.