Thread: "Reasonable" homicide, manslaughter, or??

David Barajas, a 31 year old father of 3, was charged with murder today. Back in December Barajas and his two boys, David Jr 12 and Caleb 11, were pushing their broken truck off a street when they were struck by a drunk driver, Jose Banda, 21. David Jr was killed immediately and Caleb succumbed to his injuries during transport.

When police arrived Jose Banda was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head.

Obviously David Sr. killed him. Should he be charged with murder? Is another charge more appropriate?

He might want to consider a temporary insanity defense. I can't blame him one bit for doing that.

Though understandable and maybe even "justified" in my opinion, the law is still the law and vigilante justice is not tolerated for a reason. I'd be shocked if he ended up getting murder 1 which is usually pre-meditated so probably a different murder charge or manslaughter. Sad situation all around, I can't even imagine. I'm sure there is precedent for cases like this though. I read not too long ago about a man who beat to death another man who he caught molesting his daughter:

(CNN) -- A Lavaca County, Texas, grand jury did not return an indictment against a father who killed a man he found allegedly sexually abusing his daughter, officials said Tuesday at a press conference in Hallettsville, Texas.
"The substantial amount of evidence showed that the witness statements and the father's statement and what the father had observed was in fact what had happened that day," Lavaca County District Attorney Heather McMinn told reporters.
The father, who will not be charged, is not being named by CNN to protect the identity of his daughter.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/19/us/texas-abuser-father

One of the deciding factors in that case though was that there was no gun used and the man did call the police to try and save the man despite what he had done. This could carry some weight in that case, however. Crimes of passion and similar instances are generally taken into deeper consideration of all factors involved. I can't imagine a jury would want to prosecute the guy or give him the death penalty, but who knows.

Originally Posted by WTE

He might want to consider a temporary insanity defense. I can't blame him one bit for doing that.

I agree. Cops haven't found a gun, but David's house was about 50 yds from the accident scene. So speculation is that he walked to his house, got the gun, shot Barajas, then hid the weapon before police arrived. His wife and other daughter were also at the scene.

Murder 2 would have to be the charge. Killing "in the heat of passion." He didn't plan out the murder. He didn't walk out with the intention of killing someone, but he did still kill the man, intentionally.

Had the boy that was driving the car not been shot, he would have been charged with either manslaughter or murder 3.

Jury Nullification. Rarely happens but seems appropriate here.

Ugh, that's tough. I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing if I had a weapon on me at the time of the murders. If I were prosecuting attorney, I would imagine manslaughter is the highest I could go for. Sad story.

If I was on the jury I wouldn't convict him.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

If I was on the jury I wouldn't convict him.

I would want to be on that jury and try to come across as impartial as possible during the screening and then find him innocent the minute deliberations begin.

The thing I struggle with here is that the driver of the truck likely didn't intend to kill the kids. Granted, he drove drunk which is extremely negligent and he is ultimately responsible for their deaths... But it's not as cut and dry as a father who discovers his daughter being molested by someone whose intent was obviously much more nefarious IMO. I'd be more inclined to punish this guy than than the father of the daughter.

Its murder no getting around that but i can feel this man's plight as i would of been distraught too having to see people i love killed because some ******* couldnt call a taxi. Will be interesting to see how this plays out though.

Originally Posted by Buff

The thing I struggle with here is that the driver of the truck likely didn't intend to kill the kids. Granted, he drove drunk which is extremely negligent and he is ultimately responsible for their deaths... But it's not as cut and dry as a father who discovers his daughter being molested by someone whose intent was obviously much more nefarious IMO. I'd be more inclined to punish this guy than than the father of the daughter.

Good point.

Unfortuantely the way our law is written in regards to drinking and driving we have a lot of leeway when it comes to intent. My thoughts are the minute you start drinking you should already have a backup plan as too how your going to get home. To me, that to some degree is intent but the law isnt written that way.

Originally Posted by GEM

Ugh, that's tough. I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing if I had a weapon on me at the time of the murders. If I were prosecuting attorney, I would imagine manslaughter is the highest I could go for. Sad story.

Yep. Very tough. I think all of us can feel for him, but at the same time, we can't have people running around executing vigilante justice for a whole lot of reasons, including in many cases the person a parent/loved one thinks is the offender, isn't, so the wrong person could be "executed."

The prosecution will realize the jury will find him to be a very sympathetic character. They will likely want to avoid having this go to jury and will try like hell to get a plea deal.

The father will be rolling the dice on his decision to plea or go to trial.

Originally Posted by WTE

The prosecution will realize the jury will find him to be a very sympathetic character. They will likely want to avoid having this go to jury and will try like hell to get a plea deal.

The father will be rolling the dice on his decision to plea or go to trial.

He would be foolish to go to trial. Jury's can't simply say "I feel for the guy, thus he's innocent." If he murdered the guy, he murdered the guy. I've seen where the judge overrides the jury's decision (yes, they can do this). If it's known he (the father) pulled the trigger, it's murder by the letter of the law. Period.

I dont' even think the prosecuting attorney would give much leway in this as to giving much of a plea. Five years instead of 7. But the prosecutor has to look at the family of the 21 year old, as well. They just lost a family member to murder, so how could anyone simply say "yeah, but...."

Its a horrible...horrible.... situation no matter what had happened after the accident.