COULD YOU CONVICT THIS FATHER? David Barajas Murder Trial

[HairOfTheDog]

If you Google "cops covered up murder", you'll get a slew of results with allegations related to all kinds of murder scenarios.

I don't think the people involved in this cover-up, if there even was a cover-up, consider Barajas a murderer though.

It's just my opinion that there are probably a lot more cases of small town justice (that we never hear about) being handled outside of the courtroom.

[Cutz]

It's just my opinion that there are probably a lot more cases of small town justice (that we never hear about) being handled outside of the courtroom.

Maybe in Texas. Place is full of asshole vigilantes anyway.

[Blindgreed1]

It's just my opinion that there are probably a lot more cases of small town justice (that we never hear about) being handled outside of the courtroom.

Maybe in Texas. Place is full of asshole vigilantes anyway.

I'll take asshole vigilantes over theives and liars in a pinch. If you just blend in with the mob and occasionally yell "Praise Jesus" they think you're one of them and generally leave you alone.

[FAHQTOO]

It's just my opinion that there are probably a lot more cases of small town justice (that we never hear about) being handled outside of the courtroom.

Maybe in Texas. Place is full of asshole vigilantes anyway.

I'll take asshole vigilantes over theives and liars in a pinch. If you just blend in with the mob and occasionally yell "Praise Jesus" they think you're one of them and generally leave you alone.

I agree.

Take, for instance a situation that happened in my hometown this week I read about in the paper.

It seems the owner of a small time excavating co had some rather expensive tools come up missing. Instead of calling the police to investigate he decided to take matters into his own hands. He thinks he knows who stole the tools, he talks one of his younger employees into luring an ex employee to one of the jobsites. Together they tackle the guy to the ground, wrap his hands and feet with duct tape, dig a hole with a bobcat, throw him in and bury him up to his neck. They told him they would get him out when he told them where the tool was, after they went and retrieved said tool. They must not have done a very good job because the accused tool thief got himself loose from the duct tape and dug himself out. He ended up at the sheriffs house, of all places, and the punishers we caught when they came back to deal with the guy.

I don't see a damn thing wrong with burying someone up to their neck if you suspect they may have stolen a valuable tool from you. Who needs insurance when you have a bobcat?

[Cutz]

I don't see a damn thing wrong with burying someone up to their neck if you suspect they may have stolen a valuable tool from you.

[HairOfTheDog]

DEFENSE RESTS -- CLOSING ARGUMENTS TODAY

As best I can tell from the reporting, the Defense didn't call Barajas' wife Cindy to testify. They barely put on a case because they believe the state has come up way short in proving beyond reasonable doubt that David Barajas was the person who shot Jose Banda.

A surveillance system installer testified yesterday. The prosecution earlier implied that it was suspicious that the surveillance video system in Barajas' house wasn't working the night of the accident (it could have captured activity at the accident site and the comings and goings at the Barajas' home). The system installer testified there was a problem with the unit and the hard drive was removed a month before the accident

Pearland police officer Oscar Pena also testified. He says he pulled Barajas over last fall for an improper inspection sticker. Inside the police car, Pena says Barajas talked about the pending murder case against him. "I'm not saying that I did anything, but if this happened, would it be murder or a crime of passion?" Pena recalled Barajas asking. But that same police officer also says Barajas did not say he shot Banda.

Barajas' family left court after a paramedic said he found a large sum of money in Banda's waistband that night -- all $20 bills, three inches deep.

"I was there every day during trial; no one accuse David Barajas, not one," Barajas' friend Juan Hernandez told a reporter. "What do you think that money is from? (Banda) didn't have job. What do you think that money from? Was a bad drug deal and David got blamed for it," Hernandez said.

Refs:
http://abc13.com/news/closing-arguments-...al/282700/
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/new...-shot.html

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Interesting, first I have heard about the possibility of drug dealing in this

[ramseycat]

Not guilty. I'm glad. Punk ass mother fuckun drunk driving drug dealer deserved to be shot.

[Duchess]

I'm glad too. Now these parents can mourn their children and try to move on, if that's even possible after something like this.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't know that Jose Banda was a drug dealer; that only came from Barajas' friend. I'm not glad Banda is dead and his family is in pain, but I'm glad that the Barajas family has this behind them, legally.



Anyway, that may be the quickest I've seen a jury reach a verdict, unsurprisingly.

The evidence really wasn't there, but the District Attorney stated if her office didn't believe he'd killed Jose Banda, they would not have taken Barajas to trial.

In any case, I doubt that LE is going to search for another killer -- they're confident Barajas did it. If they're right -- which I personally believe they are -- and it comes out later (hard for a number of people to all take the same secret to their graves), they'll not be able to retry him for murder.

Reflecting on it, IMO, this case may well have been tried now solely in response to the Banda family and to show the community that vigilante justice doesn't come with a free pass. I can't imagine that the state really believed a conviction was forthcoming given the case they presented.

[ramseycat]

I do feel bad for Bandas family. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone. But I would never want to experience losing my children the way the Barajas' did either. Driving drunk is a major problem for me. There is never any excuse for it.

[Cutz]

to show the community that vigilante justice doesn't come with a free pass. I can't imagine that the state really believed a conviction was forthcoming given the case they presented.

Unfortunately, all they managed to show was that vigilante justice does come with a clean record... as long as you tie up loose ends and cover your tracks.

Whether it was Barajas or not... there's still a criminal at large who could believe it's worth killing the next person that does them wrong. You killed my dog? Vigilante time. You slept with my wife? I got a cure for that. You cut me off in traffic to get to your exit? I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXIT!

I agree, I personally believe it was Barajas, but LE had no business proceeding with the case without any real evidence.

[Maggot]

Sometimes the law and the system does the right thing. I think he did it but he had a right and duty in my eyes.

[Duchess]

Those parents will never be able to erase the images of their boys from their minds. One of them was basically cut in half from the impact.

[HairOfTheDog]

to show the community that vigilante justice doesn't come with a free pass. I can't imagine that the state really believed a conviction was forthcoming given the case they presented.

Unfortunately, all they managed to show was that vigilante justice does come with a clean record... as long as you tie up loose ends and cover your tracks.

That applies to all crimes, not only crimes committed to achieve vigilante justice.

People who lie, say the least, have witnesses in their pockets, destroy evidence, have the better lawyer, have the least logical jurists...sometimes walk, despite circumstantial evidence pointing straight at them.

And, often cops have a damned good idea of who committed a crime, but can never file charges because they know their evidence isn't strongest enough to meet the reasonable doubt burden in a court of law. Lotta technically unsolved crimes out there -- not always because the perp's identity is a mystery.

In this case, Barajas was put through the ordeal of standing accused and facing trial. I don't know if prosecutors chose to proceed to trial so quickly -- instead of continuing to push on the witnesses and search for more evidence -- because they wanted to put the case behind them formally and let Barajas be, or because they didn't think they'd ever get more evidence and figured they'd take their best shot. Either way, guilty or innocent, he's a free man -- like OJ (was), Robert Blake, George Zimmerman, and a whole buncha peeps whose names we don't know.

Anyway, it's interesting reading everybody's opinions and feelings in this case. I happen to agree with you on this one and, from all that I've read, we are definitely in the minority. I don't generally support vigilante justice and never when it involves an intentional act like murder in retaliation for an accident (no matter how horrible the accident and the conditions surrounding it).

I do not believe that the person who executed Jose Banda did me a service, did the Barajas family a service, or had a right or a duty to kill (no matter who pulled the trigger).

[Duchess]

Even knowing it's wrong I am rarely opposed to an eye for an eye.

[QueenBee]

(ABC News) -- A jury returned a verdict of not guilty Wednesday for a Texas father accused of the shooting death of a drunk driver who killed his two sons.

David Barajas was accused of fatally shooting 20-year-old Jose Banda in December 2012 after Banda plowed into a vehicle that Barajas and his two sons had been pushing on a rural road in Alvin, about 30 miles southeast of Houston.

The Barajas family broke into tears in the courtroom today while Jose Banda's family sat in stunned belief.

"I am relieved but still in pain. My two boys are dead and nothing will bring them back," Barajas said in a post decision news conference.


David Jr., 12, and Caleb, 11, were killed in the accident.


A visibily angry District Attorney Jeri Yenne said prosecutors "would never present a case against a person we did not believe was guilty."

"Three sons were lost that day. The Barajas children and the Banda son," Yenne said.

If Barajas had been convicted, he faced a potential life sentence.

[FAHQTOO]

I don't see a damn thing wrong with burying someone up to their neck if you suspect they may have stolen a valuable tool from you.

No, I wasn't being serious. Taking the law in your own hands rarely has a good outcome. But, I'm glad this guy (bandas) was found innocent...right or wrong.

[Cutz]

I would have been more than happy to rat him out and send his ass to prison.