Texas Dad David Barajas Acquitted of Murdering Man Who Killed Sons - Polidicks

[Quote]A Texas father was found not guilty Wednesday of gunning down the man who killed his young sons in a drunken-driving accident. It took the jury three hours to acquit David Barajas, who was charged in the shooting death of 20-year-old Jose Banda Jr. in December 2012. Police said an intoxicated Banda struck Barajas and his two children while they pushed the family’s disabled truck down a road, just 50 yards away from their home in Alvin, south of Houston. Barajas’ children — David, 12, and Caleb, 11 — were killed.[/quote][url]http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/texas-dad-david-barajas-acquitted-murdering-man-who-killed-sons-n190286[/url]

[quote] pushed the family’s disabled truck down a road, just 50 yards away from their home in Alvin[/quote] Doesn't every driving manual tell you to push your car to the side of the road, walk home, and call for a mechanic/help?

Nobody saw the shooting and the investigators never found the gun(probably had a friend drive it to a river and dump it if it). They couldn't find anything to pin him to the crime, other than he was there it seems. [editline]27th August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;45817553]Doesn't every driving manual tell you to push your car to the side of the road, walk home, and call for a mechanic/help?[/QUOTE] He was in a position to push it home and either get a repairman if it was damaged severely, fix it himself, or fuel it up due to running out accidentally. Honestly if it was something minor, or I thought it was at least, I'd save the fees for towing and push it myself as well for that short of a distance.

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;45817553]Doesn't every driving manual tell you to push your car to the side of the road, walk home, and call for a mechanic/help?[/QUOTE] Uh, I don't know, but what does that have to do with anything here?

I actually agree with the decision to acquit the man. The man lost both his young sons because of a drunk, irresponsible driver and got his revenge for losing something big in his life.

Erm, I think the justice system is in place to take care of these matters, not to let people get their revenge with their own version of "justice." It's not the end of the world that he got off free, but I don't think this is something we want to encourage.

So he was acquitted based on a lack of evidence really. Still a POS for killing the person, the drunk driver was still a person too though. This person had a family, hell maybe this person could have been helped. Two wrongs don't make a right, yeah what happened was horrible and I can totally understand his mindset. But he murdered someone out of rage/grief, he had no right to do what he did (I mean if he did it, but a drunk driver does not just magically have a bullet in his head after traffic collision. Specially when they where the only people on the road.) Lots of injustice in this case.

I don't think the law should support revenge killings. The only reason he was acquitted was because no one saw him do it and they can't find any evidence other than the fact that he was there, which is not enough to put someone away alone. If evidence was found, and he was found guilty, he should have gone to jail. If he didn't act in self-defense, which he didn't, then what he did is murder and should be treated as such. I can entirely understand why he did it, you would be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't have done the same thing, but that doesn't make it right. Even a drunk driver who killed two kids deserves a fair trial.

[QUOTE=legolover122;45817978]Erm, I think the justice system is in place to take care of these matters, not to let people get their revenge with their own version of "justice." It's not the end of the world that he got off free, but I don't think this is something we want to encourage.[/QUOTE] Actually reading up on the prequel story he even had his clothes on site tested for gunpowder residue, and it came back negative, so it is even more unlikely he fired the gun. [url]http://www.click2houston.com/news/trial-begins-tuesday-for-dad-accused-of-killing-drunk-driver-who-killed-sons/27609248[/url]

[QUOTE=mugofdoom;45818028]I don't think the law should support revenge killings. The only reason he was acquitted was because no one saw him do it and they can't find any evidence other than the fact that he was there, which is not enough to put someone away alone. If evidence was found, and he was found guilty, he should have gone to jail. If he didn't act in self-defense, which he didn't, then what he did is murder and should be treated as such. I can entirely understand why he did it, you would be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't have done the same thing, but that doesn't make it right. Even a drunk driver who killed two kids deserves a fair trial.[/QUOTE] The law doesn't support revenge killings. I'm sure part of this goes back to jury nullification - the idea that juries can decide whether it's just to apply the force of the law in a case.

[QUOTE=legolover122;45817978]Erm, I think the justice system is in place to take care of these matters, not to let people get their revenge with their own version of "justice." It's not the end of the world that he got off free, but I don't think this is something we want to encourage.[/QUOTE] It would have been a little different if he planned the murder of the guy and then carried it out; but wasn't this shooting literally minutes after the man just watched his two kids get killed? I think any sane person would be pushed into being a completely different human after that, and this guy had this reaction (an unsurprising one). We also don't even know how the Jose Banda guy acted towards David right after killing the two girls; This is definitely one of those cases in the gray area, where our morals conflict with letting the process of law move without letting emotions into the mix. The fact that they had no real evidence towards him perpetrating the shooting is probably why this case ended this way, and it wasn't like they came to this conclusion immediately. It took 2 years

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;45818073]The law doesn't support revenge killings. I'm sure part of this goes back to jury nullification - the idea that juries can decide whether it's just to apply the force of the law in a case.[/QUOTE] I know it doesn't support revenge killings, I was disagreeing with people who say he should have been acquitted solely on the basis that the man he murdered killed his two sons.

[QUOTE=MR-X;45818027]So he was acquitted based on a lack of evidence really. Still a POS for killing the person, the drunk driver was still a person too though. This person had a family, hell maybe this person could have been helped. Two wrongs don't make a right, yeah what happened was horrible and I can totally understand his mindset. But he murdered someone out of rage/grief, he had no right to do what he did (I mean if he did it, but a drunk driver does not just magically have a bullet in his head after traffic collision. Specially when they where the only people on the road.) Lots of injustice in this case.[/QUOTE] It's completely unclear whether or not Jose Banda was belligerent after hitting the two girls, though; and how he acted when confronted by David about it (or maybe David didn't even wait a second and started trying to kill him, we just don't know)

[QUOTE=deadoon;45818037]Actually reading up on the prequel story he even had his clothes on site tested for gunpowder residue, and it came back negative, so it is even more unlikely he fired the gun. [url]http://www.click2houston.com/news/trial-begins-tuesday-for-dad-accused-of-killing-drunk-driver-who-killed-sons/27609248[/url][/QUOTE] So who did? No witnesses, three dead, two manslaughter and one murder. Motive is there, also with close proximity to his house. I bet the mom did it.

[QUOTE=counterpo0;45818201]So who did? No witnesses, three dead, two manslaughter and one murder. Motive is there, also with close proximity to his house. I bet the mom did it.[/QUOTE] But even if they tried to charge her; no weapon and no witnesses and no evidence. They couldn't even convict her.

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;45817553]Doesn't every driving manual tell you to push your car to the side of the road, walk home, and call for a mechanic/help?[/QUOTE] I dunno about that, but what does the manual say about drunken driving?

To be honest, I feel most sorry for the families of all those involved. Imagine finding out your husband/ partner/ father/ friend accidentally killed two kids whilst drunk and then got murdered.

The American justice system is fucked beyond all belief. Here is why, if someone hits a person while drunk driving they could only get 5 years in prison. Hell if you hit and killed a bicyclist on purpose and claim you didn't see them; you'd probably get maybe community service and probation. AKA you just killed a person and got a slap on the wrist. But heaven forbid you have an oz of marijuana on you or you could face 20+ years in prison because you could sell it to someone. This guy probably knew this and knew the guy who killed his kids would walk free in a few years because of the way the judicial system works.

When your brain snaps, theres no stopping it. You could be doing something and not even be aware of it. Same thing with depression and suicide. I'd say the drunk driver was more aware of the situation than the dad.

Guys he wasn't acquitted on account of revenge, holy shit. It's a lack of evidence. The article is like 4 paragraphs long.

[QUOTE=G12-A5;45818616]The American justice system is fucked beyond all belief. Here is why, if someone hits a person while drunk driving they could only get 5 years in prison. Hell if you hit and killed a bicyclist on purpose and claim you didn't see them; you'd probably get maybe community service and probation. AKA you just killed a person and got a slap on the wrist. But heaven forbid you have an oz of marijuana on you or you could face 20+ years in prison because you could sell it to someone. This guy probably knew this and knew the guy who killed his kids would walk free in a few years because of the way the judicial system works.[/QUOTE] You have literally no fucking clue what you're talking about.

So... Jury nullification?

[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;45819018]So... Jury nullification?[/QUOTE] Why would they do that? Theres no actual evidence that points towards the husband killing the drunk driver and theres actually evidence that proves he couldn't have shot him. Read the article instead of the title.

[QUOTE=joshuadim;45817865]I actually agree with the decision to acquit the man. The man lost both his young sons because of a drunk, irresponsible driver and got his revenge for losing something big in his life.[/QUOTE] i agree with it because there wasn't enough evidence to incriminate him, saying people should be allowed to take revenge on whoever they want is ridiculous and sets a dangerous precedent

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;45819389]i agree with it because there wasn't enough evidence to incriminate him, saying people should be allowed to take revenge on whoever they want is ridiculous and sets a dangerous precedent[/QUOTE] I only said that because he lost BOTH of his children to an irresponsible driver who should've known better than to go and drink and drive. [editline]27th August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=G12-A5;45818616]The American justice system is fucked beyond all belief. Here is why, if someone hits a person while drunk driving they could only get 5 years in prison. Hell if you hit and killed a bicyclist on purpose and claim you didn't see them; you'd probably get maybe community service and probation. AKA you just killed a person and got a slap on the wrist. But heaven forbid you have an oz of marijuana on you or you could face 20+ years in prison because you could sell it to someone. This guy probably knew this and knew the guy who killed his kids would walk free in a few years because of the way the judicial system works.[/QUOTE] Stop talking out of your ass.

[QUOTE=MR-X;45818027]So he was acquitted based on a lack of evidence really. Still a POS for killing the person, the drunk driver was still a person too though. This person had a family, hell maybe this person could have been helped. Two wrongs don't make a right, yeah what happened was horrible and I can totally understand his mindset. But he murdered someone out of rage/grief, he had no right to do what he did (I mean if he did it, but a drunk driver does not just magically have a bullet in his head after traffic collision. Specially when they where the only people on the road.) Lots of injustice in this case.[/QUOTE] I don't think you would be calling him a POS if you had kids.

I thought this was going to be a "crime no jury would convict him of" situation

killing is badong, revenge killing moreso

I guess I'm just old fashioned, but I fail to see why [I]murder [/I]is being celebrated here.

[QUOTE=Skyward;45820631]I guess I'm just old fashioned, but I fail to see why [I]murder [/I]is being celebrated here.[/QUOTE] I fail to see murder being celebrated here. The most anyone has said is that its understandable in light of the situation, not a great thing to do or even a good thing.