When is Self Defense Murder?

[Winchester 73]

The media messes up again.

http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=7944148&nav=menu612_2_6

By: Dani Carlson

Candles and flowers line the sidewalk in front of the house where Joe Ray Martinez was murdered Wednesday night.

21-year-old Michael Frias was one of the first people to rush to Martinez' aid after the shooting.

"I took off my shirt and tried to apply pressure to the person who was shot," Frias said. "It didn't turn out well, but I did what I could."

Frias says Martinez bled to death in a matter of seconds outside his Visalia home after he was shot by a 13- year-old, neighbors say is his stepson.

"Basically you just see a person in pain, in extreme amounts of pain. You see in the movies it looked exactly like that," Frias said.

But the Visalia Police Department said the boy is not responsible for the murder, rather it was self-defense.

"We're taking the stance that the juvenile was taking steps to prevent additional violence there," said Sgt. Ernie Villa of the Visalia Police Department.

Villa said Martinez had a history of domestically abusing his common law wife; neighbors say was the boy's mother.

"Two weeks ago we went out there on a domestic violence complaint," Villa said. "The female was uncooperative." Villa could not confirm other complaints.

Moments before Martinez was shot, neighbors say Martinez waved a gun at several people outside the home, including his common law wife and her brother.

Villa said Martinez also hit his common law wife over the head with the gun, which prompted the boy to shoot him.

"Even though Mr. Martinez was the victim of the shooting, Martinez was the primary aggressor if he had not been there I don't think this would have happened," said Villa.

The Visalia Police Department will now send the case to the district attorney's office, and they will decide whether or not to file charges against the boy.

Villa said this incident should serve as a warning to other victims of domestic violence. He said they should report and follow through on domestic violence complaints, because many times those complaints turn into violent situations.

 

[chris in va]

I'd definitely be writing the editor on that one. They can't call it 'murder' until the trial has been settled. Shot, stabbed, hit...whatever.

 

[1911Tuner]

Self defense/Justifiable homicide is in place when the shooter/killer acts in defense of self and/or those whom he/she is authorized to protect. If the story is accurate, the boy had the right and the need. In his mind, if his mother is killed or disabled, there's no one to stand up for him when the father or father figure turns his wrath toward him.

A sad, all too common situation. It's easy to point the finger at the mother for not doing something...but too often, the mother has little recourse...at least in her mind. The male may be the only source of income. Survival is an issue to be considered, and destitution is a hard way to live.

Outright fear is another point. She may be too terrified of him to do anything to enrage him...and we've all heard of the situations where the mother pressed charges...and was murdered brutally within hours of the abuser making bail.

So...If the report is accurate, and this is the whole story...I hope that the boy is not charged. From there...we hope that the remaining family is able to make do with what they have left.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Well, never.

When is killing someone "murder"?

After the trial.

 

[Pilgrim]

By: Dani Carlson

Candles and flowers line the sidewalk in front of the house where Joe Ray Martinez was murdered Wednesday night.

I wonder if the thirteen year old has an attorney who will take Dani Carlson and KMPH to task?

Pilgrim

 

[frankie_the_yankee]

Just another example of the massive ignorance of much of today's news media.

For crying out loud, if these people are supposed to know anything at all, shouldn't they at least know what words mean?

I don't expect them to be gun experts. I don't expect them to be experts on the law. But they ought to know the difference in the meaning of the words "homicide", "shooting", and "murder".

Or at least their editor should.