This reads like it never even went to trial. The article says a jury “failed to indict” and the man was “never charged”.
I’m assuming it was a grand jury and somehow a bare majority or jurors couldn’t find cause to charge the man (who—at minimum—pointed a gun at his daughter’s chest and pulled the trigger) with any crime whatsoever.
Not a single charge or trial?
How?
Texas
Also she was Anti-Trump. And a woman. So it’s okay.
They don’t consider it a crime if they don’t believe the victim is a person.
Unironically a foundational tenant of the entire country.
Some of us have just done a better job of moving past it. (Dems enabled Gaza genocide so I’m not talking about Dems, at least not the politicians. I mean some individuals.)
Yes. Totally on her. /s If she had not been born yet, then things would have been a lot different. ‘dad’ had been on death-row before midnight
Grand jury. What little I’ve read keeps saying they tried for manslaughter. Also from what I’ve read, based on the dad’s own statements he’s clearly guilty of a number of crimes that aren’t manslaughter. So it’s possible there’s some nazi-esque camaraderie here and the prosecutor intentionally flopped to get no charges. I’m not exactly sure how grand juries work on that front. Could they have tried for a lower level charge, then once the rest of the investigation uncovers things they just bump the charge up to the appropriate level of would they need to reconvene a grand jury? Could the grand jury have considered multiple levels of charges?
Grand juries are different than trial juries in Texas. They’re nominated “respectable” members of society that serve terms for multiple months. It’s remnants of Jim Crow that are alive and well, where rich white guys decide who gets prosecuted for what.
And Texas made it even worse a few years back. In 2008, a white guy called 911 because police his neighbor’s house was being robbed. He indicated that the neighbor’s were not home, and also that he was gonna shoot the burglars. The dispatch told him over a dozen times not to interfere, and he repeatedly said he would shoot them. As plainclothes police were arriving on scene, dispatch told him they were arriving, but he went ahead and shot the 2 unarmed burglars in the back while.they were fleeing, killing both. They happened to be unarmed.
The grand jury refused to indict him for a crime, but the familes sued the murderer in civil court and won.
So Texas made a law that if someone is not convicted of a felony for a gun crime they can’t be sued in civil court over it.
So Texas made a law that if someone is not found convicted of a felony for a gun crime they can’t be sued in civil court over it.
This is how you get vigilantes.
That’s the idea.
They openly allowed armed civilian militias like the “Minutemen” and “United Constitutional Patriots” to detain and hold migrants at gunpoint until CBP arrived.
Hell - in the 80s a militia group calling itself the “Civiliian Military Assistant” was actually making border raids into Mexico to shoot on migrants before they crossed the border.
You know, these folks keep worrying about the cartels and the Black Panthers. And the more I read, the more I wish that what they feared most actually came to pass, and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación actually rolled a few APCs into their neighborhoods and started a scorched earth campaign or three.
How much do we want to bet that the law wouldn’t apply if the shooter was black?
Grand jury indictments are required for felony charges to make it to trial, including felonies like murder/involuntary manslaughter.
Indictments are a very low bar (probable cause). In this case, it seems clear to me from everyone’s accounts that, at minimum, this was a reckless homicide where the mishandling of a firearm resulted in someone’s death, and therefore probable cause existed to indict, so this is very clearly a poor decision on the jury’s part if the charge was manslaughter. I’m not sure if they tried to seek an indictment for involuntary manslaughter or murder though. Murder is a higher bar.
However this isn’t necessarily a done deal. Double jeopardy does not apply to grand juries’ “no bill” (i.e. the decision not to indict), so the prosecutor can gather more evidence or plan a different approach and try again. If, for example, they attempted to get an indictment for murder and failed, they could try again for manslaughter. This is really only news if the prosecution decides to stop trying to indict.
“If a district attorney wanted, a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich.”
I don’t think the district attorney tried to do more than the bare minimum for the indictment. I wonder if they purposely threw the case.
“Justice for Mama Cass!”
“To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun at his daughter, without checking for bullets, and pulling the trigger,” the coroner said. “I find these actions to be reckless.”
Mmhmm.
Hey look how about some sympathy for the gun owner here? He accidentally pointed a loaded weapon at a loved one while having a heated argument, and the gun felt scared and accidentally went off! By accident!
Really, that poor gun owner might be scared to point a loaded weapon at a loved one again! Don’t victim blame the poor owner!
Yet again we see that for country that is insanely in love with guns, they have no idea how to handle guns safely.
I will recap the basics of gun safety for the folks in the back:
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Don’t pick up a gun unless you are going to use it and know how to use it safely.
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The gun is loaded, on a hair trigger and the safety is off.
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Do not point the gun at anything you don’t intend to kill or destroy.
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Finger out of the trigger guard.
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THE GUN IS FUCKING LOADED.
Beware of the R word.
Why not ‘regulate’? Ah yes freedom.
-
Honour killings are legal in America now. No surprise from Texas, the centre of American terrorists
“As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang,” Kris allegedly said. “I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell.” WTF!!! It proves he pointed the gun at his daughter, which is a big fucking NO NO! Worse yet, the damn thing was locked and loaded. Fuck him, charge him with murder.
There’s no excuse for it to not be murder, but the fact its not even manslaughter is a message.
This is just an excuse, dude murdered his daughter and is trying to blame it on the gun. Guns don’t load themselves, and they don’t magically go off…
Remember, guns don’t kill people, people kill people
And sadly, the highest percentage is within a family.
Where I live, in Europe, you CAN own firearms. Long guns pretty easily, as they are considered hunting/sporting guns, including semi-auto assault rifles, albeit, with 3 round magazines. Buying or even 3D printing larger ones is trivial, but it’s a felony to have one near the gun (same range/car/house…).
Long gun licenses require a medical, which includes a basic psych eval.
Handguns require a stricter medical, with a more detailed psych eval, and a course which includes gun safety, and legislation, among other things.
Except for some rare exceptions (jewelers, judges, and other people that can objectively be considered a target for assault or retaliation) you cannot carry, open or otherwise, except to go to a range, or hunting ground, and the gun and munitions must be separated; guns in a case in the trunk, with the magazine and munitions in the front of the car.
I don’t get why there isn’t a reasonable license for guns in the US. There is for cars, no?
Because freedumb
Okay, but, even ruled an accident, why is this guy not up for manslaughter charges? Do I grossly misunderstand what manslaughter is?
This is definitely some smoking gun tier bullshit, but even given every benefit of the doubt in the world, the negligence has to be criminal.
they really don’t care, man. talk to some boomers sometimes they desperately need to be forced into retirement and group homes.
Texas is a shithole.
Guns have more rights than women in this country.
I’ve been rewatching Bojack Horseman, and there’s an episode where Diane convinces the state to pass common-sense gun legislation by making it “in” for women to carry guns. The eventually leads to the line, “I can’t believe this country hates women more than it loves guns,” to which the character with her replies, “really?”
I think that moment is, unfortunately, rather poignant.
Basically Reagan (when he was governor of California) vs the black Panthers
Almost, she becomes a fan of guns after trying one and then women across the country all get guns to protect themselves from men. Men freak out and ban all guns in the US. But still one of my favorite lines.
guns don’t kill people, women kill people.
she killed herself by arguing with a man.
/s
#choosethebear
Seems like women should be identifying with AR/15 as their pronouns
“To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun at his daughter, without checking for bullets, and pulling the trigger,” the coroner said. “I find these actions to be reckless.”
Whoopsies! I usually make sure not to pull the trigger when casually pointing a loaded gun at a family member’s chest. But that’s just me being overly cautious.
I just accidentally beat my daughter to death. The bat just went off on it’s own. I was just showing her the bat then all of a sudden she was bludgeoned to death. I have no idea what happened!
Well glocks don’t have safeties and require you to pull the trigger to disassemble. Negligent discharges when trying to show them off to people absolutely do happen, and with how you have to hold the gun to take it apart the “don’t point at anything you don’t wish to shoot” rule gets overlooked a lot.
They’re the default “modern” handgun but I’ve always said they are a terrible design.
Is the father even a citizen?
Hello ICE, I think I found one of those illegals 😏
A dangerous criminal too, the kind they promised they’d go after
Supposedly an accidental shooting according to the article.
But sounds fishy to me, and yes, he should be in prison whether it was accidental or not. It was either a death due to deadly negligence or he’s lying and murdered her, both of which should merit jail time.
Unfortunately guns are extra-legal here. The law or the people in most US cities doesn’t care if the shooting was supposedly accidental.
No, no, you don’t get it - he’s admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol while handling the weapon (which he was showing off to his famously anti-gun daughter in the basement into which she was not allowed prior), so it means he’s off the hook, it was basically an act of God! After all, how can we expect to punish people for what they’re doing while drunk, right?
At this point, it’s a suicide really.
/J
Well, at least all the Texan children of MAGAts know they can “accidentally” kill their piece of shit Trumpanzee parents without going to prison now there is a precedent.
That would only hold if the law were consistent. This very obviously only goes this single direction.
“I was talking with my Dad about how I was planning to vote for Trump after seeing all the good he was doing for this country. He was so excited he handed me a firearm, as is tradition in our family, but he failed to inform me it was loaded and it tragically went off. Since we don’t let liberals handle guns in this household, Dad never taught me proper gun handling. Now that I’m a future and forever Trump voter though, I’m sure this won’t happen again.”
Checkmate, Sheriff.
*president
/s
Lawless shithole country.
Yep, sounds like the US to me.
Whoa, did he shoot her at a school!?!!?
If he did, at least we know he’s not a cop. They don’t do anything involving school shootings.
In Texas shooting is ok as long as you can at least see a school from your front yard.
We call that a whoopsie here.
Wow, that’s shameful and disgusting.
Different circumstances obviously, but parallels to Renée Good; women who talk back get shot.
Well, if somebody threatens you, you should probably do something about that. As Megan and Kelly of The Devil Said Jump sings in “make me buy a gun” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VEVk4I_htWE
[Chorus]
These motherfuckers are gonna make me buy a gun
I’m done with stressin’
Get my Smith and Wesson, on God[Verse 1]
They come for my rights
‘Cause they can’t take my light
And they hate me for shining so bright
They come with their anger
But darlin’, they ain’t never met mine[Verse 2]
They’re sorely mistaken if they thought
I’d lay down and die
Damn cowards had better come right for
The fight of their lives[Chorus]
‘Cause these motherfuckers are gonna make me buy a gun
Sore losers restarted a fight
That we’ve already wonAlex Pretti bought a gun. They disarmed him and then killed him.
Yes, I once bought a vehicle from a little old lady who never used it. What’s the point in buying something for then to never use it?
Pretti had the background to expect lawful and reasonable behavior from the authorities. What Pretti then experienced was all but that. Now people should know better.
I think Pretti showed us that concealed carry is just a way to get killed. The Panthers had it right - open carry armed patrols.
I don’t really know what Pretti showed us. That compassion getting in the way of fascists gets you killed?
I think on a tactical level the Panthers may be doing it right, but on the other hand, if you’re demonstrably armed, then you’re a target. If you knew that in a certain area there’s black panthers armed with small arms, then you’d either stay away or “dress for the part” by rolling in an APC, or identify the black panthers and pick them up when they’re not standing on a street corner with a ready semiauto 12ga.
Something we may take away from Alex Pretti is that you need to go for the oppressors first, and help the oppressed second. But what we can take away from both panthers and Pretti is, don’t do it alone, there’s strength in numbers.
Pretti showed us that you don’t have to be demonstrably armed to be a target, so why bother with concealment? They target people for talking back, for filming them, for posting negatively about them on the internet. They’re looking for reasons to target us.
If you don’t want to be a target, the only real option is to stay home.
Except, once they run out of targets in the streets, they’ll come for us in our houses next. Fascists don’t stop, they’re always looking for new enemies to target. We’re all going to be targets eventually, our choice is when - now, or later?
