Evidently one hooker is worth $150 in Texas.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A jury in Bexar County, Texas just acquitted Ezekiel Gilbert of charges that he murdered a 23-year-old Craigslist escort—agreeing that because he was attempting to retrieve the $150 he'd paid to Lenora Ivie Frago, who wouldn't have sex with him, his actions were justified.

Gilbert had admitted to shooting Frago in the neck on Christmas Eve 2009, when she accepted $150 from Gilbert and left his home without having sex with him. Frago, who was paralyzed by the shooting, died several months later.

Gilbert's defense argued that the shooting wasn't meant to kill, and that Gilbert's actions were justified, because he believed that sex was included as part of the fee. Texas law allows people "to use deadly force to recover property during a nighttime theft."

The 30-year-old hugged his defense attorneys after the "not guilty" verdict was read by the judge. If convicted, he could have faced life in prison. He thanked God, his lawyers, and the jury for being able to "see what wasn't the truth."

http://gawker.com/texas-says-its-ok-to- ... -511636423

[Audley Strange]

Fucking Taliban, you know it's just as well we're over there bombing the shit out of those backwa.... what... Texas? errr... Heh... Greatest Country in the World, the court was right.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Fucking Taliban, you know it's just as well we're over there bombing the shit out of those backwa.... what... Texas? errr... Heh... Greatest Country in the World, the court was right.

I'm reminded of the sequence from "Avengers Assemble":

Fury: Loki is a mad killer.
Thor: Have a caution! Loki is a member of the royal family of Asgard!
Romanov: He killed 85 people in two days.
Thor: He was adopted.

Most of us feel the same way about Texas.

[Animavore]

Fucking Taliban, you know it's just as well we're over there bombing the shit out of those backwa.... what... Texas? errr... Heh... Greatest Country in the World, the court was right.

I'm reminded of the sequence from "Avengers Assemble":
Fury: Loki is a mad killer.
Thor: Have a caution! Loki is a member of the royal family of Asgard!
Bruce Banner: I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.
Thor: Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!
Romanov: He killed 850 people in two days.
Thor: He was adopted.

Most of us feel the same way about Texas.

FIFY

/derail

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Too lazy to go to IMDB to copypasta.

[Trinity]

So: this guy assumes sex is part of the deal; the prostitute reneges (if there was anything legally contracted to say she had committed to having sex with him in the first place) on a contract (which isn't theft); he maims her which leads to her death. Maybe he was a violent/twisted motherfucker who demanded she do things that were beyond her "remit" or maybe she was a taunting cock-tease but whatever, the fact that he was responsible for killing someone and there being only his word to take for what actually happened (presumably), where's the justice? That law is fucked up. I am sure it would work without the "lethal force" piece; seems total overkill (no pun intended)

[Tyrannical]

I guess she should have given back the money and sued him in civil court.

[Seth]

So: this guy assumes sex is part of the deal; the prostitute reneges (if there was anything legally contracted to say she had committed to having sex with him in the first place) on a contract (which isn't theft); he maims her which leads to her death. Maybe he was a violent/twisted motherfucker who demanded she do things that were beyond her "remit" or maybe she was a taunting cock-tease but whatever, the fact that he was responsible for killing someone and there being only his word to take for what actually happened (presumably), where's the justice? That law is fucked up. I am sure it would work without the "lethal force" piece; seems total overkill (no pun intended)

Lesson: Don't steal other people's stuff at night in Texas.

Pretty simple really.

[Jason]

Isn't prostitution illegal? That'd be like shooting a crack dealer because he left your house without giving you your crack.

[Svartalf]

I can't believe double jeopardy would prevent the prosecution from appealing this travesty... the man, the jury, and the (presumed elected and incompetent/populist) judge, who obviously did not properly instruct the jury, need be fed to the crocs.

[orpheus]

Extensive discussion of this over at Ratskep, if anyone's interested. http://www.rationalskepticism.org/news- ... 39764.html

[klr]

Absolutely shocking, but at the same time, not in the least surprising, because it happened in Texas.

[Svartalf]

Actually, TX is not always that dumb, despite a somewhat deserved reputation... I expect even worse legal nonsense and condoning of inexcusable violence in Arizona, for instance.

[mistermack]

I wondered, recently, if the US could possibly get any shittier.

Yes it can, and it did.

Why don't they all shoot people who don't fulfill a deal? Things didn't go better, when I bought a can of coca cola? Bam bam !!

Texas is a lunatic shithouse. It's now official.

[Seabass]

I can't believe double jeopardy would prevent the prosecution from appealing this travesty... the man, the jury, and the (presumed elected and incompetent/populist) judge, who obviously did not properly instruct the jury, need be fed to the crocs.

The people who passed that law should probably be the ones going to the crocs. The judge and jury are only there to determine whether any laws were broken, and if so, proper sentencing.