Heck, even Chief Clancy Wiggum knows "Uh…doesn't work if you invite them." 
Posted on 07/21/2011 6:52:48 PM PDT by marktwain
Sutter County jurors on Wednesday found a Fresno man not guilty on all counts in the March shooting of Obadiah Samuel Mitchell at the Yuba City IHOP restaurant.
Jessie Hipolito Pena, 44, was charged with attempting to murder Mitchell after confronting him inside the restaurant for using profanity.
Jurors could have found Pena guilty of the lesser charge of attempted voluntary manslaughter but also rejected that option.
The jury forewoman declined comment as she left the courtroom, but another member of the panel, Ashley Yetter of Yuba City, said jurors felt evidence was insufficient to indicate whether Pena acted in self-defense or not.
Pena said he saw a metal object in Mitchell's hand, telling police at first he thought it was a gun. Later, he said it might have been a knife or an antenna. He fired once, hitting Mitchell in the chest.
"I had nothing in my hand. I don't know what to say," Mitchell said as he sat on steps outside the courthouse.
"There is no justice, no justice at all," Mitchell said.
"It's like Casey Anthony all over again," he said, referring to the Florida woman who was recently found not guilty of murdering her daughter.
After initially confronting Mitchell, Pena went outside to get his gun from his car, then came back inside the restaurant and asked him to step outside.
Mitchell said he thought he was going outside to shake hands with Pena. But Pena fired his 9 mm handgun without saying a word, he said.
Police found a knife from the restaurant near the wounded Mitchell. It will always be a mystery how it got there, Pena's attorney, Antonio R. Alvarez, said after the verdict.
A restaurant security camera showed Mitchell leaving his booth and following Pena outside without picking up a knife from the table.
Alvarez said he thought Pena "came across as reasonable" when he testified Friday.
"I think they believed my client was justified in his actions," Alvarez said.
Pena testified he heard something metallic hit the ground after Mitchell was shot, Alvarez said.
The jury acquitted Pena on two other charges: assault with a gun and battery causing great bodily injury.
"That was a great job the jury did. We're just thankful," said Pena's sister-in-law, Arleen Ramirez of San Bernardino County.
Outside the courthouse, Mitchell, a single father of two girls, said he will have to return to school and find a new line of work because the shooting left him unable to raise his arms above his head. He was a construction worker.
He probably would have died if one of his friends had not kept pressure on the wound before paramedics arrived, Mitchell said.
Surgeons operated on Mitchell to repair his collapsed left lung. He was in the intensive care unit at Rideout Memorial Hospital for several days.
Pena can now go home, get his permit back to carry a concealed gun, "and maybe do this to somebody else," Mitchell said.
"But everything comes full circle. He has to stand before God, not before me," he said.
"I'm just glad it's over. Now I can go on with my life," Mitchell said.
CONTACT reporter Rob Young at 749-4784.
There are just so many things that can happen when you “go outside” with anybody.
Pena went out to his car to get his gun then asked the other man to meet him outside. Doesn’t sound like self defense to me.
“Pena testified he heard something metallic hit the ground after Mitchell was shot, Alvarez said. “
Yeah, probably the spent 9mm casing.
Inviting a crude loudmouth outside is not my idea of a CCW function. The only reason I would ever draw my weapon, is if I felt my life and wellbeing are in jeopardy.
I don’t know what really happened here, but this is not a good CCW moment.
Based only on the article, Pena sounds guilty as hell.
An accurate, concise analysis.
I hate to say it but the ccw permit holder is guilty. He could have gotten away and in those times he was not in grave danger, and by re-engaging the other person he was also a willing participant.
Okay wait, he’s not really in danger cause he gets out to his car with no problem...
Gets his gun out of the car, then comes back inside, asks Mitchell to come outside then nonchalantly shoots him??
Where is the “afraid for my life”?
There’s something missing here cause I’m pretty sure I woulda thrown the book at him from what’s in the article.
Sounds as if the jury decided ol’ Obie “jes’ needed shootin”...
Heck, even Chief Clancy Wiggum knows "Uh…doesn't work if you invite them."
I’d say Pena escalated a situation and was guilty.
I wonder if Mitchell has learned not to use profanity in public, or if he’ll need another lesson down the road.
This wreaks of a totally Latino jury to me. Would really like to know the make up of that jury to let Mr. Pena off that way.
Foul mouthed perhaps Obadiah be, but that doesn’t warrant an attempt to kill the man.
Mr. Pena is quite fortunate in my book.
He went out to his car, got his gun, invited the other guy outside, and then shot him.
Sounds like premeditated murder to me.
Obviously another biased or stupid jury.
The Knife Fairy dropped the cutlery at the scene.
Still, it cannot be the "good old boy network", because if it were, he would not have been prosecuted.
I imagine the paper is not telling us all that the jury heard.
Right...that's what I'd expect (SARC!).
If Pena could "call Mitchell out," it's unlikely to have been a situation warranting deadly force. Knuckleheads like Pena give the rest of us a bad name.
For some reason a modified version of the lyrics of The Streets of Laredo seems apropos:
As I wandered into the IHOP in Yuba,
As I wandered into the IHOP one day,
I spied Obadiah who looked sort-a planked,
Smeared in Rooty Tooty, with extra red sauce.
“I can see you are bleeding, from a big hole in your chest.”
These words I did say as I boldly walked by.
“Sorry I can’t wait, but the buffet is starting.
“My mouth is all set for some fresh Key lime pie.”
“You shouldn’t-a brought a steak knife to a gunfight.
“And you shouldn’t-a kissed your mama with that mouth.
“And you shouldn’t-a fought with a man who’s a good shot.
“Unless you get corked quick, you’re headin’ down South.”
But six jolly jurors, they seemed not to think so.
The Messican gets benefit of the doubt.
He walks, and the loud mouth, he doesn’t get bupkus.
‘Cause the six-gun’s the law, North of Sacramento.
It's just that kind of attitude that will get you a peremptory exclusion. You're obviously expecting common sense and justice in a courtroom. Ha !
As an old attorney used to say, "Any relationship between justice and the law is purely coincidental."
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