Why the hell did she agree to a bench trial?
This case stinks (as related here), and I bet at least one or two on the jury would have had none of it.
I’m surprised the judge went for it, and it makes me wonder if there’s a lot more going on than is being reported here.
“Kayla Anderson, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, disputed Moss’ contention that her office had decided not to prosecute.
“This case was accepted and prosecuted because we had sufficient basis in the facts and the law to go forward with a criminal prosecution,†Anderson said in an emailed response. “The defendant used deadly force against a nondeadly force, which was the reason we pursued this matter.—
“They met in early 2013 on Tagged, a dating website. The Pennsylvania man was 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds. He was 34, the same age as James.
“We talked on the phone all the time for two months,†James said. “We’d fall asleep with each other on the phone.â€
A 6’ 2” 210 lb excuse of a man on top of a woman beating the daylights out of her IS DEADLY FORCE. She reacted in kind. The DA is out of line.
“Chavez took minutes to deliberate, finding her guilty of both counts, saying that no “reasonable person†would have acted as James had.”
Perhaps the writer of this piece has added the judge’s words out of context. Perhaps the judge was questioning James, asking her if this was the first beating, and if not, why didn’t she leave him after the first beating? She instead opted to have the gun under her pillow, anticipating that he very well may beat her again. Of course, this is just one possible scenario. Something isn’t right about this article and I suspect the author of it is being misleading. The New Mexico judicial system doesn’t tolerate men beating on women to well. I suppose the judge may have been worried about the BLM activists in ABQ rioting if nothing was done to avenge the dead woman beater. Not sure how public this whole thing has been.
On the news site, the reporter answered some questions in the comment section. She said this women wanted a bench trial because, she assumes, that it’s because of anxiety issues testifying in front of a jury.
Even if that’s true, the lawyer really screwed this women over.
I probably would have seen this as self defense, knowing the facts presented.