3 escape murder charges in carjacking death of toddler (Update)

Houston Chronicle ^ | June 17, 2006, 1:12AM | ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA

[cbkaty]

They were such good boys..../s

[proudofthesouth]

Disgusting. Absolutely DISGUSTING !!

[secret garden]

The father is more forgiving than I would be.

[mewzilla]

TX doesn't have any kind of homicide provision for a death that occurs during the commission of a felony?

[livius]

"just a crime spree."

Yeah, I guess that's okay, then.

[cbkaty]

How about manslaughter as a minimum... and 1st degree murder as the most appropriate charge...followed by a quick trip to the Huntsville, Texas death chamber?

What are these apologists at the Harris County Prosecutors office thinking?

[cbkaty]

TX doesn't have any kind of homicide provision for a death that occurs during the commission of a felony?

Yes...so I wonder.......if there is some other "in-the-hood" reason for not pulling the trigger on these......punks?

[mewzilla]

According to the coverage on some of Houston's TV stations, the alleged perps didn't have jobs and were living off the proceeds of their robberies.

[mockingbyrd]

something is fishy with this, they pulled a twoyear old out of a car and ran over her. Why not sencond degree murder? There's something else going on.

[Kakaze]

Hit and Run resulting in death?

Child endangerment, resulting in Death?

Child abuse, resulting in Death?

Don't these apply? Lord knows in Indiana if you run a traffic light they charge you with 20 to 25 counts of anything they can attatch, then plead it all down.

[cbkaty]

something is fishy with this, they pulled a twoyear old out of a car and ran over her. Why not sencond degree murder? There's something else going on.

This is one for the hispanic community....they should react the same as the black community would....had the child been black and the carjackers hispanic.....

[mewzilla]

Intent's the problem. But since she dies during the commission of a felony, what does intent matter? If they hadn't robbed the family, she wouldn't have died. If TX doesn't have a provision for this in its law, they need to change the law.

If they do have a provision for this, however, and the DA's too missish to use it, they need a new DA.

[cbkaty]

If they do have a provision for this, however, and the DA's too missish to use it, they need a new DA.

It was late Friday night....the DA was tired....the staff just wanted a beer...so they wrapped up the quickest charge (least paper required)and headed to the local pub...where all had a good time......./s

[xp38]

The three are accused of robbing Luis Garcia at gunpoint at a car wash in the 8300 block

Over the years of reading crime stories on FR I've noticed a lot of crimes take place at whatever thousand block address and not so many at say 52 Shady Lane.

[arthurus]

A death occurred in the course of the commision that was indubitible caused by the commission of that crime. In most states that is felony murder. What is wrong in TEXAS of all places???

[olderwiser]

So they beat up and mugged a family, threw a two year old down on the pavement, jumped in the family's car, and ran over and killed the two-year-old...but they didn't mean to kill her?

Wouldn't a rational person expect that if they threw down a two year old in a parking lot or road near a car they were "carjacking", that the child might well be injured or killed by the car or another car?

In a common sense world, it would be easy to prove that such malicious disregard for life in the commission of a robbery does indeed amount to murder.

But no, not according the the grandly nuanced legal "meanings" employed by our jurisprudence.

[maica]

Carjackers should be treated like horse thieves used to be treated! Carjacking will become less popular.

[NonValueAdded]

I thought there was a Federal charge that could be levied ... wasn't that Vermont death penalty case about carjacking? Checking ...

[hoosierham]

Death caused in the commission of a felony assault and robbery.

All the perps ought to be looking at imminent execution.

And the prosecutor at permanent employment picking up roadside trash after being convicted of malfeasance and dereliction of duty.

[DB]

They were carjacking with guns drawn and an innocent child was killed in the process.

What more does there need to be?

They should never be free again. Ever.