Police say slaying may be justified

El Paso Times ^ | Tuesday, October 22, 2002 | Louie Gilot

[FITZ]

A 31-year-old man killed his girlfriend's estranged husband with a choke hold early Monday, police said.

Police said they may find the homicide was justified because the victim, Gerardo Ultreras, 38, of Juárez, allegedly broke into the house where his estranged wife and her boyfriend live in the 1900 block of Chris Scott at 1 a.m. and assaulted the boyfriend.

The identity of the boyfriend was not released Monday because he had not been charged with anything.

Police spokesman Sgt. Al Velarde said there have been seven justifiable homicides in El Paso since 1999.

"Those normally involve self-defense," he said. Three of them involved law-enforcement officers. In July 2000, an off-duty police officer, Tyler Grossman, fatally shot a shoplifter at Sunland Park Mall. In October 1999, Officers Michael Macias and Sergio Cordova shot and killed a 53-year-old schizophrenic man at his Central El Paso house, and in August 1999, Officer Eric Gutierrez shot and killed a man in a domestic disturbance in the Northeast.

Before Ultreras' death, there had been 10 homicides in the city this year, none of which were ruled justified.

In Monday's case, police said Ultreras entered the house through the back door, making noise that alerted his wife, police said. The wife ran to get her boyfriend. Ultreras allegedly followed her, picking up an aluminum baseball bat and swinging it at the boyfriend. The boyfriend got behind Ultreras to put him in a neck restraint, police said. The boyfriend kept the victim in the hold until Ultreras lost consciousness, police said.

Ultreras' wife witnessed the struggle, police said.

According to the El Paso County Central Appraisal District Web site, the house belongs to Ultreras and his wife.

Ultreras died shortly after being transported to Thomason Hospital, police said. The boyfriend was also treated at Thomason for minor injuries.

[FITZ]

The husband goes into a home he owned, gets killed by his wife's lover and they're saying the killing is justified?

[hapsgroupie]

I'm willing to bet that the killer would be charged if a gun were involved.

[SouthernFreebird]

Well I mised the part where it says this was the husbands house, the article said the house where the woman and her boyfriend lived. He broke into their house and threatned them ....I'd say it was justified.

[Cicero]

Times change. It used to be that in a "crime of passion," allowances were made if a husband killed his wife's lover, especially if caught in the act. Instead of a death sentence, the husband might get a lighter sentence, maybe five or ten years in jail.

Now the lover gets a free pass to kill the husband? It doesn't seem like the best way to maintain the institution of marriage, support the family, or encourage social stability.

[SouthernFreebird]

Ooops, like I said I missedha part and I read it twice...... I still say he had the right to defend himself.

[lsee]

What is this saying...that adultery pays?

[SouthernFreebird]

But these two were living apart......He can't stake a claim on her forever.

[FITZ]

Probably but you wonder how a guy in another guy's house with that guy's cheating wife can so easily get off with murdering the husband/home-owner. It would be different if the boyfriend was in his own home with the cheating wife and the husband broke in.

[SouthernFreebird]

You guys don't know the whole story, for all we know the husband was living with some twinkie himself or if he was the one who instigated the seperation.

[FITZ]

But these two were living apart......

But the house was still his and the wife wasn't waiting for a divorce before moving another man into his house. The boyfriend didn't have the right to be in the homeowner's house without his permission.

[templar]

It used to be, in Texas, that you could kill a man you caught with your wife and it was justifiable. I guess times have changed.

[FITZ]

Until the divorce is final, it seems he still owned the house. If it was reversed and a wife was trying to get into a house she owned and was killed by a girlfriend of her husband, it would be the same thing.

[templar]

... the wife wasn't waiting for a divorce before moving another man into his house.

In my eyes, the woman has her husbands blood on her hands. The law won't see it that way, but I do. On judgment day, it will be seen that way too.

[templar]

But these two were living apart......He can't stake a claim on her forever.

He can until they are divorced. She on him as well.

[FITZ]

against a wild woman swinging a baseball bat.......?

If you're in a home that isn't yours and the homeowner wants you out, you should get out.

[SouthernFreebird]

Owning a share of the house does'nt give him rights to attacking those inside it.... You can't start beating your kids, spouse, inlaws or anyone else you may not like just because your name is on the deed.

And if this woman had been murdered instead, I don't know how many posts would be here talking about failed restraining orders and how the woman should have been packing to protect herself.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Well, first he picked up a baseball bat and swung it at the boyfriend. And just because he was a co-owner of the house doesn't necessarily mean he had a right to enter without the residents' consent.

[SouthernFreebird]

If you're in a home that isn't yours and the homeowner wants you out, you should get out

If I'm in a house that isn't mine and the 1/2 homeowner tried to kill me I'd defend myself which is what this guy did.