Texas law is fairly ambiguous when it comes to the use of deadly force by anyone. It really comes as no surprise that a grand jury in Lavaca County has refused to indict a Shiner father who beat another man to death for molesting his 5-year-old daughter. The Lavaca County district attorney said Tuesday that the evidence supports the man’s story. “Under the law in the state of Texas deadly force is justified in order to stop and aggravated sexual assault or a sexual assault,” ,” said Lavaca County District Attorney Heather McMinn. “All of the evidence that was presented showed that that was in fact what was occurring when the victim’s father arrived at the sceneThe incident happened June 9 on the family’s rural property.
Investigator say Jesus Mora Flores had been hired to help the father with his horses and had been invited to the home that day for a barbecue. A witness told police that she observed Flores forcibly carrying the girl to a secluded area and alerted the child’s father. The father heard his daughter scream, ran toward her and found Flores attacking his child, according to investigators. He removed Flores from the top of his daughter and punched him in the neck and head area. The 23-year-old father was clearly distraught when he called 911. “I need an ambulance. This guy was raping my daughter and I beat him up,” the father said.
The tense call lasted nearly five minutes as the 911 dispatcher tried to locate the remote ranch. “Come on! This guy is going to die on me!” the father yelled. “I don’t know what to do!” At one point, he tells the dispatcher he’s going to put the man in his truck and drive him to a hospital before sheriff’s deputies finally arrive. Flores, 47, died from multiple injuries. Investigators conducted an autopsy, a physical and forensic exam of the child and heard several detailed witness accounts, which all corroborated the father’s statement, they said. It is arguable that Texas law allows for denying due process in cases like this but at the same time, the fathers actions dealt swift justice to the actual perpetrator of the crime making it impossible for the state to get the wrong guy.
