hanelyp wrote:In sane courts with a competent prosecutor, jurors are given the option of finding guilty lesser included crimes from the primary charge. Such as finding guilty for second degree murder when the defendant is charged with first degree but the element of premeditation is unproven.
But the lesser offence option has to be ask for from the court or by the court.
Lesser included offenses can be an important part of a criminal jury trial. Some offenses, like misdemeanor DWI, don’t have any lesser included offenses. Others, like Aggravated Assault, are full of lesser included opportunities. we are going to use Aggravated assaults as an example.
The difference between an aggravated assault (felony) and a misdemeanor assault is “serious bodily injury”. Aggravated assaults require that someone suffer a serious bodily injury, where misdemeanor assault just require some injury. So if you are on trial for aggravated assault, and you want to argue over whether the injury was “serious”, then you can ask that the jury be allowed to consider the lesser included offense of assault. That means, instead of just deciding if the defendant is guilty or not guilty of aggravated assault, the jury could consider finding the defendant guilty of only a misdemeanor assault. Confused?
This being Texas, she did not ask for a lesser offence than murder one to be considered , and as murder one was not proven she was found not guilty. The courts and prosecuting attorneys work hand in hand with bail bonds so they did not pursue a lesser charge as well(wink wink nudge nudge) .It is extremely unlikely they will attempt a conviction on a lesser charge at a later date because of this relationship. She was removing his bail as he had made mention on social media that he was heading to florida because they normally do not vigorously pursue extradition orders and that would leave her liable for the full amount. ( Which I am sure she made the prosecution fully aware of)
Self-defense laws vary drastically from state to state, so what might happen in one state cannot be used to infer what might happen in another. Best to familiarize yourself with the specific self-defense laws where you live to be sure what would or would not be permitted. It is most probable that the family does not have the funds to secure a lawyer for a wrongful death civil action so basically she got away with shooting him. It is a 13 billion dollar industry after all.
This is why is some states bail bonding is no longer legal and in others Bounty hunters have been banned. Only 18 or 20 states still allow bail bond and bounty hunter together; Texas being one of them.
I am not a nuclear physicist, but play one on the internet.