More on the Alabama Teen Shooting - Half-Brother Charged

Local news

The half-brother of a Collinsville teenager shot and killed on Sunday in what was initially considered an accidental shooting has been charged in the boy's death.

Austin Lane Buchanan, 20, is charged with reckless manslaughter in the death of 13-year-old Eli Luis Estrada. He is being held in the DeKalb County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond. 

Buchanan allegedly shot Estrada with a .38-caliber revolver that belonged to the boy's grandmother. Estrada was killed in a home on County Road 51. 

DeKalb County District Attorney Mike O'Dell said in a news conference shortly after 11:30 a.m. Thursday that Buchanan was charged following additional investigation into Estrada's death. AL.com's news partner WHNT broadcast the O'Dell's remarks in a live stream on its website.

"It is no longer considered an accidental shooting," O'Dell said in the news conference.
The prosecutor and DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris declined to go into details of what led investigators to charge Buchanan, but O'Dell said that his office had received confidential information that led detectives to take another look at the shooting.

"It goes way beyond a standard that we would consider accidental," O'Dell said.

Accidental Shooting of Texas Teenager - Manslaughter Charged

The Brownsville Herald reports 

Eliezer Sanchez Jr., 19, was arraigned on a manslaughter charge Sunday afternoon for shooting Jessica Saldivar in the head about 5 a.m. Saturday.

Sanchez told police investigators that he had pulled the trigger of the .38-caliber revolver not knowing that it was loaded, according to the criminal complaint. Four witnesses provided sworn statements that the shooting was accidental. 

Saldivar was rushed to the hospital where she later died about 3 a.m. Sunday.

Pharr police Chief Ruben Villescas said Saturday that Sanchez was charged with aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, for recklessly causing serious bodily injury to Sanchez. When Sanchez died of her injuries, the charge was increased to manslaughter.

In Texas (and not only there) Brown people get a different kind of justice. Compare to this one, or this one, or this one.

Don't get me wrong, I believe the responsible people should be held accountable for their actions, but it should be evenly applied. There is a terrible racism that runs through the application of gun laws.  Often it's too severely applied to non-whites and not applied at all to whites.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Barbara Sheehan gets 5 Years for Gun Charge

The Times Union reports on the sentencing and her reaction.

I'm not sure if we came to a consensus last time we talked about this one, so just in case I didn't make myself clear that time, here's my take on it. She's going to jail for the wrong reason. The District Attorney said it right.

"Barbara was not the victim in this case," Assistant District Attorney Debra Pomodore said. "Raymond, her husband, was the victim."

I'm all for women's rights. I'm the one who keeps linking to my "guns are bad news for women" post. But in this case, what she did is no different than all the other cases we read about in which someone snaps and uses a gun.

Temporary insanity might have worked, but not the battered wife defense. That's my take on it. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Manslaughter in Moriusaq

This is an amazing story.

It should not be suprising, then, that Moriusaq's residents do not have a full-time police service ready for dispatch (to say the least).   So instead of departing for Moriusaq, the police advised the sober trio to fire back at their inebriated companion, aiming for his legs.

That's just a teaser. You've got to read the whole thing.

18-Year-Old Sentenced to 30 Years

The Miami Herald reports on the stiff sentence handed down in the "dirt-biker" murder.

On his way to prison for manslaughter, Joshua Ladson barely looked up.

He slouched in a Miami-Dade courtroom jury box Friday, glaring at the bereaved. Through their tears and applause, Ladson never winced. When given a chance to speak, he said nothing.

What happened took place in 2006, when the shooter was 15 and the victim 14. Giovanny Mayoral, a Cuban American boy, rode his dirt-bike motorcycle too close to the armed black youth. In what I suppose was an attempt to avenge the act of disrespect, Ladson opened fire, hitting the younger boy in the back as he rode away.

An unspeakable tragedy it was, which made me think about the youthful offenders. There must be a time when they can still be reached, when the right person or circumstances can help them to choose a better path. Perhaps on sentencing day it was too late for the 18-year-old Ladson. He'd already spent two and a half years in jail awaiting this day when all he could do is silently glare at the victim's family.

The other idea that came to mind is the inevitability of this kind of violence repeating itself over and over again. One of the best depictions of it I've seen was on The Wire. Black kids growing up in the projects can too easily be seduced by the lifestyle. In the first season we saw the characters D'Angelo and Wallace try to come to terms with the violence in their lives, only one of them succeeding. I found it quite touching and ample reason for us to seek rehabilitation rather than punishment. What's your opinion? Is the availability of guns a factor? Is the easy access to guns by these young gangsters the price we pay for preserving the 2nd Amendment? Or is there no connection at all?

Please leave a comment.