Robert Fratta Guilty Again

The ABC Local in Houston reports on the retrial of Robert Fratta which ended in a guilty verdict just like the first one.

Fifteen years ago, Fratta's estranged wife, Farah, was fatally shot in her Atascocita home. Two hit men were later arrested and accused the then-Missouri City policeman of hiring them to kill her.

The motive was said to be money and a custody fight.

Fratta was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 and was granted a new trial on appeal. Friday, he was convicted for the second time of capital murder.

This is an interesting case for several reasons, not the least of which is that both hit men, who are on death row themselves, refused to testify against Fratta. I find it surprising that a jury can convict without such testimony.

The comments on the ABC Local site are very entertaining. You've got the usual "fry the bum," responses, of course, but there's also a good discussion on the merits of the case, how it compares to the last trial, and whether this one might also be overturned.

One commenter suggested that this is a case of good old Texas Justice at its worst. I try to resist the temptation to generalize like that, but I must admit the thought occurred to me also. They do lead the country in this kind of thing.

The very first comment said this:

Killing his wife that is awful, I wonder what the motive was?

Now that's a pretty bold comment and question. Do you think the motive should be considered in the penalty phase of the trial which is about to begin? Let's say he found out she was cheating on him and he went crazy with jealousy, would that matter?

What's your opinion? Did Robert Fratta arrange for the killing of his wife? What do you think his reasons were? Should he pay the ultimate price for that?

Please leave a comment.

Florida Turnpike Killers Guilty

The Miami Herald reports on the four guilty verdicts which came down in the so-called Florida Turnpike Slayings Case.

The case of the brutal murders of a young family along Florida's Turnpike in St. Lucie County in 2006 ended Thursday with a federal jury's guilty verdicts against two men charged in the killings and two others who were part of the drug gang that led to the murders.

It took four days for the 12-member jury to convict Ricardo ''Rick'' Sanchez and Daniel ''Homer'' Troya, both 25, of conspiracy to commit carjacking and four counts each of armed carjacking resulting in the deaths of Jose Luis Escobedo, 28, his wife, Yessica, 25, and their 4- and 3-year-old sons Luis Julian and Luis Damian.

How's that for brutal? They even killed the children. Do you think this was on purpose to send the clearest message possible? Were Sanchez and Troya following orders? Or was it their idea in the process of executing the parents to also kill the kids? Or, does it not matter one way or the other?

Last time we talked about this one, I said this crime comes about as close as one can to meriting the death penalty. What do you think about the different levels of culpability that can be assigned to murders? At one end of the spectrum you've got your drunk driver who accidentally kills someone. Next comes the drug addict who's dying for a fix and kills someone during a break in. After that I would say comes your typical wife-beater who goes too far. On the other end of the spectrum you've got your mafia hit man or the hired drug killer. But, where do we place their bosses? Wouldn't the drug overlord or the mafia don who orders hits be even more culpable than those who carry out those orders?

What's your opinion? Do you think they're all equally guilty, murder is murder?

What do you predict in this case? Will Sanchez and Troya spend the next twenty years on death row and eventually be injected?

Please leave a comment.