Patterico's Pontifications

8/8/2019

NM Homeowner faces Murder Charge

Filed under: Crime — DRJ @ 3:00 pm



[Headline from DRJ]

If this report is true, this does not sound like the best way to legally defend yourself and your property:

Homeowner faces murder charge in shooting of auto burglar

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Detectives have arrested a homeowner who they say fatally shot an unarmed man in the back after he caught that man breaking into his car outside his West Side neighborhood.

Police say the homeowner then lied about his role in the shooting and tried to hide his identity by giving a different last name and date of birth.

Mario Figueroa, 35, is charged with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence in the May 20 death of 31-year-old Jacob Gearing. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Tuesday afternoon.

–DRJ

9 Responses to “NM Homeowner faces Murder Charge”

  1. Police say the homeowner then lied about his role in the shooting and tried to hide his identity by giving a different last name and date of birth.

    Gosh, I would have thought that would be a foolproof method for getting away with shooting someone in the back.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  2. It worked for over two months since this happened in May but he wasn’t charged until early August, so he may have felt he got away wit it. This is the “best” (not really) part — there was video:

    Months into the investigation, a detective accessed security footage outside Figueroa’s home and was able to view the shooting.

    Police say Figueroa can be seen walking toward the burglary suspects and firing two gunshots at their car. He then fired a third shot as the vehicle drove away before walking “at a normal pace” back into his home.

    According to the complaint, the security video contradicts Figueroa’s previous statement about not having a gun or firing one at the burglary suspects.

    DRJ (15874d)

  3. My guess is the police got the medical examiner’s report and the evidence supported the story told by the surviving meth-smoking burglars, not the homeowner, so the police looked at it deeper.

    DRJ (15874d)

  4. Teach people not to steal.

    NJRob (c2b5ce)

  5. There should be a lower penalty for “understandable” but perhaps excessive events like this. I mean an appellate court could do a “four part test,” and mitigate the sentence:

    (a) Does it have a beneficial effect on society? (yes, by ridding it of thieves or at least inhibiting them);

    (b) Were innocent people hurt? (no it seems);

    (c) Is it a triggering event that merits a violent reaction? (yes the fury of seeing your stuff being stolen or hacked is understandable);

    (d), does it run afoul of any current taboos? (e.g., Was a wrong pronoun deliberately used) (no).

    Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e)

  6. 5. Thre is a lower standard for understandable-but-excessive homicides: it’s called “lawful but awful” and you can ask your local beat police officer about it.

    Gryph (08c844)

  7. You can see his mugshot here.

    nk (dbc370)

  8. Atty Diego Weiner? If he wasn’t a lawyer, hed be the prototypical actor playing the telenovela protagonista.

    urbanleftbehind (15a3e9)


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