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A court case with far-ranging consequences concluded Tuesday in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Ray Rosas is a free man tonight after a jury of his peers found him not guilty of shooting three Corpus Christi police officers on February 19, 2015. On that day, early in the morning, CCPD executed a no-knock search warrant, forcing entry into the home without first knocking and announcing they were the police.
A flash bang grenade was fired into Rosas' bedroom, reportedly stunning the 47-year-old, who then opened fire on the intruders. Three officers were wounded; officers Steven Ruebelmann, Steven Brown, and Andrew Jordan. Police were looking for drugs and Rosas' nephew, who they suspected to be a dealer. However, the unnamed nephew was not home at the time of the raid.
Rosas spent nearly 2 years in jail awaiting trial, which concluded Tuesday with a Nueces County jury finding him not guilty. Rosas' defense maintained, based on statements he made immediately following the shooting and later in jail that he did not know the men breaking into his home were police officers and there was no way he could've known, having been disoriented by the flash-bang stun grenade. "The case is so easy, this is a self-defense case," said Rosas' lawyer in closing arguments.
Rosas originally faced three counts of attempted capital murder, but the prosecution dropped those charges just before the trial began, opting instead to try him for three counts of aggravated assault on the police officers. The jury sided with his defense attorney's argument he had a right to defend his home and found him not guilty on all charges.
takyon: Also at the Corpus Christi Caller Times.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @11:08PM
I'm glad the accused was exonerated. Hopefully this will set precedence for discouraging government sponsored terrorism (Göring would be proud) against its citizens. His next move should be a nice fat law suit to reclaim lost wages, trauma suffered in the attack on his home and in jail, slander (he was labeled an attempted murderer) , and any damage done to his property.
It's time the pigs learn to be real policemen instead of pussies masquerading as solders. You hear about these phony no-knock raids based on little to no evidence (we think he sells drugs) where pets and people are shot dead defending their property.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @11:24PM
The injured cops will probably sue him. Civil lawsuits have a much lower bar for the plaintiff than criminal cases do for the prosecution.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @11:36PM
On what grounds? They smashed into his home, threw a grenade ... what did they expect?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Friday December 16 2016, @12:29AM
Anyone can sue for anything. Doesn't mean they'll win though. If sued he could always countersue for emotional trauma.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday December 16 2016, @01:34PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Whoever on Friday December 16 2016, @03:40AM
The precedent that will be learned here is for the police to go in with guns blazing and kill anyone inside before they have a chance to shoot back.