Saturday FGS

AC repairman self-defense acquittal is an example of trial risk paying off, expert says

By Perry Vandell
Robert Moore walked out of the Lower Buckeye Jail as a free man this week after spending nearly 16 months in jail while awaiting his trial on a second-degree murder charge.

A Maricopa County jury found him not guilty on Wednesday, returning a verdict just one day after it began deliberations in a case and after several days of testimony.

His defense attorneys argued that Moore, now 27, killed 41-year-old Frank Pineda on July 20, 2018 to protect his own life. But prosecutors with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said facts didn’t support Moore’s story and charged him with second-degree murder.

The case swirled with unanswered questions, as Moore was the only person to witness what truly happened.

After Moore was formally charged, he had to answer a question many criminal defendants face — is it worth taking a chance at trial when a plea deal might mean less prison time?

Information on whether Moore was offered a plea deal was not immediately available Thursday afternoon. Such offers can take place outside of court between a prosecutor and defense lawyer, but would not be part of the public case docket unless a motion went before a judge. Calls to Moore’s public defender were not returned.

But Russ Richelsoph, a partner at Davis Miles McGuire Gardner, PLLC, said offers from prosecutors are typical in such cases.

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The rest of the article may e viewed here: AZ Central

Police seek suspects after armed robbery, assault at Lubbock game room

Police on Thursday were asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating suspects involved in an aggravated robbery/aggravated kidnapping Wednesday night at a Central Lubbock game room.

At about 11 p.m. Wednesday, man armed with a handgun entered the Bada Bing Game Room in the 5000 block of Avenue Q and demanded money from Henry Palomo, 46, according to a Lubbock police news release.

Palomo then pulled a handgun on the suspect, and the suspect grabbed a second victim, Isabel Vasquez, 60, and used her as a hostage. Palomo and the suspect started fighting, and Palomo was shot in the arm during the altercation. Vasquez used a mop to beat the suspect while the altercation continued. The suspect then fled the location.

Palomo suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Covenant Medical Center.

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The rest of the article may be viewed here: Lubbock On Line.com

Homeowner Fires Warning Shot As Driver Flees Into His Yard: Cops
The driver fled the scene of an accident in Homer Glen and left behind two injured passengers, police said.

By Andrea Earnest, Patch Staff
HOMER GLEN, IL — A Homer Glen homeowner fired a warning shot after a driver fleeing the scene of a car accident ran into his backyard where his children were playing, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said. At 4 p.m. Nov. 4, police said deputies were responding to a personal injury accident when hey received a call of shots fired in the area of 151st Street and Hillary in Homer Glen.

Police and the Lockport and Homer fire districts responded to the crash scene, where two people had been injured. A 16-year-old girl and 19-year-old man were taken to Bolingbrook Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

At the accident scene, a 2017 Nissan Sentra had struck a ComEd pole and cracked it, police said. Several witnesses told deputies that they had seen the car speeding, driving erratically and improperly passing vehicles on 151st Street. Witnesses saw the Nissan’s driver lose control of the car, leave the roadway, strike a culvert and go airborne, and then strike the utility pole.

Witnesses told police the driver of the car then fled the scene on foot, leaving the injured teen passengers behind.

A perimeter of the area was established and K9s were released in an attempt to track the driver, but they were unsuccessful, police said. While searching for the driver, deputies spoke with a homeowner in the 15000 block of 151st Street, who said he was inside his garage when he saw the car crash near his yard.

According to police, the homeowner was checking on the people in the car when the driver ran out of the car and into the homeowner’s backyard, where his young children were playing. The homeowner then fired his handgun into the ground near his feet as a warning to the driver.

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Read the entire article here, including the part where charges may be brought against the homeowner: Patch.com

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. —JAMES MADISON

Category: Feel Good Stories