Houston Case Update
No second trial for Rocky Houston. This was an odd case. A few years back, the brothers were arrested for ambushing and killing a deputy and his ride along (who was armed). According to locals, there were many reports of the local police harassing the brothers. The jury found him not guilty of first degree murder and deadlocked on other charges.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I can’t comment on the case, but who needs to get fired and/or tar and feathered for attempting double jeopardy against Mr. Houston?
Clear cut case of attempting to violate the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution should be grounds for removal from public employment, and it really should result in a trail with possible jail time.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:06 am
There must have been some compelling evidence that the shooting was justified for the Jury to find them not guilty. Normally all the prosecutor in a cop shooting has to do is talk about brave law enforcement officers being gunned down, show the crying family, and they get a conviction.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:28 am
The deputy and his ride along friend (who was armed) showed up the Houston house, supposedly to serve a warrant. One of the suspicious things about the deputy’s story is that the prosecution could never produce the warrant or supporting paperwork.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Regardless, I’d still get the hell out of that state if I were him.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
According to news reports I heard, the sheriff had explicitly ordered the deputy NOT to go to the Houston residence. That, the reports of bad blood going back for years, and the missing warrant all contributed to Rocky’s de facto acquittal. Society can tolerate some level of crime more easily than it can tolerate bad cops. The TBI should be crawling all over this case.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
While ordinarily I would agree with you, I can’t in this case – it’s not a clear case of double jeopardy, it’s really a procedural screw-up by the judge.
Ordinarily, a deadlocked jury will result in a mistrial, which allows the prosecution the option to re-try the charges. In this case, the judge “forgot” to declare a mistrial. The question was whether that counted as an acquittal or not.
Essentially, while it sounds like it really may have been self-defense, he got out of a second trial on a technicality, not a real acquittal.
March 5th, 2010 at 3:09 am
Holy crap! How often is a cop killer who claims self-defense acquitted?
March 6th, 2010 at 1:53 am
Brad, read the previous comments. It appears that the deputy and his friend went to the Houston house looking for trouble. Unfortunately for all involved, they found some.