A Texas jury has decided not to indict the man who killed the man he found in the process of raping his small daughter in Lavaca County.
The traumatic incident occurred in Shiner, Texas on June 9th, when ranch hand Jesus Mora Flores, 47, walked off with an unnamed child during a family barbeque, ostensibly to feed chickens. But a member of the family Flores worked for witnessed the worker forcibly moving the child, alerting her 23-year-old father to the possibility of an assault in progress.
By all accounts, the family member’s instincts were correct. When the young man, whose identity is also being withheld to protect his daughter, he says he found Flores in the process of molesting his daughter. Intending to stop the assault, the young man began striking Flores about the head and neck.
Despite the fact that Flores’ pants were still down from the rape, the distraught father then called emergency services to try to save the worker’s life, and 911 tapes reveal that the man was urging 911 dispatchers to respond quickly so Flores wouldn’t “die on [him.]”
On the tapes, the man who attacked his daughter’s rapist explains:
“I need an ambulance. This guy was raping my daughter and I beat him up. And I don’t know … I don’t know what to do… The guy’s dying on me!”
Lavaca County District Attorney Heather McMinn explained the DA’s decision in the case:
“Under the law in the State of Texas, deadly force is justified in order to stop and aggravated sexual assault or a sexual assault. All of the evidence that was presented showed that, that was in fact what was occurring when the victim’s father arrived at the scene.”
A lawyer for the young father explains that her client is a “peaceable man” who now must live with the incident day to day.