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Father Protects Daughter

June 12, 2012 permalink

Recently fixcas reported on the case of three girls raped by their foster dad. When the incident was reported to their legal parent (the Prince Edward County Children's Aid Society), the agency took no action for six years. In today's story, see what a real parent in Texas did when encountering the same situation.

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Dad beats daughter’s alleged molester to death

A father who said he saw a man molesting his 4-year-old daughter behind a barn in Lavaca County apparently beat the man to death Saturday afternoon, officials said.

The death occurred about 3:45 p.m. at a horse barn along County Road 302 near Shiner, about 127 miles west of Houston, said Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon.

Harmon said the victim, a 47-year-old Gonzales man, died at the scene. His name has not been released because his next of kin has not yet been notified of the death.

No arrests have been made in the case. Harmon said a grand jury will probably to determine what, if any charges, will be filed.

Harmon said the father and daughter were at their barn with several other people to groom and care for horses there. The victim came with some of the other people, but was not well-known, if all, to the father and child.

The group later heard the girl screaming behind the barn, Harmon said. Her father ran to see what was wrong and said he saw the man allegedly sexually assaulting the child. While pulling the man away from the girl, he hit the man several times in the head, Harmon said.

The girl was taken to DeTar hospital in Victoria to be evaluated and to have tests done to determine if a sexual assault occurred. She was released later.

The Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to perform an autopsy on the victim to determine what caused his death.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Addendum: No charges.

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Grand Jury: father's action was justified

Heather McMinn, Joey Edmonds and Micah Harmon
District Attorney Heather McMinn, flanked by Texas Ranger Joey Edmonds and Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon, speaks during Tuesday's news conference

Grand Jury: father's action was justified

HALLETTSVILLE -- The Lavaca County grand jury has cleared of any wrongdoing the father who beat to death a man caught raping his five-year-old daughter -- and the father is heard pleading on a 9-1-1 call for emergency medical help to prevent the man from dying.

At approximately 3:43 p.m. on June 9, authorities received a 9-1-1 call from a distraught father urgently seeking medical care for a man who had been assaulted at a ranch in Lavaca County near Shiner. The man was later ruled dead at the scene.

25th District District Attorney Heather McMinn told a news conference at the Lavaca County Courthouse on Tuesday the grand jury had heard the compiled evidence in the case and returned no indictment against the father, saying that "substantial evidence" supported the father's story, including the results of a medical examination of the little girl.

As part of that evidence, officials played a recording of the 9-1-1 call placed by the father. Officials named the man Tuesday, but The Cannon will not publish that name because doing so would identify his child.

"I need an ambulance!," the man tells the 9-1-1 operator. "A man was raping my daughter and I beat him up and I don't know what to do."

As the 9-1-1 operator attempts to get the man to confirm his location, he says in a panicked voice: "I need some help! ... The guy's going to die if y'all don't help."

At one point the father confirmed that other family members were attempting CPR on the attacker, and he says at another point he might try to load the man into his pickup truck to try to get him to a hospital.

"Under the law in the State of Texas, deadly force is authorized to stop a sexual assault," McMinn said.

The attorney for the father, V'Anne Huser of Shiner, said the family is hopeful the grand jury's action and the release of the 9-1-1 tape puts an end to speculation and insinuation by some in the national media.

"You don't have to run after the 'big story' any more," she said. "Be respectful of the fact that the child the father was defending the victim of a sexual assault."

Huser thanked McMinn's office, Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon and the Texas Rangers for treating her client with respect and professionalism throughout the ordeal.

"This is a 23-year-old man who is a peaceable soul," she said.

She said the family is ready to put its lives back together.

"This has been a tragic event in their lives," Huser said. "They want to move on. For us, the story is over. By doing this today, they can start the healing process."

Sheriff Harmon on Friday identified the dead man as 47-year old Jesus Mora Flores, who had a driver’s license showing a Gonzales address. Harmon later confirmed that Flores was a resident alien with a valid work visa, but no details have been released about where he lived in Gonzales or whether he was employed anywhere other than the ranch where he died.

A news release from Harmon said that upon arrival, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel observed Flores on the scene suffering from numerous injuries to the head and neck area. After talking to witnesses on the scene, it was discovered that a witness observed Flores forcibly carrying the child off to a secluded area. The witness ran for help and alerted the child’s father.

At that time the father heard a scream and ran in the direction of the sound, eventually coming upon Flores attacking his child. The father immediately removed Flores from on top of his child and in the process inflicted several blows to the man’s head and neck area.

“The physical evidence at the scene appeared to substantiate the father’s account,” said Harmon. “When emergency medical personnel arrived, Flores’ pants and underwear were down and the man’s genitals were exposed.”

Further investigation, which was assisted by the Texas Rangers, included an autopsy, a physical exam and forsenic interview of the child and several detailed witness statements. All of the physical evidence gathered, and the witness statements, corroborated the father’s statement, Harmon’s news release noted.

The results of the preliminary autopsy report were released by Yoakum Justice of the Peace Alene Lyons, which said Flores died from “blunt force head and neck injuries.” The manner of death was ruled as a homicide. Lyons said the entire report will likely be released in the next six to eight weeks depending on how soon the toxicology report is completed.

“Sheriff Harmon made the right decision in not arresting the father at the time of the incident," a news release from McMinn on Friday said.

Harmon indicated that he believed the child’s father was very remorseful and did not intend to kill Flores.

“This case has been very traumatizing on the child, her father, and his entire family,” he said.

Source: Gonzales Cannon

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