Texan Gets 40 Years in Prison for Stand-Your-Ground Case

In Texas, a 46-year-old man has been convicted of murder and will now spend 40 years of his life in a state prison. The criminal claimed that in Texas’ version of the stand-your-ground law, he would be legally permitted to shoot his neighbor. The two neighbors got into an argument because of a noisy party, and Raul Rodriguez took the liberty to fire a bullet at his neighbor when the quarrel escalated.

Rodriguez is a retired firefighter, and was upset about the noise that was reaching his home from a birthday party that was going on at the house next door. Irritated, he walked over to the home and knocked on the door, where he was greeted by a 36-year-old elementary school teacher named Danaher and two other men who had attended the party.

In a 22 minute video that he recorded on the night of the shooting, investigators watched Rodriguez tell the police that his life was in danger, and that the people were planning to kill him. He claimed that he was going to stand his ground in the case, and then shot Danaher and wounded the other two men at the door. The claim made to standing his ground is similar to another claim that was made by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who killed an unarmed teen named Trayvon Martin.

In both cases, the shooters have not been pardoned for crimes. Rodriguez’s case has been decided under a different self-defense doctrine. His neighbor testified to Fox News that Rodriguez had a concealed handgun license, and told her that he could avoid prosecution by using the stand-your-ground clause. However, the clause was not enough to help him avoid a few decades in prison. If you are charged with murder or using a gun in self-defense, then you will want a criminal defense lawyer. Each situation is specific, and you may be able to avoid punishments, given the right clauses and arguments.