(LA) Jury refuses to indict man who shot car thief 12-19-02
(LA) Jury refuses to indict man who shot car thief 12-19-02
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While this case doesn’t make our side look good, it’s hard to have much
sympathy for a car thief.
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Jury declines to indict N.O. man who shot car burglar
The Associated Press
A grand jury declined to indict a New Orleans man who stood on his
third-floor balcony last August and fatally shot a man who was breaking
into his car.
Sean Minor, 29, had claimed he feared for his life when he fired at
Alaberto Munoz, 18.
Police said Munoz and another man were trying to break into Minor’s
black Nissan Altima. The shots hit Munoz in the face and chest at a
range of more than 30 yards, police said at the time.
Minor was booked with manslaughter at the time but Thursday’s vote by an
Orleans Parish grand jury means no indictment and leaves it up to the
district attorney’s office to decide whether to prosecute.
Munoz’s relatives, visibly upset with the lack of an indictment,
questioned how Minor could have felt his life was threatened.
“Self defense, how could this be self defense?” said the dead man’s
mother, Wanda Munoz.
“You’re on a balcony, you see kids down there by your car, you go back
in your house. What are you going to do? Stay in your house if you’re
afraid? No, he comes back with a gun.”
Minor’s lawyer, Robert Jenkins, insisted that Minor felt endangered.
“He feared for his life, he believed the man had a weapon,” Jenkins said
Thursday. “The fact of the matter is he is an honest citizen, working
hard, paying his taxes, and these guys are over there committing
crimes.”
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20021219&Category=APN&ArtNo=212190907&Ref=AR
