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Murder trial in New Braunfels, Texas -- Bully died in fight

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eric76
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13 Apr 2015, 5:01 pm

First report from today's events in the courtroom at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Puncher-in-school-death-weeps-on-witness-stand-6197024.php.

As expected, the defendant took the stand today.

From the link

Quote:
"I just wanted him to leave me alone. That's it," testified the defendant, 16, dressed in a dark suit.

In a packed courtroom, he recounted how Davidson pelted him during chemistry class on Nov. 12, 2013 with balls of wadded paper, ice and erasers one of which hit him in the face, he said despite his warning to stop.

"I told him if he hit me one more time I was going to hit him back," said the defendant, whose name is not being published because he's a juvenile.

As students lined up to leave when class ended, he recalled that Davidson, 15, looked at him and used a vulgar expression to assure classmates that the defendant was too chicken to do anything.

The defendant said he dropped his backpack in the hall and then, as Davidson emerged from the classroom, hit him twice before continuing to his next class.



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13 Apr 2015, 7:12 pm

eric76 wrote:
First report from today's events in the courtroom at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Puncher-in-school-death-weeps-on-witness-stand-6197024.php.

As expected, the defendant took the stand today.

From the link
Quote:
"I just wanted him to leave me alone. That's it," testified the defendant, 16, dressed in a dark suit.

In a packed courtroom, he recounted how Davidson pelted him during chemistry class on Nov. 12, 2013 with balls of wadded paper, ice and erasers one of which hit him in the face, he said despite his warning to stop.

"I told him if he hit me one more time I was going to hit him back," said the defendant, whose name is not being published because he's a juvenile.

As students lined up to leave when class ended, he recalled that Davidson, 15, looked at him and used a vulgar expression to assure classmates that the defendant was too chicken to do anything.

The defendant said he dropped his backpack in the hall and then, as Davidson emerged from the classroom, hit him twice before continuing to his next class.


Were I on the jury, I'd vote - if not for acquittal - for leniency.


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eric76
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13 Apr 2015, 7:33 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
Were I on the jury, I'd vote - if not for acquittal - for leniency.


If I were on the jury, there would have to be a much lower charge than manslaughter to get me to vote guilty. Maybe misdemeanor assault.



eric76
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13 Apr 2015, 7:34 pm

From http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Puncher-in-school-death-I-just-wanted-him-to-6197067.php, the former football coach testified:

Quote:
Logan Davidson also was fondly recalled by Bruce Young, his former football coach, who said, "He was a pleaser. He just wanted to be accepted."

But that's not to say teenage boys are incapable of disruptive conduct like that described in the chemistry class, even hitting someone in the crotch, he said.

"I see freshmen boys do a lot of that," Young said. "It's kind of an athlete thing to do. Most of the boys just roll with it."


So it's an athlete thing to do and the victims should just bend over.



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13 Apr 2015, 7:42 pm

eric76 wrote:
From http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Puncher-in-school-death-I-just-wanted-him-to-6197067.php, the former football coach testified:
Quote:
Logan Davidson also was fondly recalled by Bruce Young, his former football coach, who said, "He was a pleaser. He just wanted to be accepted."

But that's not to say teenage boys are incapable of disruptive conduct like that described in the chemistry class, even hitting someone in the crotch, he said.

"I see freshmen boys do a lot of that," Young said. "It's kind of an athlete thing to do. Most of the boys just roll with it."


So it's an athlete thing to do and the victims should just bend over.


I hated jocks back in school. This only serves to remind me why.


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13 Apr 2015, 8:57 pm

eric76 wrote:
There's a murder trial going on in New Braunfels, Texas where one kid hit another twice in school and the one who was hit died. Apparently, the one who died had been bullying the one who hit him for years.

From http://www.examiner.com/article/new-braunfels-student-dies-after-fist-fight-new-braunfels-bully-gets-arrested:
Quote:
14 jurors began hearing testimony Tuesday. They heard from a chemistry teacher and several classmates of Davidson. Most of them recalled the events in class that took place right before the altercation that police said resulted in Davidson's death.

One witness spoke about the tossing of spitballs and erasers in chemistry class, which she believed precipitated the incident. She also spoke about how she saw the defendant hit Davidson hard, twice, in the hallway before he went unconscious.

The teen is charged with murder, but the defendant's attorney said the teen never intended to kill Davidson.


I found one story that claimed that Davidson was the one being bullied, but the comments at the end of the story from those who knew both of them said the story had the facts backwards.


When I was a junior in highschool, one of the freshmen was constantly bullied and one day he snapped and stabbed his bully in self defense with a pencil. The bully wasn't seriously hurt, but the whole school community went and defended the bully as being an innocent angel...
The real blame for this is on the school system which often does nothing to prevent or stop bullying, at least nothing effective. All the students know that the only way to stop a bully is to stand up for yourself with force.


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13 Apr 2015, 10:12 pm

Protogenoi wrote:
eric76 wrote:
There's a murder trial going on in New Braunfels, Texas where one kid hit another twice in school and the one who was hit died. Apparently, the one who died had been bullying the one who hit him for years.

From http://www.examiner.com/article/new-braunfels-student-dies-after-fist-fight-new-braunfels-bully-gets-arrested:
Quote:
14 jurors began hearing testimony Tuesday. They heard from a chemistry teacher and several classmates of Davidson. Most of them recalled the events in class that took place right before the altercation that police said resulted in Davidson's death.

One witness spoke about the tossing of spitballs and erasers in chemistry class, which she believed precipitated the incident. She also spoke about how she saw the defendant hit Davidson hard, twice, in the hallway before he went unconscious.

The teen is charged with murder, but the defendant's attorney said the teen never intended to kill Davidson.


I found one story that claimed that Davidson was the one being bullied, but the comments at the end of the story from those who knew both of them said the story had the facts backwards.


When I was a junior in highschool, one of the freshmen was constantly bullied and one day he snapped and stabbed his bully in self defense with a pencil. The bully wasn't seriously hurt, but the whole school community went and defended the bully as being an innocent angel...
The real blame for this is on the school system which often does nothing to prevent or stop bullying, at least nothing effective. All the students know that the only way to stop a bully is to stand up for yourself with force.


I have a relative in Everett, Washington, who's up in years now, who back in school had been bullied. His father, who was a mean, alcoholic Okie, gave him a knife and told him to stab anyone giving him trouble. Well, he took the old man's advice. Lucky for him, the kid didn't die, but he was wanted by the police for the stabbing. Some other relatives hid him in a pigeon coop, where the police didn't want to go into, for all the bird sh*t, even though they apparently figured he was hiding in there. Despite having a crazy, redneck drunk for a dad, he straightened out as an adult.


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eric76
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13 Apr 2015, 10:28 pm

I've seen it mentioned in more than one place that part of the bullying involved taunting the defendant about his mother who had just died.



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14 Apr 2015, 4:10 pm

From todays courtroom news, the trial is temporarily on hold. The judge added a choice of misdemeanor assault charges as a possible offense for the jury to consider and the prosecution is appealing the decision.

From http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/State-halts-punching-trial-with-appeal-of-jury-6199221.php:

Quote:
The trial of the juvenile who fatally punched Logan Davidson at Canyon High School in 2013 was unexpectedly halted Tuesday due to a state challenge to the jury instructions approved by the judge.

Prosecutors opposed the inclusion of simple assault as a lesser possible offense committed by the 16-year-old defendant, saying jurors should consider only murder and manslaughter.


Also on the matter from http://herald-zeitung.com/community_alert/article_19eae116-e2d1-11e4-9dec-ef1c29a3942d.html:
Quote:
Jurors in the Canyon High School punching death juvenile murder trial were sent home indefinitely Tuesday morning as prosecutors sought a higher court's reversal of the trial judge's decision to include a lesser offense in the jury charge.

Defense attorney Joseph E. Garcia III requested jurors be given the option to consider misdemeanor assault along with the murder and manslaughter charges his 16-year-old client faces. Clayten Hearrell, a Comal County assistant district attorney, objected to the inclusion.

"We ask that the lesser-included offense be stricken from the charge," Hearrell said in open court outside the presence of jurors.

...

Prosecutors have several courts from which to choose but could go directly to the state Supreme Court, Garcia said. He wasn't sure which option the state would choose.

As I understand it, if the jury is sympathetic to the defendant but wants him to be punished to some degree, a lesser charge gives them exactly that opportunity -- they can find him guilty of something without being what they consider to be unfairly harsh.

I wonder what kind of legal arguments might the prosecution make in their objection to the lesser included charge. The only thing I can imagine is that the prosecution argues that the defendant could not possibly be guilty of only the lesser charge, but I have no idea what standards should be used to evaluate such an issue.

Also, since the judge did decide to permit the lesser charge to be included, does that send a signal that he thinks that the charge is reasonable considering the testimony in the case?



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14 Apr 2015, 4:48 pm

eric76 wrote:
From todays courtroom news, the trial is temporarily on hold. The judge added a choice of misdemeanor assault charges as a possible offense for the jury to consider and the prosecution is appealing the decision.

From http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/State-halts-punching-trial-with-appeal-of-jury-6199221.php:
Quote:
The trial of the juvenile who fatally punched Logan Davidson at Canyon High School in 2013 was unexpectedly halted Tuesday due to a state challenge to the jury instructions approved by the judge.

Prosecutors opposed the inclusion of simple assault as a lesser possible offense committed by the 16-year-old defendant, saying jurors should consider only murder and manslaughter.


Also on the matter from http://herald-zeitung.com/community_alert/article_19eae116-e2d1-11e4-9dec-ef1c29a3942d.html:
Quote:
Jurors in the Canyon High School punching death juvenile murder trial were sent home indefinitely Tuesday morning as prosecutors sought a higher court's reversal of the trial judge's decision to include a lesser offense in the jury charge.

Defense attorney Joseph E. Garcia III requested jurors be given the option to consider misdemeanor assault along with the murder and manslaughter charges his 16-year-old client faces. Clayten Hearrell, a Comal County assistant district attorney, objected to the inclusion.

"We ask that the lesser-included offense be stricken from the charge," Hearrell said in open court outside the presence of jurors.

...

Prosecutors have several courts from which to choose but could go directly to the state Supreme Court, Garcia said. He wasn't sure which option the state would choose.

As I understand it, if the jury is sympathetic to the defendant but wants him to be punished to some degree, a lesser charge gives them exactly that opportunity -- they can find him guilty of something without being what they consider to be unfairly harsh.

I wonder what kind of legal arguments might the prosecution make in their objection to the lesser included charge. The only thing I can imagine is that the prosecution argues that the defendant could not possibly be guilty of only the lesser charge, but I have no idea what standards should be used to evaluate such an issue.

Also, since the judge did decide to permit the lesser charge to be included, does that send a signal that he thinks that the charge is reasonable considering the testimony in the case?


Well, if the jury is sympathetic toward the defendant, then the prosecution should be willing to play ball and tone down the charge, otherwise the jury will acquit the kid.


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14 Apr 2015, 4:54 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
Well, if the jury is sympathetic toward the defendant, then the prosecution should be willing to play ball and tone down the charge, otherwise the jury will acquit the kid.


Or so we hope. The jury doesn't always know to evoke the rite of Jury Nullification.


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27 Apr 2015, 7:17 am

The prosecution lost their appeal to the appeals court.

The charges the jury can consider are murder, manslaughter, and misdemeanor assault.

It's not yet known if the prosecution will appeal to a higher court.



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29 Apr 2015, 12:47 am

If the prosecution does not appeal the decision from the appeals court, the trial is scheduled to continue at 8:30 am on Monday morning.



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29 Apr 2015, 12:50 am

Back in the day it might have been seen as justice, but many terrible things where also considered justice back in the day as well.


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29 Apr 2015, 1:59 am

As I see it, the bully was the one who forced the issue. The death was an accident, but it was brought on by the bully's actions, not the bullied. The defendant in the case was trying to stop the bullying but would not have known that the bully would die. Remember that the medical examiner testified that she didn't even know about such injuries until she was in medical school.

The one who could have changed things was the bully. The defendant just did what he was forced to do by the bully.



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05 May 2015, 12:01 pm

Verdict is in

Not guilty of murder or manslaughter
Guilty of misdemeanor assault