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发帖数: 4936 | 1 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/jilted-john-acquitted-tex
Texas prostitute's jilted killer acquitted, was trying to 'retrieve stolen
property' says jury
Ezekiel Gilbert, 30, facing life in jail for the 2009 death of Lenora Frago,
23, near his San Antonio home, got off even though he shot her with an AK-
47. But a jury said his actions were justified under state law.
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Ezekiel Gilbert, 30, was found not guilty of murdering an escort he hired
from Craigslist. Gilbert's lawyers argued that because Lenora Ivie Frago had
left his house with the $150 he'd paid her, without having sex with him, he
was within his rights to use deadly force to retrieve his property.
A Texas john who shot a Craigslist escort dead after she took $150 of his
cash but refused to have sex has been cleared of murder.
Ezekiel Gilbert, 30, was facing life in jail for the 2009 Christmas Eve
killing of Lenora Frago, 23, outside his San Antonio apartment.
Gilbert used a AK-47 assault rifle to spray his alleged victim's car with
bullets as she was driven away at 4:15 a.m. by her alleged pimp, Christopher
Perkins.
Frago was hit in the neck.
Left paralyzed and brain damaged from the shooting, she was hooked up to a
respirator for several months until her family pulled the plug in July 2010.
A Bexar County Texas court jury on Thursday took 11 hours to acquit Gilbert
— saying his actions were justified because he was simply trying to
retrieve stolen property.
This is because state residents are permitted "to use deadly force to
recover property during a nighttime theft."
Gilbert's defense attorneys argued he did not intend to kill Frago and only
wanted to blow out the car tires and get back his cash.
They also said the shooting was justified, as he thought sex was included as
part of the fee.
Gilbert hugged his attorneys and thanked God, his lawyers, and the jury
following his acquittal, reports My San Antonio.
"I sincerely regret the loss of the life of Ms. Frago," he said outside the
court room.
"I've been in a mental prison the past four years of my life. I have
nightmares. If I see guns on TV where people are getting killed, I change
the channel," he added. |
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