Texas jury acquit man who shot dead Craigslist escort who refused to have sex with him

A 30-year-old man has been cleared of murder after a jury agreed his actions were justified after he shot an escort when she took his money but refused to have sex with him. Lenora Frago was shot in the neck by Ezekiel Gilbert on Christmas Eve 2009. The 23-year-old was paralyzed and died several months later.

Link

Well he is walking free today. It is very hard to understand the reasons for this. This would be no different than some drug related murders where people get scammed but it looks like this guy maybe had a good lawyer?

How do you prove that they took your money anyways?

Now people in Texas can kill a hooker, plant money on their dead body and walk away free.

Yea the thought of getting shot doing something illegal involving a cash transaction is gonna bring some honor among criminals or will it keep money as king of the earth? It is hard to see the reasoning in these cases.

In Texas, if you are robbed at night, you can use deadly force.
No different than if you called for a pizza to be delivered and the driver took your money but refused to give you your pizza. In Texas, those are grounds for shooting someone dead.


Crazy. And people are always asking me why I hate Texas.

reply to post by JayinAR


Texas isn't that bad man. Granted Houston sucks. But, Austin is great, San Antonio is all right.... Stupid people are everywhere, they're exceptionally good at breeding too

reply to post by JayinAR


Oh, come on now. lol I'm a Texan, conservative no less, and I think this is absurd! LOL!

No different than if you called for a pizza to be delivered and the driver took your money but refused to give you your pizza.

This is even worse. It's like shooting the pizza delivery guy for not bringing you a hamburger. lol An escort is not even a prostitute. He was ordering hamburgers from Pizza Hut.



The strange thing is, they claim his defense is that he was retrieving 'stolen property.' Um... what was stolen? He paid her because he was under the misconception the services included sex, albeit it is a common misconception.

She didn't even misrepresent herself- there was never a guarantee of sex. This case makes no sense and sounds like he had a really good lawyer.

reply to post by AshleyD

Well he looks like a really nice guy.
How could a guy like that do anything wrong? Obviously she was stealing his money and needed to be shot.

reply to post by Phage


Yeah, he looks like a real winner!

Originally posted by JayinAR
In Texas, if you are robbed at night, you can use deadly force.
No different than if you called for a pizza to be delivered and the driver took your money but refused to give you your pizza. In Texas, those are grounds for shooting someone dead.

Crazy. And people are always asking me why I hate Texas.

You have to provide proof you were robbed. The guy that was with her said that there wasn't supposed to be any sex involved. So it boils down to one person saying one thing and a dead person that can't defend themselves. Also why wasn't he charged for putting the other person that was in the car in danger when he shot at the car? And he said he was trying to shoot the tires out and hits people in the front seat yeah ok.

reply to post by AshleyD

She didn't even misrepresent herself- there was never a guarantee of sex. This case makes no sense and sounds like he had a really good lawyer.

He had two things going for him.

1. Good lawyer

2. Stupid jury

reply to post by deadeyedick


No words.... I have no clue how it is possible to make such a decision. That guy should get at least 20 if not lifetime for such actions...

It was not self-defense, just money.

Here for example you get criminal sentence if you cause permanent harm on thieves or robbers, unless they attack you first or have a weapon pointed at you. You can attack, but only to disable them. For example, if I shoot a burglar, I need to aim to harm, not to kill. If the person dies, I will face prison sentence.

However someone sees it, I agree with how it is here. No human life even of criminals, is not worth some pathetic 1000 dollars or even less. I have no clue how much escorts cost.

And to be honest, escort is not prostution. It is used on that means, but legally it is not prostution and sex is voluntary. It is like, I bought some girl drinks at a bar and later shoot her because she refused to sleep with me...
As far as I can see, the guy was committing illegal action himself too, as at least based on Googled information, prostitution is illegal in Texas, whether bought or sold.

reply to post by deadeyedick


Ah, the good old USA: where it's perfectly legal to shoot someone if they refuse to have sex with you.

Well done, America. Leading the world, as usual.

Op.. are you INSANE.. this guy brought a hot chick home with him and she Robbed him Blind.

Just happened to a friend of mine.. shooting a thief in your house is not a bad thing.. she may have killed you next!

Yeah, it is quite obvious the guy had a good lawyer.

It actually reads like one of those strange, obsolete laws like how it is illegal to leash your alligator to a fire hydrant.

9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:

other under Section 9.41; and

deadly force is immediately necessary:

arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime,

law.onecle.com...

The copy paste didn't work in the last post, but you get the gist.

Originally posted by JayinAR
Yeah, it is quite obvious the guy had a good lawyer.

It actually reads like one of those strange, obsolete laws like how it is illegal to leash your alligator to a fire hydrant.

9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:

other under Section 9.41; and

deadly force is immediately necessary:

arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime,

law.onecle.com...

edit on 13-6-2013 by JayinAR because: (no reason given)

His public defender probably could have negotiated a life sentence with the possibility of parole, without a doubt. Money is nice to have.

One thing though, people should learn not to pimp themselves and be careful when answering or putting ads on craigslist. Never know, you might be next.

Bexar county so it was probably San Antonio.

From the link

Christopher Perkins, who described himself as the young woman's manager, told the court earlier that the $150 fee did not include a guarantee of sex.

pimp - maybe the grand jury figured sex was included.

reply to post by Phage


The internet really needs a sarcasm font. Some people miss it, even when it is plain as day.

reply to post by Sankari


I am pretty sure this is not legal in every state.