A man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old last year was beaten by members of the teen’s family during a courtroom melee in San Antonio, authorities said.
Victor Rivas, 18, who is charged with murder in the May 2022 death of Ethan Soto, was in a Bexar County courtroom Friday awaiting a preliminary hearing when he was attacked.
Rivas’ attorney, Adam LaHood, said his client was “going to be bruised and swollen” but was not otherwise injured.
Four people — two men and two juveniles — were arrested and will be charged with assault and disrupting court proceedings, the Bexar County sheriff’s office said. Their names haven’t been released.
This is an excellent opportunity for potential jurors in the area to learn about valid situations to exercise the right of jury nullification. A smart DA would plead this way down to some misdemeanor resulting in community service.
Why? He’s already pleaded guilty. And he should go to prison for murder. And his attackers should go to prison for assault.
Sorry. That could be confusing. Yeah. The murderer should go to jail for murder. Absolutely.
I’d have a really hard time sentencing the victim’s family for attacking the murderer.
That was my point. Apologies for leaving that ambiguous in my initial comment.
While I understand the feeling, mob justice like this only undermines the justice system and should really be prosecuted.
On the other hand, it probably would not be too difficult to find a sympathetic jury and he does not appear to be seriously injured, so assuming the charges aren’t just dropped, I would expect a plea deal for something like community service, as well.
This is far from the worst thing undermining the justice system. It’s not even an egregious example of mob justice. But I suspect we mostly agree. I’ve said all I’ve got to say about it.
Why? Violence should not beget more violence. We’re supposed to be better than that.