Grandfather says death an accident

6-12-2012 Texas:

The grandfather of the 4-year-old girl whose father beat a man to death said Monday that his son was sorry the man died.

"My son. Sorry," the grandfather said in broken English Monday afternoon, yards from where the incident took place Saturday off Lavaca County Road 302. "It was an accident."

The father told law enforcement that he caught the man molesting his daughter and tried to physically stop him.

Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon said the father expressed regret after the beating occurred.

"He was very remorseful. I don't think it was his intent for the man to die," Harmon said.

The incident took place through a metal gate, down a rut-filled - almost gully-filled drive in a pasture behind a barn where the father was tending to horses, Harmon said.

No charges have been filed in the case and neither the father nor the 47-year-old man who died has been identified by law enforcement.

"We are still having trouble locating the deceased's next of kin," the sheriff said. "The chief deputy has been in Gonzales running down some leads, but his family may end up being from out of the country."

Across the county road from where the beating took place, a neighbor said the family who owns the property are "good people."

"They have horses and chickens over there and come out every day to feed and water them," said the neighbor. "They are good people. Good, hard-working people."

District Attorney Heather McMinn said that once the investigation is complete and turned over to her office, she will present it to a grand jury. ..Source.. by SONNY LONG

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grand jury: No indictment against father who killed daughter's alleged abuser

6-20-2012:

A Lavaca County, Texas, grand jury did not return an indictment against a father who killed a man he found allegedly sexually abusing his daughter, officials said Tuesday at a press conference in Hallettsville, Texas.

"The substantial amount of evidence showed that the witness statements and the father's statement and what the father had observed was in fact what had happened that day," Lavaca County District Attorney Heather McMinn told reporters.

The father, who will not be charged, is not being named by CNN to protect the identity of his daughter.

The father called 911, and he and his family tried to "save the life" of alleged attacker Jesus Mora Flores "despite what they had just witnessed," McMinn added.

McMinn told CNN that Flores, 47, was not an acquaintance of the family.

According to the Lavaca County Sheriff's Office, the father and his family had gathered for a horse shoeing last Saturday at their ranch where they keep horses and chickens.

There were seven people in attendance in total, including four members of the family, two acquaintances and a stranger to the family, who was the alleged molester. According to McMinn, the alleged abuser was a legal worker from Mexico.

His 5-year-old daughter had gone off toward the barn, to feed the chickens, the child's grandfather told CNN affiliates KSAT and KPRC.

Then her father heard screaming and ran. He found a man sexually abusing his daughter, according to Sheriff Micah Harmon.

The father stopped the alleged abuser, and then pounded him repeatedly in the head, killing him, authorities said.

On the recorded 911 call, the father can be heard crying, and telling the operator, "I need an ambulance. This guy was raping my daughter and I beat him up. And I don't know ... I don't know what to do."

Later in the call, when the operator tells the caller, "I'm working on it if you can hold on," the emotional father says, "The guy's dying on me!"

McMinn also told CNN the child's grandfather and aunt both administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Neither officials nor the family's attorney, V'Anne Huser, took questions from reporters Tuesday but Huser said in light of the grand jury's decision, "in our opinion, today, the story is over."

McMinn told CNN she had "never seen a case this clear" in her career.

The incident occurred outside the town of Shiner, a community between Houston and San Antonio that has about 2,000 people within its city limits and another 1,500 or so on its outskirts, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. ..Source.. by CNN Wire Staff

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Father Killed Jesus Mora Flores, Who Molested His Daughter, Texas Cops Say

The man who police in Texas say was killed after sexually assaulting a rancher's daughter was identified over the weekend.

Jesus Mora Flores was reportedly beaten to death on June 9 after a 23-year-old father found his 4-year-old daughter half naked with Flores at their ranch on the outskirts of Shiner, officers told CNN.

Lavaca County sheriff's deputies told the station that the unnamed father had sent his daughter and her brother off to feed the family's chickens. A little while later, the boy returned and told his dad that someone had taken his sister.

The father then found 47-year-old Flores -- who came to the ranch with a family friend -- sexually abusing his daughter and allegedly beat him to death with his fists.

Sheriff Micah Harmon has said that he will not charge the father, but the case will be presented to a grand jury to consider charges.

The father called 911 after the incident, reporting that Flores was on the ground and unresponsive. Harmon told reporters that the man appeared "very remorseful" and didn't know he had killed the abuser.

"You have a right to defend your daughter," Harmon told CNN at the time. "[The girl's father] acted in defense of his third person. Once the investigation is completed we will submit it to the district attorney who then submits it to the grand jury, who will decide if they will indict him."

The 4-year-old girl went to the hospital after the attack, and "besides the obvious mental trauma," is going to be OK, Harmon said. ..Source.. by Andy Campbell