LogFAQs > #960978038

supergamer19 posted...

Alright, so this story is terribly retold and very confusing. I had to look it up for myself.

The kid who died is named Valdez. Valdez was buying drugs, probably just weed, from the defendant. He tried to run without paying. Defendant chased and a struggle ensued. According to the defendants lawyer, Valdez was on the wrestling team, and the defendant is under 100 pounds. Valdez got the upper hand, mounted the defendant, and started slamming the defendants head into the ground (this is, again, according to the lawyer). Defendant reach for a utility knife he had on his person, a struggle for the knife occured, and Valdez was stabbed multiple times in the chest. Died later in hospital.

Alright, that's the unbiased gist.

If this account of events is accurate, this verdict seems reasonable. The altercation resulting in the dude's death was very much a consequence of illegal activities (whether dealing weed should be illegal or not, since that's a separate discussion), but nothing a minor should necessarily be seeing jail time over. The actual stabbing can be at least kind of called self defense, and there's definitely no case for murder 1.