Murder retrial focuses on self-defense claim
Neighbor killed after argument over loud music
Whether Raul Rodriguez was a ticking timebomb who provoked a deadly shooting or a busybody neighbor who had just a split second to make a life-or-death choice will be a decision for jurors in a Harris County courtroom.
Opening statements from prosecutors and defense lawyers painted two different pictures of the 50-year-old who is being retried on charges of murder, accused of gunning down his neighbor on a rural street in Huffman during a birthday party.
Rodriguez has claimed he was acting in self-defense under the “stand your ground” law when he shot Kelly Danaher, who was celebrating the birthdays of his wife and daughter with friends on May 2, 2010.
The all-day party had been a grand affair, with a bouncy house, a giant slip-n-slide and a pool for the kids, prosecutors said. Families came and went all day enjoying birthday cake and brisket, and as the sun went down, they put out speakers for karaoke.
Prosecutors said Rodriguez grew irritated with his neighbors because he thought the music was too loud on their 4-acre lot. After unsuccessfully calling the police several times, he walked to the Danaher’s house from his home, more than 100 yards away, with a videocamera, a cell phone and a gun.
Kyle Sampson, Rodriguez’s lawyer, said the irate neighbor had printed out the law on “public nuisance” and planned to videotape the noise, then call the police with proof of the nuisance. That plan went awry when Rodriguez got to Danaher’s home and used his flashlight to signal the partygoers that he was watching from the street, about 25 yards away.
“Raul Rodriguez was confronted by a group of angry men,” Sampson said. “And they weren’t just angry, they were intoxicated.”
He said video of the shooting would show the men were threatening Rodriguez, then charged him.
Rodriguez can be heard on the video repeatedly saying, “I am in fear for my life” during the arguing.
As he was being charged, he fired at least twice, killing 36-year-old Danaher, prosecutors said.
Jurors would understand the group’s intent, Sampson said, when they hear voices on the video including a maniacal laugh from one of the men as Rodriguez was charged.
Prosecutors said Rodriguez provoked the situation and is hiding behind the law on self-defense.
Video footage of Rodriguez would show that he was talking to himself and to authorities on his cell phone about not “losing to these people.”
“As the minutes tick by, he gets angrier and angrier,” prosecutor Kelli Johnson told jurors. “Finally he beckons the men from the safety of the porch out to the street.”
In 2012, Rodriguez was sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of murder.
Last year, Houston’s First Court of Appeals said the jury’s instructions on the law on self-defense were so confusing that Rodriguez did not get a fair trial.
During breaks on Tuesday, Rodriguez, who is free on $50,000 bond, milled about with friends and family outside of the courtroom. A group of Danaher family supporters from Huffman remained in court, sitting attentively behind prosecutors.
The trial, in front of visiting judge Jay Burnett, is expected to last through the week.