Brandon Daniel Murder Trial (Austin, Bishop: 2014, foreclosure, crime)

[riaelise]

I'm not posting this to start any controversy, but rather simply soliciting my fellow man's opinion. Do you think that Brandon Daniel should be executed and why?

Some backstory - Brandon Daniel is the young man who, in the course of a scuffle, shot and killed police officer Jaime Padron in a North Austin Walmart. Daniel had been intoxicated and acting disorderly when the police were called to the scene. I know little about him other than he was a software engineer at HP. Despite his good job, he still had mental and issues with alcohol. On the night of the murder, Daniel had been binging on tequila and Xanax.

I'd like to say that I am pro death penalty. I support capital punishment. However, in this case, I think that Brandon Daniel deserves a LWOP sentence. I don't think that he should be put to death. Firstly, he doesn't have any criminal record of note, so the likelihood of him re-offending is low. Secondly, while I understand that a severe punishment does need to be meted out, I think a life sentence is just as effective. Third, Daniel wasn't of sound mind when he commited the murder. He was drunk/drugged. Giving him a life sentence sends a strong message too that he can't hide behind the "I was drunk" excuse.

And I keep circling back to point #1 in that everything we know about him shows that he isn't your typical cop killing offender.

I think the prosecutors are being a tad overzealous due to the fact that it involved the death of a police officer and that Officer Padron was as beloved as he was. I want Daniel to pay, but I don't think that he deserves to lose his life.

[CptnRn]

Reiaelise wrote: Firstly, he doesn't have any criminal record of note, so the likelihood of him re-offending is low.

I think both of your statements above are incorrect. Daniel shot and killed Officer Padron and shot at the two Wal-Mart employees who succeeded in subduing him. He does have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, running from & evading the police in previous encounters and has been arrested four times previously. He avoided jail in one instance because he turned in a drug dealer. And he has apparently evaded more arrests and has little respect for the law according to his own statement: "Daniel told his roommate in Austin that "Dude, I've gotten away with worse ... than that (robbing a store). I run from the cops on my bike almost daily," an arrest affidavit said."

He may not be your typical cop killing offender, I agree there are worse criminals out there, but he was certainly accelerating down that road before he shot and killed Officer Padron. I think the likelihood of him repeating that behavior is very high, should he ever get out.

I can accept either verdict, but won't feel bad if he is executed. I am opposed to the idea of keeping criminals locked up for life without parole, if they are too dangerous and unfit to ever be released back into society. Sadly, our legal system has evolved into one where it can be more expensive to execute a criminal then it is to keep them locked up for life. Nevertheless, if they are kept locked up for life, there is always the possibility that they could escape and be a danger to society if they did. So, we should execute them and be done with it.

Soon after he started his freshman year at Colorado State University in the spring of 2007, a friendship blossomed between Weston Bickmore and his roommate.
Both Bickmore and Brandon Montgomery Daniel were from the Denver suburbs. They both owned motorcycles. They spent hours together lifting weights at the campus gym or playing video games in their 12th floor dorm room in Durward Hall.
But among all Bickmore's memories, two stand out: how smart Daniel was and how he flirted with trouble.


... More detail about his criminal history follows...

Man charged with capital murder in officer's shooting death | www.statesman.com

During a Friday's afternoon news conference, Acevedo said that when Padron entered the store, loss prevention officers pointed out the suspect, later identified as Daniel. He attempted to flee, and when Padron pursued him, a struggle ensued, Acevedo said.
Both men fell to the ground, and Daniel pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and fired it at Padron. One bullet struck the officer's body armor, but another struck him in the neck area, inflicting a mortal wound, Acevedo said.
Immediately, two Wal-Mart employees rushed Daniel and took him to the ground, Acevedo said. Daniel fired one shot at them but missed, he said. The employees were able to subdue Daniel until backup officers arrested him.

[CptnRn]

Ken Herman's column in the Statesman this morning indicates he has an interest in this trial, perhaps he will be covering more of it. This column included his observations on the jury selection process.

Herman: Daniel trial jury selection gets personal | www.mystatesman.com

Which is the more severe? It’s a notion ruminated on by a potential juror who, discussing hypotheticals, said life without parole could be “worse than ending it all.”
First up on Monday was a woman who stated her anti-death penalty views on the questionnaire. Prosecutor Bill Bishop asked for the source of that opposition. “A combination,” she said, “but I couldn’t say it’s from a religious standpoint. It was more personal.”
Capital case defense lawyers like to get death penalty foes on the jury. It can happen by having them acknowledge they could follow the law. That first woman told defense lawyer Russell Hunt, “I don’t feel that’s my position to vote for someone to be put to death.”
But Hunt kept her in play by having her confirm that, if selected, she could listen to evidence and honestly answer the questions that could lead to execution.
Texas jurors are not asked to choose life or death sentences. But their answers concerning future dangerousness and mitigating circumstances determine life or death. The law, Hunt noted, does not require jurors to support capital punishment.
“I want to do my civic duty,” said the woman.

[jobaba]

The reason most liberals I have talked to oppose the death penalty is not because they feel punishment by death is wrong. It's because they believe that the justice system could be flawed and that an innocent man could be put to death.

I just read the details of the case and that is obviously not the case here. The guy had a gun and shot a police officer. That's pretty much as severe a crime as it gets.

[SlickPeaches]

He deserves the death penalty because he killed a police. Plain and simple. How dare he or anyone else kill someone who does their best to protect us?

[CptnRn]

There was an interesting bit in the paper today explaining the process that determines whether the outcome is death or life in prison.

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/i...aus_daniel.jpg

[rrodriguez0620]

Brandon Daniel should be given life in prison. It was an accident he was high on drugs.

[maciesmom]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I think both of your statements above are incorrect. Daniel shot and killed Officer Padron and shot at the two Wal-Mart employees who succeeded in subduing him. He does have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, running from & evading the police in previous encounters and has been arrested four times previously. He avoided jail in one instance because he turned in a drug dealer. And he has apparently evaded more arrests and has little respect for the law according to his own statement: "Daniel told his roommate in Austin that "Dude, I've gotten away with worse ... than that (robbing a store). I run from the cops on my bike almost daily," an arrest affidavit said."

He may not be your typical cop killing offender, I agree there are worse criminals out there, but he was certainly accelerating down that road before he shot and killed Officer Padron. I think the likelihood of him repeating that behavior is very high, should he ever get out.

I can accept either verdict, but won't feel bad if he is executed. I am opposed to the idea of keeping criminals locked up for life without parole, if they are too dangerous and unfit to ever be released back into society. Sadly, our legal system has evolved into one where it can be more expensive to execute a criminal then it is to keep them locked up for life. Nevertheless, if they are kept locked up for life, there is always the possibility that they could escape and be a danger to society if they did. So, we should execute them and be done with it.

I tend to agree with much of what you state.

I can tell, you, with 100% certainty, this was not a case of "good kid makes a mistake". I lived near his family when they lived in Colorado. Something shady was going on in that house. He would have been HS or college at the time. Early 2000s. His parents were divorced but occasionally lived together. Bad vibes big time. Kept to themselves, never put out the trash for pickup but loaded their trunk with yard bags every week. At some point the house was raided by ATF, who hauled out all kinds of things including computers. Eventually the house went into foreclosure and the parents completely trashed it before leaving. Concrete poured down the pipes, wood trim hacked up, cabinets demolished. Nice, respectable neighborhood. They had lived there several years and kept the house up well. The boy had a rep though. Neighbors thought he was dealing drugs even then. He sped around on his Kawasaki - probably the same one mentioned in the article about evading police while at CSU. No one in the neighborhood was surprised he ended up in jail.

Family was bad news and the apple did not fall far from the tree. There was a younger sister. I often wonder what became of her.