A 49-year-old man who chased a young man from his living room in the middle of the night two years ago, repeatedly shooting the drunken college student in the street, was indicted this week on a murder charge.
Raymond Lemes was released Thursday from Bexar County Jail after posting $75,000 bond. Lemes was arrested a day earlier, after a Bexar County grand jury decided he should be put on trial for the Aug. 4, 2007, death of Tracy Glass.
Lemes told authorities he shot Glass after the 19-year-old turned and lunged at him as he was fleeing. He'd been trying to detain the intruder until police arrived, he said.
Lemes indicated at the time of the shooting that he was protecting himself, but prosecutors said Thursday they sought the indictment because he shot the unarmed man five times after Glass already had fled the house without any of the homeowner's belongings.
“Initially, I think (police) had been viewing it as a justifiable shooting,” District Attorney Susan Reed said.
Reed said police in December referred the case to her office so that prosecutors could review and consider presenting it to a grand jury for prosecution.
After that, she said, her office took time to visit the scene and conduct its own investigation.
“We wanted to give a full picture to the grand jury,” she said. “We wanted to make sure they had everything possible.”
Reed said Lemes was invited to speak before the grand jury, but never responded.
Attorneys for Lemes didn't return repeated calls Thursday seeking comment. Relatives at the house where the shooting occurred also declined to comment Thursday about the indictment.
Authorities said that after waking to his wife's screams and grabbing his .40-caliber handgun, Lemes found the Angelo State University student crouched beside his couch at about 2:45 that Saturday morning, according to a 2007 Bexar County medical examiner's investigation report.
But prosecutors Thursday said their investigation revealed Lemes and Glass didn't encounter each other until the young man already had run from the house.
“It wasn't like there was a confrontation or a struggle,” First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said. “Our investigation indicates he was high-tailing it out of the house with the homeowner in pursuit.”
After the shooting, Lemes placed his gun on the street and waited for police to arrive.
Texas law traditionally allows a homeowner to fire at an intruder if he believes it's the only way to protect his property, but prosecutors said Glass was empty-handed.
The only other way deadly force would have been justified, they say, is if Lemes reasonably believed his life was in jeopardy or he was in danger of suffering serious bodily injury.
An expanded version of the so-called Castle Doctrine wasn't in effect at the time of the shooting. This extended the rights of residents to protect their property, but Reed said it wouldn't have been relevant anyway.
“In this instance, the trespass had been terminated,” she said. “The guy's running down the street and away. There was no gun found. There was no indication of deadly force being used against the defendant.”
Glass' family members also couldn't be reached for comment Thursday. But they've maintained the shooting was a tragic mistake that resulted in the young man walking into Lemes' house that morning.
The teen had been staying with his sister at a home along Autumn Evening, a cul-de-sac that has backyards adjoining Autumn Star, the cul-de-sac on which Lemes lived. Both homes were located on the right side of the street, were painted similarly and had sliding-glass doors in similar positions.
Lemes' sliding-glass door had previously broken and was unlocked on the night of the incident, according to police reports of the incident.
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I posted this story in the Never Again! forum because I think it illustrates that shooting an intruder is not always a get-out-of-jail-free card. The law provides justification for shooting to prevent or stop burglary; but burglary is defined as entering a building to commit a felony, theft, or assault. Wandering into the wrong house through an unlocked door is not burglary.
- Jim
