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First prosecution in 10 years for a Houston Police killing

A judge Thursday ordered a former Houston police officer to spend 60 days in jail, rejecting a jury's recommendation that the ex-officer should serve no time behind bars and only be placed on probation for the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy. State District Judge Mary Lou Keel made the jail term part of the probation for Arthur J. Carbonneau, 25, who was convicted earlier this week of criminally negligent homicide in the November 2003 death of Eli Eloy Escobar. The jury Wednesday had sentenced him to nine years, six months and 14 days of probation. Prosecutors had asked jurors to recommend the maximum 10 years in prison. As part of the sentence handed down Thursday, Keel also ordered Carbonneau write a letter of apology to the Escobar family. Prosecutors had asked the judge for a six-month jail term, along with a handwritten apology letter to the Escobar family and apology letters to the Houston Police Department and the city. The jurors Tuesday convicted Carbonneau of criminally negligent homicide in the shooting death of Eli Escobar. The parents of the 14-year-old were devastated by the jury's recommendation that Arthur Carbonneau get probation on Wednesday. The jury had a wide range to choose from while considering Carbonneau's punishment, which could have been as stiff as 10 years in prison. They settled on probation for nine years, six months and 14 days. The victim's mother left the courtroom sobbing on Wednesday. She and other family members had been waiting for more than a year to see their son's killer behind bars. [ more] and [more]and [more] and [more]

Jose Sanchez says police came to talk to him about a fight he was in earlier in the day. He says his friend Eli was not involved in that attack and that he tried to leave. That's when officers tried to restrain him and Escobar put up a fight. Sanchez said, "He went crazy. The cop grabbed him, threw him on the floor. He told him to calm down. He wouldn't and he just shot him in the head." Sanchez says Escobar did nothing to warrant the use of deadly force. Neighbor Patricia Ulmer agrees. She watched the shooting from the balcony just above, and says it looked like the officer deliberately wanted to kill the boy."It was so unnecessary." Another eyewitness Jesse Rodriguez had accompanied the cops to the scene after reporting that another youth had punched his son. "They ignored me when I was telling them who had assaulted my son," he said. "They were too busy roughing up Eli, who didn't have anything to do with the assault." Rodriguez said that as the cops seized Escobar, "he was saying, "Help me! Help me! I didn't do anything. What did I do?' They had no mercy on him, no compassion." "They're killing our children," added Diane Bossom of Copwatch, an anti-police brutality organization. [more]