Trial is over, so I can now talk about the case. Here’s what happened. The charge was assault due to family violence, which is a felony punishable by probation, as a minimum sentence, maximum sentence 10 years in prison. A mother (in her late 40's) took her 18-year-old daughter’s cell phone and car keys away after a verbal fight. The daughter was getting ready to go to work so she was trying to get her phone and keys back from the mother. There was a heated verbal fight, which ended in a physical fight. The daughter went into the mother’s bedroom where her mother was, tried to get her phone and keys, started hitting the mother on the back with her closed fists. The mother, who is much taller and weighs a lot more than the daughter, threw the daughter on the bed, put both hands around her throat, and nearly strangled her to death while saying, “I could kill you.” Something stopped the mother from killing the daughter (the voices in her head told her to stop and go eat a snicker’s bar? We’ll never know), the daughter escaped and went to a neighbor’s house, called 911 and waited for the police to arrive. Two different police officers responded and the daughter was interviewed and her injuries were photographed, but she refused medical treatment and did not want to press charges against the mother. The mother refused to be photographed and did not want to press charges against the daughter. One of the officers determined that the mother was out of control, there had been other cases of family violence in the past (911 had been called several times before), and due to the severity of the daughter’s injuries, he decided to arrest the mother for assault, so it was The State of Texas versus the mother.

Now the case has gone to trial (one year later) and enter 12 jurors who get to hear the entire ugly story (previous abuse, mom worked out of the country for a few years while the daughter was growing into an adult, mom and dad bickering for years, daughter put in the middle), we listened to neighbors talk smack about the daughter, the daughter and mother both told their sides of what happened, of course their stories didn’t quite match. Both mother and daughter admitted there was a physical fight over the cell phone and keys. The mother did not admit to strangling the daughter. She stated the daughter’s injuries happened during the fight but not from strangulation.

The evidence we saw and heard: photographs of the daughter’s neck (visible hand prints, welts on both sides her neck and deep scratches with blood drawn), testimony from both sides, an audio recording of the 911 call, neighbors testified about past history. We had to decide if there was enough evidence to convict the mother of assault. The jurors were made up of 12 people, men and women, different races, different backgrounds, of all different ages. The final outcome was 10 guilty verdicts, 2 not guilty verdicts. Because we couldn’t all agree, the judge called a mistrial and he stated they will start all over again. There will be a new set of jurors and the mother will be tried all over again until she’s found either guilty or not guilty.

For those who are wondering, the two people who decided the mother was not guilty of assault were both Indian men (from India, not Native American) in their 50's. They both stated they thought it was a family fight that got out of control and the mother shouldn’t go to prison for a mistake. In my opinion, this is a cultural difference. I’m not condemning these two men, their beliefs are their beliefs. I just don’t agree. Here’s my struggle and concern: the daughter and mother are still living in the same house because the daughter is going to college full time and working full time at a minimum wage job, so she cannot afford to move out. Will another fight occur in the future and will the mother finally finish the job of ending her daughter when/if she loses control again? I’ve lost sleep over this. The end.