1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

It's ok to shoot prostitutes in Texas!

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by Silvery, Jun 7, 2013.

  1. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2005
    Messages:
    3,224
    Media:
    40
    Likes Received:
    218
    Gender:
    Female
    This is not another boring guns are bad/guns rock thread because, frankly, they're boring. You're all so damn opinionated that you refuse to pull your heads out of your own arses long enough to even LOOK at someone else's point of view.

    Got it?

    Good.

    Anyway I saw this article tonight. It basically boils down to this:

    A man gets an escort and pays her $150. The article states that paying some one for sex is illegal and that escorts are not obliged to deliver sex under the law.

    However, the guy involved decides that this is theft and shoots the woman in the neck. He gets away with is because the law states that an individual can use deadly force to retrieve stolen property at night.

    Now the article also says that the guy never mentioned theft when he was first talking to the police which suggests to me that he shot the lass because he was PO'd

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/20...xas-man-for-murder-of-escort-who-refused-sex/

    Thoughts anyone?
     
  2. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2000
    Messages:
    10,407
    Media:
    40
    Likes Received:
    231
    Gender:
    Male
    None of the articles I've found relay the circumstances of the shooting. Most say she left to give the money to her driver/pimp. So if she left, how did she get shot? Did he chase her? Did he find her later? Dis he shoot her before she left?

    As usual, I can't make a judgment based on the information present in the shoddy news reporting.
     
  3. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

    Joined:
    May 15, 2003
    Messages:
    12,434
    Media:
    46
    Likes Received:
    249
    Gender:
    Male
    It's hard to make a definitive conclusions beyond stating that it seems like a very broad interpretation of the law. The fact that the law covers any tangible object (money would qualify, as would virtually anything else), means you could legally shoot someone over exceedingly petty theft. I suppose that the way the law was written it can be interpreted the way it was, but that sounds like a crazy stupid law.

    The guy feels she stole $150 from him, but it was also stated that when you hire an escort she isn't required to deliver sex. We will set aside for a moment that prostitution is illegal in Texas, as that apparently has no relevance to the case at hand. So if she wasn't required to have sex with him, then she didn't steal from him. And in any case I can hardly think that $150 is worth killing over. The guy clearly viewed this $150 as disposable income, and now he's pissed off because he feels he didn't get the full value of what he paid for? I've been disappointed with purchases I've made, some well in excess of $150, and I didn't feel the need to kill over it.

    Plus there is no limit on the law. If it can be applied to something worth $150, I imagine it also would be considered valid over $1.50. Hell, it doesn't need to have any value at all. Anything that is a "tangible object" qualifies.
     
  4. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2003
    Messages:
    6,815
    Media:
    6
    Likes Received:
    336
    Section 9.42(3) of the penal code says that the use of deadly force under these circumstances is OK if:

    Taken on the surface, I can't really see how either of those two circumstances apply here, which, like BTA and AFI, tells me that there's more to the story.

    I do share Aldeth's concern, though, that the value of the property seems to be irrelevant.

    Edit: this sounds like all those post-apocalyptic stories where everyone is shooting everyone else to protect their "stuff"
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2013
  5. Gaear

    Gaear ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2006
    Messages:
    1,877
    Media:
    13
    Likes Received:
    180
    Knowing as little as everybody else, my two lines of thought are: first, all the "okay to kill prostitutes in Texas" type headlines and accompanying stories that I see cut and pasted in the results of a Google search are obviously just an attempt to sensationalize the story. Shame on those 'media' who are doing it. Even a cursory glance at the available information shows that the guy shot the girl in an attempt to recover moneys, not as punishment for withholding sex or because of the general principal that it's "okay to shoot prostitutes in Texas." That's just lazy and dishonest 'reporting.'

    Second, it would seem very likely that this guy's defense amounts to yet another attempt to subvert sketchy laws that are on the books in various places. Shame on his lawyers too, although I know that's their job. But I seriously doubt that the law as crafted was ever intended to protect johns from being defrauded by prostitutes. That doesn't mean that the law isn't sketchy in itself (which we can see by the fact that it's vulnerable to wacky interpretations like this), but the trumpeted media angle and conclusion of this sort of thing "being just fine in Texas!" and they are proud of it is no doubt false. If anybody from Texas cares to jump in and correct me on that and say that yes indeed, they do like that sort of thing in Texas, I'll yield, but until then I'm inclined to grant Texans the basic assumption of decency that everyone else gets.
     
  6. Death Rabbit

    Death Rabbit Straight, no chaser Adored Veteran Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2003
    Messages:
    6,103
    Media:
    1
    Likes Received:
    241
    Gender:
    Male
    Our state motto is "They shoot ho's, don't they?"

    People here like imromptu singings of "The stars at NIGHT, are big and BRIGHT *clap clap clap clap* when shooting Craigslist hookers..."

    I think that's how it goes...
     
    LKD and T2Bruno like this.
  7. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    May 15, 2003
    Messages:
    4,123
    Media:
    28
    Likes Received:
    313
    Gender:
    Male
    This thread and that article are useless without pictures. :)

    While I agree that at this point gun threads are pointless as the people who are afraid of guns won't even take the time to learn about them, However, I think it has been awhile since we had a good "Should prostitution be legal? thread.

    Myself, I'm all in favor of it. If one of the reasons we allowed abortion is because it is a woman's body and she should have the right to choose, then she should also have the right to sell/rent it if she wants to.
     
    Vorona likes this.
  8. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2005
    Messages:
    3,224
    Media:
    40
    Likes Received:
    218
    Gender:
    Female
    Damn right. Plus if it's legal then there can be more measures put in place to protect the rights and safety of the women and men who are sex workers. As it is, there is a kind of 'I'm paying so whatever I do isn't rape' mentality for some people.
     
    Vorona likes this.
  9. Blades of Vanatar

    Blades of Vanatar Vanatar will rise again Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2008
    Messages:
    4,147
    Likes Received:
    224
    Gender:
    Male
    Most dates are forms of prostitution anyway. Guy pays for the meal, she bangs'em. Hell, it's worse than prostitution, as he had to shop for the meal as well. She got extra! :p
     
  10. Arctic Daishi Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper


    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2013
    Messages:
    173
    Media:
    24
    Likes Received:
    15
    Gender:
    Male
    I support the laws, but not necessarily the jury's decision in this case. I'd have to know more about the case to come to a conclusion.
     
  11. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2005
    Messages:
    3,224
    Media:
    40
    Likes Received:
    218
    Gender:
    Female
    That's why she should always order the lobster! ;)

    Actually, when me and Rob first met he'd just been made redundant so I paid. I suppose that makes him my hooker :lol:
     
    Chandos the Red likes this.
  12. Vorona

    Vorona Shadow-Whisperer

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2012
    Messages:
    250
    Likes Received:
    56
    Gender:
    Female
    This is why I prefer either paying separately or paying alternately (i.e. You pay for this one and I'll get the next one). It keeps the playing field even . . . unless of course, you're married and have a joint account. Or if one partner is MUCH better off than the other, as in Silvery's case.

    I completely agree that prostitution should be legalized and regulated to protect the women.

    As for this particular case . . . I really have nothing to add.
     
  13. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2001
    Messages:
    6,117
    Media:
    2
    Likes Received:
    121
    In Sweden it is now illegal to buy sex but not sell. The buyer is the one committing the crime. Hasn't made much difference but it is a law that tries to protect the workers while still keeping prostitution illegal.
     
  14. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2003
    Messages:
    8,252
    Media:
    82
    Likes Received:
    238
    Gender:
    Male
    Oh, shoot them....I thought you meant something else....This is Texas :p

    Lol! :)
     
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.