[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Well, the jury is in when it comes to the court of public opinion on this one.
Two teen brothers and their friend are accused of brutally killing their stepfather — so why do so many people believe they should be allowed to walk?
Alejandro and Christian Trevino, 18 and 17 years old respectively, admitted to police that they and friend Juan Eduardo Melendez, 18, got into a fight with their stepfather, 42-year-old Gabriel Quintanilla. That was multiple fights, according to police, who say after an initial attack, the teen trio came back with a truck, and this time Christian had brass knuckles.
According to their homicide complaint, they beat Quintanilla severely, threw him in the back of the truck, then dumped him unconscious in a field. Police found him still alive, but he died at the scene of blunt trauma to the head.
Related: Why Brian Laundrie’s Fraud Charges Were Dropped After Murder Confession Reveal
What started the fight? Pharr Police Chief Andy Harvey explained in a press conference this week that the boys revealed they found out Quintanilla was molesting his own 9-year-old daughter:
“What they learned was that their stepdad had inappropriately touched his 9-year-old, which is their half-sister.”
It turned out police already knew about his proclivities — after the found his body, police realized there was a 2019 arrest warrant out for Quintanilla for continuous sexual assault of a different minor, a crime that allegedly occurred from 2014 to 2016.
Harvey told reporters the molester had been “elusive” and somehow evaded capture. Sorry, but how elusive was he if he was still living with his family over 2 years later??
Anyway, after the teens’ story went viral, a man named Carlos Eduardo Espina started a Change.org petition in which he asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to let the boys — who are facing possible life in prison — go free. The petition reads:
“We ask the state of Texas to release these teenagers, who could possibly spend the rest of their life in prison for protecting their sister.”
As of this writing, the petition has reached over 291,000 votes! That’s a lot of people who agree!
While we obviously can’t condone vigilante justice like this, especially when it ends in someone beaten so badly they die… it’s also not difficult to see why everyone is rallying behind them.
If their story is true, then the system not only failed to jail a child molester, it failed to protect their sister from him. It’s not a black-and-white case — but obviously that will be up to the jury, right? We would be shocked if a governor actually granted pardons or commuted sentences to young men who took the law into their own hands — whether you believe it’s justice or not.
What do YOU think will happen to these teens? Do YOU agree with the petition that they should be freed given the circumstances??
[Image via CBS 4/YouTube.]
The post Petition To Free Teens Who Allegedly Killed Molester Stepfather Hits HUGE Numbers appeared first on Perez Hilton.
