Cleaning crew member shot and killed on porch after arriving at the wrong house

[Lebowski]

From what I understand she was trying to enter the house with keys and her husband was also present. There’s always more to the story. imo

Cleaning lady fatally shot in front of husband after couple arrived at wrong house for job: ‘Didn’t even get the key in’

The victim and her husband checked the address twice and circled the neighborhood to make sure they were in the right place.

nypost.com

As they tried to get the keys they’d been provided into the door of the stately home — and Pérez teased her fumbling husband and grabbed the keyring from him — a single shot rang out

so it's confirmed that they were never in the house, and the door was never open. and of course the keys did not work -- we already knew they couldn't have. the cleaners did try to enter, but that's not the same as trying to break in. that difference is obvious to a reasonable person and this case might turn on it.

plus it sounds like the shooter never even asked them who they were or what they wanted -- just called 9/11 and then started shooting. (we'll see if that gets confirmed, but i haven't seen any reporting that he tried to talk to them first)

not even close to a valid self-defense claim, IMO

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1986637430217134452

 

[legalmomma]

Next week?!?

Family demands justice after Whitestown woman fatally shot

Maria Florinda Rios Perez was shot Monday when she and her husband went to clean a home; her husband says they were given the wrong address.

www.wrtv.com

The Boone County Prosecutor’s Office said the coroner’s ruling does not determine whether the homeowner will be criminally charged. The prosecutor said they will likely have an update on charges sometime next week.

 

[legalmomma]

https://fox59.com/news/prosecutor-weighs-whether-shooting-in-whitestown-that-killed-cleaning-lady-was-justified-under-the-law/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAN63A1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEezrWKd3dtFTg0iCTprZCBV7ZpqNxV1yopL0Id0IqK9oaRRZeSJKbK7gYDa1o_aem_i8kBVCCyBGs5uZl24TXo6w

Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said he doesn’t know whether or not criminal charges will be filed against the person who fired the fatal shot.

~~~~~~

About the Prosecutor - Boone County, Indiana

boonecounty.in.gov

Phone: 765-482-6860
[email protected]

I think some pressure from the public needs to be applied for prosecution

 

[legalmomma]

Guy Relford is already tweeting about the Indiana Castle Doctrine.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1986522345943585237

For those who need to know, Indiana's "castle doctrine" (Ind. Code 35-41-3-2(d)) states the following:

"(d) A person:

(1) is justified in using reasonable force, including deadly force, against any other person; and

(2) does not have a duty to retreat;

if the person reasonably believes that the force is necessary to prevent or terminate the other person's unlawful entry of or attack on the person's dwelling, curtilage, or occupied motor vehicle."

Every word matters.
————-

I found Indiana case law on point:

Watts v. State, 169 N.E.3d 453 (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).
Summary:

• Facts: Watts fired a handgun through his front door after hearing the doorbell ring and the doorknob turn. He mistakenly believed the person outside—who turned out to be a woman hired to clean his house—was a burglar.
• Outcome: His conviction for reckless homicide was affirmed.
• Reasoning: The court held that Indiana’s castle doctrine and self-defense statutes did not justify the shooting because there was no unlawful entry or imminent threat when the victim was still outside the door

If the cleaning lady simply turned the doorknob or knocked and never entered or broke the door, the shooter would not be exonerated under Indiana’s Castle Doctrine.
It would most likely result in charges such as reckless homicide or voluntary manslaughter, depending on the shooter’s intent and awareness. Hopefully charges will be filed!

I guess defense atty Guy Relford didn’t like me posting the current case law on the Castle Doctrine under his tweet. He deleted it and reposted the statute and is not allowing comments.

 

[MrsWatson]

Horrible and tragic. I hope this is fully prosecuted because it seems clear this wasn't an accident.

 

[tlcya]

my daughter had a cleaning business for a couple of years. This story terrifies me. She is directionally challenged and struggles with GPS and getting to where she is trying to go. I can easily imagine her in Maria's shoes.

 

[Cryptic]

This will be the attorney representing the shooter is my guess. Relford is a very outspoken proponent of the 2nd amendment

I fully support his choice of attorney!!

Its good to see that he retained somebody whose sole claim to legal fame is advocating the second amendment. The attorney is also a legal eagle on the subject of transferring certain fire arms into legal trusts. Very, very applicable to defending a murder charge-not.

Myself, I would have went for somebody actually experienced in criminal law. Being optimistic that the shooter will quickly be found guilty.

I hope the investigators search social media for any "juiced up- locked, loaded and ready" type material that could indicate a pre-disposition to view some people as inherent threats based on say, the melanin content of their epidermis.

 

[Cryptic]

I think some pressure from the public needs to be applied for prosecution

My bet is that prosecution is coming- "Fast and Furious"

The current ambiguous statement is probably due to the fact that the investigation has not been completed. Thus, not all the evidence is available for review.

In the end, its probably best not to speak in absolute terms like "Will be" at this time lest some unexpected surprises of one sort or another appear. Likewise, absolute terms can be used by the defense ala: "They announced they would prosecute before even reviewing all of the evidence- obviously biased- right?"

 

[Friday Fan]

From what I understand she was trying to enter the house with keys and her husband was also present. There’s always more to the story. imo

Cleaning lady fatally shot in front of husband after couple arrived at wrong house for job: ‘Didn’t even get the key in’

The victim and her husband checked the address twice and circled the neighborhood to make sure they were in the right place.

nypost.com

As they tried to get the keys they’d been provided into the door of the stately home — and Pérez teased her fumbling husband and grabbed the keyring from him — a single shot rang out

They likely had keys to the other house. That's not unusual. It doesn't justify homicide. Suppose my neighbors had a cleaning crew who had keys to their house and they tried to enter mine by mistake?

As a matter of fact, not too long ago, I heard someone messing with my door. I wasn't dressed or I would have simply gone to the door and looked out the window. They left and I didn't worry about.


Even if was someone up to no good, I would have simply shouted, "I'm calling the cops!!"

I guess if they were armed with guns, it would be a different story. I probably would have just run out the back door and to the road behind my house.

The threat of "home invasions" just seem very over blown these days.

 

[Friday Fan]

Too many people are reading posts on social media these days. I have seen people encouraging people to shoot people who come to their door unauthorized. It's crazy.

I see signs at people's homes such "Pray to get to heaven, but trespassing will get you there sooner". Well, by law can't go to homes with no trespassing signs, (you can be fined $2,000 or it's a class A misdemeanor if you are armed) but trespassing is not justifiable homicide in Texas where I live. So that person's sign was BS.

 

[GCobb]

Just wondering if anyone mentioned that it looked like she was trying to unlock the door. Not that I think it was right, but that is a factor. It is also a factor if the man shot through the door, can't really say you're worried for your life. See the post about Andrew Lester in this thread from Thursday 3:27am.
Media do get things mixed up as we all know.

 

[Friday Fan]

Just wondering if anyone mentioned that it looked like she was trying to unlock the door. Not that I think it was right, but that is a factor. It is also a factor if the man shot through the door, can't really say you're worried for your life. See the post about Andrew Lester in this thread from Thursday 3:27am.
Media do get things mixed up as we all know.

I believe that's the case. But still, it's not an excuse to kill someone.

They very likely had keys to another client's home.

I'm sure this happens fairly frequently. I have a white Subaru. One time, I couldn't get my car door with the fob. So, I tried using the key and it still didn't work. I had my husband on the phone and I'm trying to unlock the door with the key and thinking we should call a locksmith or something. Someone came up to me and said, "What are you doing to my car?". I go, "Oops. Wrong car". My vehicle was in another row. It was embarrassing, but no harm done.

 

[angelainwi]

If you are strangers up to no good, you are probably not trying to get in with keys.

 

[Friday Fan]

If someone is this concerned about security, you would think they would have invested in a ring camera!

They could have simply asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"

 

[katydid23]

If the cleaning crew had entered the home, I can defend a scared homeowner shooting, if they saw a group of intruders, It might have been an elderly person who was frightened.

But on the porch? NO. You can't shoot someone for being on your front porch.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

If the cleaning crew had entered the home, I can defend a scared homeowner shooting,

Even if they entered the home (let's pretend a door was unlocked), they wouldn't have looked threatening. They'd be carrying cleaning supplies, probably chatting with each other, and responded appropriately as soon as they saw the scared homeowner. I can't see shooting them being an acceptable response. Is that the world we want to accept? Say nothing, just shoot to kill first, ask questions later? That's not a scenario I personally will accept.

 

[Mauig’ma]

Jumping in to say that I had a similar experience. I lived up country on Maui and bought a condo on the beach a year later. I tried to entice my two adult kids who came to visit their younger siblings every 3 mos to move here with us. Long story short I had only looked at the condo once. I paid cash so transaction went through fast. The condos all looked the same. I accidentally walked in to the one I thought was mine. Saw an old lady with rollers in her hair. I asked her where my kids were. I realized that I was in the wrong condo, apologizing on the way out. She called the cops, I heard about them searching for the “intruder “ and went to explain myself to management. The woman’s husband was on a hunting trip with friends. His wife told me that he would have shot me immediately if he’d been home. Lucky I escaped death that day. Very scary. We ended up good friends with a story that could have ended tragically. Glad I’m here to tell the story

 

[Dotta]

Jumping in to say that I had a similar experience. I lived up country on Maui and bought a condo on the beach a year later. I tried to entice my two adult kids who came to visit their younger siblings every 3 mos to move here with us. Long story short I had only looked at the condo once. I paid cash so transaction went through fast. The condos all looked the same. I accidentally walked in to the one I thought was mine. Saw an old lady with rollers in her hair. I asked her where my kids were. I realized that I was in the wrong condo, apologizing on the way out. She called the cops, I heard about them searching for the “intruder “ and went to explain myself to management. The woman’s husband was on a hunting trip with friends. His wife told me that he would have shot me immediately if he’d been home. Lucky I escaped death that day. Very scary. We ended up good friends with a story that could have ended tragically. Glad I’m here to tell the story

This is soooo scary!

I bet everyone once had a similar experience.

I did
Not so long ago I tried to open the car's door being sure my friend was at the steering wheel.

But,
Oops!
It was a strange woman looking at me quite frightened.
Aaaaargh!

 

[Mauig’ma]

This is soooo scary!

I bet everyone once had a similar experience.

I did
Not so long ago I tried to open the car's door being sure my friend was at the steering wheel.

But,
Oops!
It was a strange woman looking at me quite frightened.
Aaaaargh!

lol I too did the same thing except no one was in the vehicle just me wondering why “my” car didn’t start. I’ll be honest I was a little bit tipsy