Harry Hope
2011-04-25 14:46:04 UTC
Just how the fuck is he supposed to vote for Obama now? Damn
that jury!
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110420-man-kills-high-
school-sweetheart-gets-life
HOUSTON - A man who shot and killed his high school sweetheart
in 2009 will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A Harris County jury handed Selestino Torres a life sentence for
killing Michelle Lira after deliberating for just a few hours.
Torres, who also shot his girlfriend's mother seven times during
the attack (she survived), entered a guilty plea last August but
told the jury it was an act of passion in hopes of a lighter
sentence.
They didn't buy it.
== Mom Says She Suffers Survivors Guilt ==
"I thank God that he helped me survive for my other children and
my family, but I feel guilt, survivors guilt," said Ramona
Gomez, Lira's mother. "Why couldn't I save my daughter, pull her
out? I was shot in the back (and) my arms and I couldn't."
Shortly after the attack, Gomez sat down and shared her story
with FOX 26.
Physically, she was in pain, but the pain of losing her child
was even harder to bear. Now, 2 years later, her injuries are
still healing.
"(I've had) surgeries on my arm, some on my leg," she said.
"(They) removed a bullet from the back of my head, 3 from my
back."
Torres's life sentence brings her family a little closure, but
it doesn't erase the scars.
"I slept with her prom gown right before we started the trial
and the sentencing hearing last week," Gomez said. "I hugged it,
and I felt better. (I held) her baptism gown. I go to her room
and gather my peace and my thoughts and tell her how I love and
miss her."
Michelle Lira's parents are divorced.
== Dad Learns Horrible Facts of Relationship ==
Her father, Larry Lira, is a captain with the Houston Fire
Department. He said his daughter met Torres at HISD's High
School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and dated him on
and off for 9 years.
"It was pretty rocky and on numerous occasions, we tried to get
her away from him but we were unsuccessful obviously," Lira
said. "When they were younger it wasn't so obvious, but as they
became older, he became more untrustworthy, not reliable and
just a bad person all the way around."
Lira said he always suspected his daughter was in an abusive
relationship, but he didn't understand the extent of that abuse
until he sat in on the sentencing phase of Torres's murder trial.
Although Lira knew Torres fathered a child with another woman
during his relationship with Michelle, it wasn't until the
sentencing phase that he discovered Torres actually fathered two
children with two different mothers.
Lira said he also learned Torres physically abused Michelle long
before the day he shot and killed her.
== Hoping to Spare the Heartbreak ==
"I couldn't be there 24 hours a day, but if I could do anything
different I would be more assertive and more stern in my
commitment to my children," he said.
Michelle isn't around anymore, and Torres won't be around to
raise his own children, but Lira doesn't want Michelle's story
to end in court. He hopes he can spare other parents the
heartbreak he has had to endure.
"All I can say to those fathers is if you can get her out of
that relationship, get her out of that. Just try, at least. I
tried but (long pause) I just miss her. I miss here. I rather we
were somewhere else than here."
that jury!
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110420-man-kills-high-
school-sweetheart-gets-life
HOUSTON - A man who shot and killed his high school sweetheart
in 2009 will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A Harris County jury handed Selestino Torres a life sentence for
killing Michelle Lira after deliberating for just a few hours.
Torres, who also shot his girlfriend's mother seven times during
the attack (she survived), entered a guilty plea last August but
told the jury it was an act of passion in hopes of a lighter
sentence.
They didn't buy it.
== Mom Says She Suffers Survivors Guilt ==
"I thank God that he helped me survive for my other children and
my family, but I feel guilt, survivors guilt," said Ramona
Gomez, Lira's mother. "Why couldn't I save my daughter, pull her
out? I was shot in the back (and) my arms and I couldn't."
Shortly after the attack, Gomez sat down and shared her story
with FOX 26.
Physically, she was in pain, but the pain of losing her child
was even harder to bear. Now, 2 years later, her injuries are
still healing.
"(I've had) surgeries on my arm, some on my leg," she said.
"(They) removed a bullet from the back of my head, 3 from my
back."
Torres's life sentence brings her family a little closure, but
it doesn't erase the scars.
"I slept with her prom gown right before we started the trial
and the sentencing hearing last week," Gomez said. "I hugged it,
and I felt better. (I held) her baptism gown. I go to her room
and gather my peace and my thoughts and tell her how I love and
miss her."
Michelle Lira's parents are divorced.
== Dad Learns Horrible Facts of Relationship ==
Her father, Larry Lira, is a captain with the Houston Fire
Department. He said his daughter met Torres at HISD's High
School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and dated him on
and off for 9 years.
"It was pretty rocky and on numerous occasions, we tried to get
her away from him but we were unsuccessful obviously," Lira
said. "When they were younger it wasn't so obvious, but as they
became older, he became more untrustworthy, not reliable and
just a bad person all the way around."
Lira said he always suspected his daughter was in an abusive
relationship, but he didn't understand the extent of that abuse
until he sat in on the sentencing phase of Torres's murder trial.
Although Lira knew Torres fathered a child with another woman
during his relationship with Michelle, it wasn't until the
sentencing phase that he discovered Torres actually fathered two
children with two different mothers.
Lira said he also learned Torres physically abused Michelle long
before the day he shot and killed her.
== Hoping to Spare the Heartbreak ==
"I couldn't be there 24 hours a day, but if I could do anything
different I would be more assertive and more stern in my
commitment to my children," he said.
Michelle isn't around anymore, and Torres won't be around to
raise his own children, but Lira doesn't want Michelle's story
to end in court. He hopes he can spare other parents the
heartbreak he has had to endure.
"All I can say to those fathers is if you can get her out of
that relationship, get her out of that. Just try, at least. I
tried but (long pause) I just miss her. I miss here. I rather we
were somewhere else than here."