Houston 'stand your ground' defendant found guilty

Jurors Wednesday evening ruled Raul Rodriguez is guilty in the shooting death of Kelly Danaher at a 2010 party in northeast Harris County.

The jury deliberated about five hours in state District Judge David Mendoza's court. They will return Thursday to consider his punishment.

Jurors decided that Rodriguez provoked Danaher and others by going to their party to demand they quiet down just after midnight on May 2, 2010. Defense lawyers said Rodriguez should have been found not guilty of murder because it was self-defense.

Rodriguez and his family lived near Danaher, an elementary school teacher, and his family in rural Huffman.

Rodriguez approached the party, upset by the noise, and videotaped the encounter. During the last seven minutes of the 22-minute video, Rodriguez can be heard telling the partygoers he wants them to turn down the noise, then that he is afraid the drunken group will hurt him.

The video goes to black seconds after several men, including Danaher charge him. There is a cackling laugh, then a gunshot and the camera falls.

Rodriguez's lawyers said he had a split-second to decide if he was going to shoot when he was charged by Danaher and others and "stood his ground."

"Everything has to be seen through Raul's eyes," Neal Davis said in closing arguments Wednesday. "If through his eyes, he believed he was in apparent danger, he was justified."

Raul Rodriguez sits at the defense table waiting for closing arguments to begin in his trial Wednesday, June 13, 2012, in Houston. Rodriguez, 47, is on trial for murder stemming from a 2010 incident where he went to tell his neighbors to turn down the music at a party. He took a flashlight, a video camera and a gun. At his murder trial last Tuesday, his attorney said the video recording proved Rodriguez acted in self-defense when he shot three men, one fatally. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) less Raul Rodriguez sits at the defense table waiting for closing arguments to begin in his trial Wednesday, June 13, 2012, in Houston. Rodriguez, 47, is on trial for murder stemming from a 2010 incident where ... more Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Houston 'stand your ground' defendant found guilty 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Prosecutors said Rodriguez, 47, was parroting buzzwords he learned in a concealed handgun licensing class like "I'm standing my ground," and "escalating the situation" to bully his neighbors.

"Raul Rodriguez is a neighborhood bully who had a CHL, an arsenal of weapons and a knowledge of the law," said prosecutor Donna Logan. "He felt he had the ultimate control, the control to decide who lives and who dies."

She told jurors that "self-defense was never meant to protect the one who started the fight."

brian.rogers@chron.com

twitter.com/@brianjrogers