In Texas, property is more important than human life.

That was proved this week when a man who shot and murdered an escort in San Antonio, Texas, was acquitted of her murder. Ezekiel Gilbert, 30, was facing life in prison in the 2009 Christmas Eve shooting of 23-year-old mother Lenora Frago. Frago was shot in the back and the neck by Gilbert, spent seven months dependent of life support and, finally, died of complications due to the gun shots.

In his trial, Gilbert testified that he found her ad on Craigslist and hired her at a rate of $150 for 30 minutes. His understanding was that sex was part of the deal. When she left after 30 minutes and no sex, he shot her as she was getting in to her driver’s car, in what the defense said was his legal right under Texas penal code statute 9.42. This law says that deadly force is justified in the event of a nighttime theft. Gilbert’s defense claims that refusing to have sex with Gilbert or refund the money was theft, thus making the use of force legal.

Despite the argument from the prosecution that the law doesn’t allow for a person to force someone into an illegal act, like prostitution, the jury decided that a theft had, in fact, been committed and the murder of a young woman was justifiable homicide. It’s interesting to note that Gilbert never mentioned theft in the police interview conducted in the aftermath of the shooting.

So there you have it. Property is more important than human life in the great state of Texas. The District Attorney for Bexar County Susan Reed said in regards to an unrelated case that claimed justifiable homicide under the same statute, “The law requires you to be reasonable, that you not have ulterior (sic) motives in your protection before you step in and use deadly force.” Is what really happened here in any way reasonable? A woman puts up an ad on Craigslist selling 30 minutes of her time for a fee, the guy assumes sex is involved, and she ends up dead as a result.

You know what they say happens when you “assume”; you make an “ass” of “u” and “me.” But in Texas, a child is left motherless and the “ass” goes free.