Texas USA man Shoots Prostitute for refusing to have sex after paying & Goes Free in Court

Photo: HandoutEzekiel Gilbert, 30, was found not guilty of murdering an escort he found on Craigslist. Gilbert's lawyers argued that because Lenora Ivie Frago had left his house with the $150 he'd paid her, without having sex with him, he was within his rights to use deadly force to retrieve his property.

A 30-year-old man has been cleared of murder after a jury agreed his actions were justified after he shot an escort when she took his money but refused to have sex with him.

Lenora Frago was shot in the neck by Ezekiel Gilbert on Christmas Eve 2009. The 23-year-old was paralyzed and died several months later.

A Bexar County Texas court acquitted Mr Gilbert, who had been facing a life sentence, of murder because he was trying to retrieve stolen property.

Cleared: Ezekiel Gilbert was found not guilty after a Texas court ruled he was justified for shooting at an escort

His defense team argued that the shooting was not intended to kill Miss Frago and his actions were justified because he believed sex was included as part of the fee. 

In Texas, residents are allowed to 'to use deadly force to recover property during a nighttime theft'.

Miss Frago, who had been dependent on a respirator after being left paralyzed in the shooting, died in July 2010. 

She had suffered brain damage after the respirator disconnected a few months after she was shot.

Not guilty: Ezekiel Gilbert was cleared of murder by a Texas jury after shooting an escort

Victim: Craigslist escort Lenora Frago died several months after being shot in the neck

Miss Frago's brother wept earlier in the trial as he recalled the moment the family decided to end her life support, according to My San Antonio.

Neurologist Augusto Parra also disagreed with the defense that her death was not Mr Gilbert's fault.

'When you are bedridden like her - with mechanical support, with tubes for feeding - these patients are prone ... to have complications,' Mr Parra said. 'She was in this situation because she was shot.'

The escort was shot in the early hours of Christmas Eve after Mr Gilbert confronted her driver about Miss Frago taking his money but refusing to have sex.

Christopher Perkins, who described himself as the young woman's manager, told the court earlier that the $150 fee did not include a guarantee of sex. 

He added: 'Lenora normally would do lap dances and hanging out. That was her thing. Her regular customers were all quiet, reserved guys and she would hang out.'

Mr Perkins had been waiting in the car outside Mr Gilbert's Camino Real Apartments at about 4.15am when he confronted him with an assault rifle. 

As he and Miss Frago sped away from the apartment, he fired the gun, with one of the bullets hitting  the escort in the neck.

Shootout: Bullet holes can be seen in the car Lenora Frago was in as she left Ezekiel Gilbert's apartment

Rendezvous: Lenora Frago had agreed to meet Ezekiel Gilbert at his Camino Real Apartment

Mr Perkins told the court he remembered her saying: 'He's got a gun! Go! Go! Go!' before hearing the shots, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Mr Gilbert told the court during his trial he was trying to shoot the back tires of their car to stop them while he called police to retrieve his money.

After being found not guilty of murder, Mr Gilbert hugged his defense attorneys and thanked God, his lawyers, and the jury for being able to 'see what wasn't the truth'.

 The jury accepted Ezekiel Gilbert's claim that he was only trying to retrieve his money when he shot 23-year-old Lenora Ivie Frago -- an escort who he met on Craigslist -- in the neck on Dec. 24, 2009, and hadn’t meant to kill her. Frago was paralyzed by the gunshot wound, and died seven months later.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, the altercation began on Christmas Eve when Frago arrived at Gilbert's home, accepted $150 from him for what he believed was payment for sex, and then left. In court, Gilbert, 30, testified that Frago spent 20 minutes inside his apartment before she left, telling him that she needed to pay her driver. Defense attorneys Bobby Barrera and Roy Barrera Sr. claimed that Frago's "driver" had been her pimp, and argued that under Texas law Gilbert had been within his rights to use deadly force to recover his stolen property.

The Texas law allows citizens to use such force to “retrieve stolen property at night” or to hinder a burglar from escaping the scene of a crime during the night, as long as the person “reasonably” thinks that they have no other means of protecting their property, Think Progress reported.