A man accused of killing a registered sex offender in a San Juan Capistrano mobile home park and attacking a second victim days later goes on trial Monday for murder.
Robert Vasquez, 36, could face a sentence of life in state prison without parole if convicted, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office. Full Article
NOTE: We copied and pasted the headline in the interest of news aggregation. However, we strongly disapprove of the choice of words and this type of reporting.
I hope he gets what he deserves. We all live under the threat of a crazy person … Just like Frank L. did but survived. We keep our security screen door locked, ALWAYS. House is closed at night … We are thankful for our 100 lb. lab/pit mix that sounds like a bear whenever a stranger approaches. Education and enlightenment will change some, ignorance and lack of understanding will not change others …. Sad, but true.
Robert Vasquez is an apparent psychopathic murderer who needed only the slightest excuse or trigger to murder someone. In other words, he would have killed someone eventually anyway and that the victim was an RSO is incidental to the case. It should not be part of the headline, but the newspaper business is in the business of selling advertising and people are more likely to pick up and read the ads under this headline if it has the words SEX OFFENDER.
If the victim happened to be a blonde female RSO the headline would have included the words “Murder Trial to Begin in death of Set Blonde Lesbian Child Rapist.
Man, would that sell a lot of ad space or what?
Further proof to end registry now to those currently
listed.
“Vasquez wanted to kill the man because Rainwater was a registered sex offender, said Ebrahim Baytieh, the deputy district attorney who is prosecuting the case.”
… it is not like the OCDA has been going out of its way to vilify people required to register by painting them like marauding lunatics just looking to pounce on any kid in a park. How awkward to now be prosecuting someone accused of murdering one of them and claiming that the registration requirement is the motive for the crime. Gee, I wonder why.
I don’t believe everything I read. For all I know the investigating detectives may have asked a question like “Did you know he was a sex offender when you killed him”?
Uhhh..yeah, that’s why I did it.
It’s like the guy who killed his jailhouse friend after his wife told him he was a sex offender to get him out of their home after he moved in with them. I imagine there was much more to that story.
I would advise any RSO to take this garbage reporting with a grain of salt.
I was a LA Times subscriber for over 25 years. Home delivery, 7 days a week, auto pay every month.
I understand that just like the rest of the media the LA Times has to sell ads and if it bleeds it leads. Or even better, the words sex offender in the headline. Not even ‘registered’.
For me the last straw was a year or two ago when a headline read ‘so with dementia missing in blah blah blah’. So this was about an older man with a conviction from tens of years ago (the dates were on the megans web site) suffering from dementia who most likely wandered out the front door. Do ya think the family regretted asking authorities for help finding him before he came to harm?
Anyway, right afterwards I canceld my newspaper subscription – of 25 plus years, mind you. I was looking forward to the call from the sales department how they could get me to re-subscribe. I had a speech all prepared. The call never came.
Clearly the LA Times does not miss my 4-500 bucks a year. I do not really miss them. I enjoy having the extra cash in my wallet.
We all know that the list has NOT prevented a single child from being harmed…
However, we DO KNOW FOR A FACT that it has enabled crazy people to MURDER those listed on it (most of us are either innocent and caught up by an insane system OR have paid our “debt” to society long ago)!
Frankly I would NOT care if it actually DID work…when the secondary use of it is as a “hit list” for crazies to be motivated and to target other human beings!
Do you remember the early days of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)? They would show up at trials,and talk about the damage done to the victim by the drunk driver, and reinforce the need to change laws so that drunk drivers who harmed people were punished most severely. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with their stance, they were EFFECTIVE. Anyone else out there willing to attend this trial (show up) and SPEAK UP against vigilante justice? There will soon be another one in Temecula, CA which will be worth attending.
http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/temecula/temecula-headlines-index/20130607-temecula-father-daughter-to-stand-trial-in-vigilante-attack.ece
Hey guys,
Here’s the humor in this (sad to say) but the DA’s office is going to have to in some way define the registrant in some way in a positive light in order to get this guy somehow convicted with either life in prison or the death penalty. Sadly with life in prison the guy inside will be seen as some kind of celebrity.
It would be very interesting to get a written transcript of the trial and use it via quotes during the trial for media leverage later. The DA on one hand has been fighting to kicks us and our families out of parks yet in a way must defend us from violence while still being okay with having a legalized (?) hit list for us to be killed from. Interesting. What part of this sounds just to weird to be real? Janice, please help us understand!!
More likely than not…that coward will plea guilty to lifenprison…
no more freedom …locked up for the rest of his coward life…
looked upon as a coward and dumb****.
Trial Recap – Day One
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/vasquez-513137-rainwater-told.html
“D.A.: Man thought neighbor he attacked was a molester”
(registration required – it is free and possibly no email verification required)
More details at
http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/groups/breaking-news/p/jurors-hear-details-of-chilling-murder-confession
http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/prosecutor-rumors-and-drugs-may-have-fueled-vigilante-murder
This is a highly disturbing article and a highly disturbing individual. First, this isn’t the first time this has occurred? Now, do you see people going out and killing MURDERERS or WIFE Beaters? Or, what about the low down scum bags that sell drugs to underage kids, get them hooked on drugs with the potential for them to overdose? See how society has created this stereotype of view of Sex Offenders? Or, have you seen a guy who drinks and drives and goes out and kills someone? Have you seen anyone go out and attempt to kill them? I mean, this is the lowest of the lowest? All I see today when I turn on the TV is sex and drugs. As a parent, I don’t see ONE individual who is a good role model for children. Its disturbing to see how people view individuals based upon their past criminal behavior? Whats worst? Murderers? Drunk driver who went out and killed someone? Or, a guy who was caught flashing?
From the Orange County District Attorney web site – orangecountyda.com
MAN CONVICTED OF STABBING-MURDER OF NEIGHBOR AND ASSAULTING SECOND VICTIM WITH METAL OBJECT
On the morning of Dec. 1, 2011, Vasquez waited outside of the home of his neighbor, Bobby Ray Rainwater, Jr., with the intention of murdering him because the victim was a registered sex offender. When the victim left his home, Vasquez attacked Rainwater by punching him in the back of the head. The defendant then stabbed Rainwater multiple times, nearly decapitating him. After murdering the victim, Vasquez fled the scene. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) began investigating this case.
“with the intention of murdering him because the victim was a registered sex offender”!!!
Thankfully this guy was found guilty and will now probably get LWOP. What I found completely hypocritical was this line from an article: “In his own words, Vasquez called Rainwater a “creeper,”. Okay Mr. Vasquez, but doesn’t a creeper hide in bushes waiting for a victim to walk by and then jump out and attack them from behind? Like… you?
It’s kind of ironic that the same DA’s office that is fighting for more stringent Sex Offender Laws is now prosecuting and convicting an individual for killing a Sex Offender! I honestly never saw anything on the news regarding this? Hmmm. If this were anyone else, people would be outraged and the DA would be demanding this be all over the news media and requesting tougher laws (HateCrime). I mean, let’s face it! If the victim hasn’t had his personal information online, this wouldn’t have happened? There is no doubt about it! Unlike (sorry if I sound rude) a lot bog you, I look at this from a different angle! If LE puts your personal information online for all to see, they are jeopardizing your safety and your families safety/welfare! Shouldn’t we hold them accountable legally? Lawsuit? Lets start calling for tougher standards for them? Welfare checks? What are they doing to protect you? Instead of being paranoid when they come to your door, ask what they are doing to protect you! Turn it around. Ask for extra patrol checks?
Lets confront OC’s DA and ask him what he is doing to ensure the safety of current Sex Offenders in his county and their innocent family members? Turn it around’