Defense asks for probation for brothers convicted in beating

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/du...ws/7406635.htm
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/7461789.htm

Defense asks for probation for brothers convicted in beating
JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press

AUSTIN - A church pastor and his twin brother on Thursday asked for
probation, not prison time, for severely beating a Bible studies student
with a tree branch after the victim goofed off during a summer program.

Prosecutors asked that Joshua and Caleb Thompson, 23, be sentenced to prison
for at least 30 years. A jury began deliberations about 5:30 p.m.

The Thompsons were convicted Wednesday of serious injury to a child and
aggravated assault in the July 2002 beating of 11-year-old Louie Guerrero.

"If you give them probation, the only one who will pay for their crime is
Louie Guerrero. He's the one who carries the scars," prosecutor Dana Blazey
told the jurors in closing arguments.

Prosecutors said the brothers beat Guerrero, now 12, so badly that he spent
a week in intensive care under the threat of kidney failure and needed a
blood transfusion.

Defense attorneys delivered impassioned arguments for probation. Gerald
Goldstein urged the jurors to "temper your vengeance."

The 12-member jury that convicted the twins heard several hours of
sentencing-phase testimony from the brothers, their parents and members of
the Capitol City Baptist Church, where Joshua Thompson is a pastor for
Spanish-speaking members.

The brothers spent the previous night in custody and both gave short,
subdued answers to questions from defense lawyers and prosecutors.

They said they could abide by any terms of probation, which would be set by
District Judge Brenda Kennedy. Neither had a criminal record before their
conviction.

Caleb Thompson, who held Guerrero down while Joshua Thompson beat him, said
he was sorry for causing the boy's injuries. Joshua Thompson said he planned
to step down as a pastor at the church even if he is allowed to remain free
on probation.

Caleb Thompson's attorney, Carlos Garcia, said the twins were "ideal"
candidates for community supervision.

"They deserve a second chance," Garcia said.

The twins' parents and members of the church said the twins are men of good
character who often tried to help people in need.

On cross-examination, Hank Thompson, the twins' father and leader of the
church, said he believes in punishment.

"I teach that when we do something, we have to be honest and pay the price,"
Hank Thompson said, adding that his church and its school did not administer
corporal punishment and had a "no touch" policy for disciplining children.

As he left the witness stand, he looked at Guerrero's family in the
courtroom and said, "I'm sorry."

The prosecution put on only one witness, 16-year-old Jay Michael Rojas, a
former church member who said he was choked and kicked by Joshua Thompson
while attending a Bible camp in Tennessee in 1998.

Rojas also said he was forced to stay in a push-up position for 25 minutes.

Defense lawyers sought to discredit that testimony with Rojas's half
brother, Mark Ybarra, 20, of Austin, who attended the same camp. Ybarra, who
acknowledged he is estranged from Rojas, said he never heard his brother
complain about being mistreated and was never asked to do any of the same
things.

Other church members who were at the camp also said they had never heard of
such an incident.

so badly that he spent a week in intensive
care under the threat of kidney failure
and needed a blood transfusion.

That is obviously not spanking.

But what's up with the second "victim"
telling a story that seems to be bogus?
Was somebody seeing an opportunity of some kind?