Mother who blamed son not guilty of murder

03:49 PM CDT on Thursday, August 25, 2005

By Carolyn Campbell / 11 News and Staff Reports and Associated Press

Click to watch Carolyn Campbell's 11 News at Noon report

HOUSTON -- A Houston mother who initially blamed her 9-year-old son for the shooting death of her boyfriend was found not guilty of murder Thursday.

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Police talked to the young boy the day the shooting happened.

Erika Lynn Ruiz, 30, later admitted she shot Jose Flores Martinez but said she did it to protect herself and her son.

Jurors apparently believed her story.

She said her boyfriend had abused her for years, but on the night of the shooting he tried to kill her and threatened to hurt her son.

The victim's family members left the courtroom in tears saying the verdict was not fair. "She's done it once, she'll do it twice," one family member said.

The son, now 10, calmly told jurors Monday that he saw Martinez grab his mother's hair, force her head into a door and slam her body to the floor before she shot him last June.

He testified that his mother ran to the bedroom and grabbed a gun. Martinez followed her toward a patio door where Martinez told Ruiz to give him the gun, the boy said. When the man continued advancing, she shot him once in the head and he fell to the floor, the boy said.

He said his mother initially blamed the shooting on him when friends came to see what was wrong. But he told police the truth after spending the night in custody.

Ruiz's attorney, Alvin Nunnery, told jurors that Ruiz was protecting her son and was "lawfully justified" in shooting Martinez.

She asked her son to take the blame "out of desperation, fear, cowardice, whatever you want to call it," Nunnery said. "As unfortunate as the incident was involving my client, initially blaming her son for this incident, this was, from day one, a case of self defense. And I think if there is any message out there, it's a message to abusers to be careful because you can push your victim eventually to the point where they may retaliate."

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Erika Lynn Ruiz said she killed her boyfriend in self-defense.

Police confirmed they had responded to several domestic calls at the house.

"Just disappointed, obviously," said Dan Richardson, prosecutor. "We felt like somebody got away with murder today. Disappointed. That's all I can say."

Ruiz, a security guard at Sharpstown High School at the time of the shooting, could have gotten up to 99 years in prison if convicted.

It's not clear if she will face separate charges for lying about her son's involvement in the shooting.

CPS had taken custody of her son and Ruiz voluntarily relinquished her rights to a family member. Nunnery said he is not certain if she will be able to regain custody of her boy at this point.