Houston, Texas

From Houston’s KHOU.com of August 25, 2005

Mother who blamed son not guilty of murder

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.

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.

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.

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

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.