Custodial dad could receive up to 20 years in prison in manslaughter case (Oak Point, Texas)

We've reported on this case before.

Notice that DUKE WATROUS had custody of these kids DESPITE the fact his parental rights had been terminated for children he had with another woman because of abuse. The non-custodial mother also reported abuse, though CPS obviously tried to tar both parents (or rather, the mother) as responsible. Also notice that a grand jury refused to indict Daddy on the child abuse charge.

And now the innocent custodial daddy, the one who was determined to be vastly superior to the mother in his parenting skills, has been convicted of getting drunk and "accidentally" shooting his 10-year-old daughter in the face and killing her.

Yea, right. Somehow, despite Mom's flaws, I don't think she was as bad as Daddy. Texas CPS and its daddy-worshipping ways has been unmasked again.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Watrous_trial_0412.275cfb4da.html

Watrous could receive up to 20 years in prison in manslaughter case 07:12 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 12, 2011
By Donna Fielder / Staff Writer

The jury sitting in the 16th District Court today in the Duke Watrous trial will be deciding only punishment for the manslaughter charge Watrous faces in the Christmas Eve 2009 shooting death of his 10-year-old daughter.

Before jury selection began Monday, Watrous pleaded guilty to the charge and asked that the jury hear only evidence to decide his punishment. He could receive a maximum of 20 years in prison. He had been free on $100,000 bail but was taken into custody after the plea.

Prosecutor Rick Daniel is trying the case. J.T. Borah is Watrous’ defense attorney. Neither could be reached for comment Monday afternoon while the jury was still in voir dire questioning.

According to court documents, Watrous lived in a house in the 500 block of Naylor Road in Oak Point with his 10-year-old daughter, Ashley, and her 9-year-old brother and 1-year-old sister. The children’s mother had lost custody of the children amid several Child Protective Services investigations into both parents, according to reports.

Watrous had also fathered children with another woman prior to that marriage. His parental rights to all the other children were terminated last year, and the two surviving siblings of the little girl are in foster care.

The 9-year-old boy called for help at about 8:35 p.m. that Christmas Eve, saying that his father had shot his sister in the face. Oak Point police and medical personnel responded but were not able to revive the little girl.

Watrous smelled strongly of alcohol when the first-responders arrived, according to reports.

The boy told Oak Point police, sheriff’s deputies and Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree that his father was intoxicated and playing with a “cowboy gun” and a long gun. The boy said that earlier in the evening his father offered to trade him the handgun for a Star Trek toy he received for Christmas, according to the affidavit used to obtain an arrest warrant.

The boy told officers that his father directed the two older children to stand together and then a bullet from the handgun struck the girl in the face, the reports state.

Authorities said the gun was not in sight and neither was the 12-gauge shotgun Watrous also had been handling. He would not tell investigators the whereabouts of the weapons, but they followed a blood trail to a gun safe. He gave several wrong combinations to the safe before the officers finally forced it open.

Inside, the officers found a bloody .44-caliber Magnum revolver and a blood-spattered 12-gauge shotgun, the reports state.

Officers arrested Watrous early on Christmas Day on several charges, which included endangering the boy’s life and concealing the guns as well.

Watrous had been arrested on a charge of injury to a child the previous April, but a grand jury declined to indict him. That was in connection with claims by his first wife that he abused her and the two children they had together, as well as the children from his second family, according to reports.