1983-11-22 1

Baca Found Innocent

November 22, 1983

Flavio Joe Baca of Hereford was found not guilty of murdering Canyon's Kenneth Twain Friemel, an Amarillo nightelub bouncer, outside the Rodeo Club, 2700 S. Georgia in Amarillo.

The Amarillo jury reached its decision Saturday afternoon. The verdict followed debate between defense and prosecution attorneys whether Baca acted in self defense on Aug. 23, when he apparently stabbed Friemel several times while the two argued in the bar's parking lot.

On Friday, taking the stand were eight defense witnesses who had been involved in scuffles with the bouncer.

Some of them, according to the Amarillo Globe-News, testified they had been kicked or punched with little or no provocation.

According to defense attorney Bill Cornett, Friemel "was quick strong, powerful - a bully who has a violent and dangerous reputation.

"..The way he (Friemel) hit and kicked people, it was just a matter of time until he was killed," Cornett reportedly said later. "He ruled it (night club and parking lot) and thought he could do anything he wanted. He thought he could viciously beat anybody that came in.'

Baca told jurors he had been followed out of the nightclub by Friemel, who "pounced" on Baca when the latter backed into a car. The bouncer reportedly lost his balance during the struggle, breaking his nose in the process.

"This puny Joe Baca somehow had smashed him into a car and broken his nose," Cornett said. "We had eight witnesses who said he became enraged when nothing set him off."

Prosecutor David Hamilton contended Baca's statements did not "correlate with the facts...The pathologist said the nose injury more closely correlates with Friemel's
falling on his face (after he had been stabbed)."

Hamilton also pointed out Baca's pants and boots were clean, not scuffed and torn as they should have been after a struggle. Furthermore, the upward path of the knife wounds probably could not have come from Baca being held in a bear hug.

"He (Baca) was asked politely to leave and he refused to leave," Lopez claimed.

The co-prosecutor also said Bace shoved his hand in the bouncer's face and swung at
him before Friemel reacted by pushing him to the ground. Baca fled the scene and was soon arrested near Dawn. "He knew he was in trouble so he had to think of
something," Lopez said.

According to Hamilton, the state was unable to have character witnesses testify concerning the reputations of both Baca and Friemel because presiding Judge Edward B. Nobles ruled their testimony was inadmissable.

Baca, 30, had been living in the Deaf Smith County Feedyard prior to the incident. Friemel was 23 years old.