Jaren Battles, arrested in 2023 at 18 years old, was in Jefferson County’s Criminal District Court this past week defending a murder charge dating back to his Beaumont arrest.
Battles, a resident of Orange County, was taken into custody March 18, 2023, following a deadly party bus outing that resulted in a shootout near the Burger King on Phelan Boulevard at Dowlen Road in Beaumont’s west end. When the melee ended, Geraldo “Jerry” Escamilla was left dead in his vehicle, where witnesses said the victim waited for hours for crime scene processes. The family looked on in horror. Escamilla was just 30 years old at the time of his death.
“It’s time to start saying the citizens have had enough,” prosecutor Mike Laird urged the jury, asking for a high prison sentence. Bullets flying throughout the neighborhood “affects your community. It endangered everyone.”
Guns everywhere, a person dead, people in police custody – none of it phased the actors, Laird said.
“They get to go look at dirt,” Laird said of the victim’s loved ones. The defendant’s family members can still see Battles behind prison walls. “This is something where someone has to take an action.
“Put on your citizens pants. Put on your citizen helmet. Strap your chin piece in. We’ve got to send a message to these streets… we’ve got to tell them we’re tired. This is your county. It doesn’t belong to the hoodlums and thugs.”
After a brief recess, the jury assessed 60 years in prison.
Escamilla’s mother was given the last word.
“Two families are shattered here,” she said. “You still get a chance to come out and enjoy life. Our family is torn apart.
“Nobody is ever prepared to bury their child. Nobody.
“I have to live without him each and every day.”