TX: Shooter with .17 Cal Rifle found not Guily in Murder Trial

Gun Watch ^ | 14 February, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

In this murder trial in Big Spring Texas, Sean Thomas Smith was found not guilty on Thursday, 12 February, 2015.   The shooting occurred on October 14th of 2013, involved an altercation where Smith shot 26-year-old Carlos Guerrero once in the chest with a .17 caliber rifle.  The shooting is said to have occurred in Guerrero's yard.  Smith then left the scene and was later stopped by police.  The rifle was in the vehicle.

Smith plead not guilty, by reason of self defense.  Details of the events that lead up to the shooting have been hard to come by.  From  newswest9.com:

BIG SPRING - Not guilty, that was the verdict in the murder trial of Sean Thomas Smith, that ended on Thursday.

Smith was accused of killing Carlos Guerrero, nearly a year and a half ago, claiming it was self-defense.

This is the first self defense shooting with a .17 caliber rifle that I recall.  The trial received remarkably little coverage on the Internet.   Other than the fact of Guerrero being shot, Smith being arrested, and Smith being found not guilty,  I have found almost nothing about what happened.  You would hope that a convincing account, that matched up fairly well with physical evidence, would be required to sway the jury.   A unanimous vote of the 12 jurors was necessary for the not guilty verdict.

Perhaps an alert reader will be able to find out more details about this case.


 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[Farmer Dean]

17 HMR,little 20 grain bullet at about 2300fps or so.At close range it would inflict a huge wound.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Is that not also an air rifle caliber?

Caliber just refers to the diameter of the projectile. You can get air rifles in .50 caliber and above, and below.

YOUTUBE: .50 Caliber Air Rifle, Dragons Claw

[deport]

Yep not much on the net about this trial.

After the trial, the Smith family quickly exited the courtroom and did not want
to comment. But the Howard County District Attorney, Hardy Wilkerson, made a brief
statement on behalf of the verdict.

“We were grateful to have the opportunity to try the case, we felt it was fully tried and both sides had their say so. Obviously, there’s so
me disappointment with the verdict, but if 12 folks in Howard County feel that
this was self-defense, we’re not going to quivel with their verdict,” Wilkerson said.

http://www.newswest9.com/story/28098464/sean-smith-found-not-guilty-in-the-big-spring-murder-of-carlos-guerrero

[Dusty Road]

Not only is this my home town I was also called for jury duty on this one. The DA is a good friend of mine so I was booted in the first round. It was a 17 HMR and it was ruled self defense.

[ozzymandus]

What does the caliber of the rifle matter, other than the fact that most folks have never heard of it. There are actually several different .17 caliber rounds.

[AbnSarge]

Which one is the Assault Rifle round?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So do you have any further details?

The fact that it was on the dead guy's property begs a lot of questions.

[Dusty Road]

From what I’m hearing it was drugs, alcohol and anger, maybe they will have more in tomorrows paper.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Thanks!

[gundog]

The .17 Remington centerfire never really caught on either and I think is now discontinued.

And used .172 diameter bullets.

[yarddog]

That is interesting. I and probably most other people would have guessed .177.

[gundog]

I wish. Been toying with the idea of putting them downrange with an air rifle. Think I might have to paper patch them to get a seal.

[yarddog]

Many years ago, I decided to load up some plinking loads for my Marlin 30-30.

I loaded 5 grains of Unique behind a Speer 100 grain plinker.

I fired it at a piece of thick (4”) plywood leaning up aginst an old barn. I wasn’t sure it would exit the bore. It went through the plywood, an inch of pine board and 1/4 inch of wall board then disappeared into the wilderness.

[gundog]

Speed kills. I just checked...a .17HMR uses a .179 cal. bullet. I wonder if they were trying to avoid folks like me running them through a pellet rifle. Seems like it’d be a wicked little critter-getter.

[PapaBear3625]

A .17 HMR cartridge may look small, but it produces as much muzzle energy as a .38 special.

[yarddog]

I think I had rather be shot with a .38 special 158 gr. round nose than one of those little buzz bombs,

Not that either one would be nice.

[PapaBear3625]

I agree. .17 HMR is designed to expand and fragment in flesh.