Posted on 12/01/2008 2:03:25 PM PST by athensgirl
Attorneys make closing arguments in Gear trial By Joe Johnson | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 4:20 pm on 12/1/2008
WATKINSVILLE — Attorneys made final arguments this morning in the case of a Bogart man who authorities say shot a motorcyclist in the back last winter.
When Oconee County jurors return from lunch, Superior Court Chief Judge Lawton Stephens will instruct them on the law before they begin deliberating.
Jurors must decide whether Richard Harold “Ricky” Gear is guilty of malice murder, felony murder and other charges in the Feb. 25 shooting death of Bryan Joseph “B.J.” Mough. Gears says he shot Mough in self-defense.
The judge also will allow jurors to consider a charge of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser crime in which someone kills in the heat of passion.
District Attorney Ken Mauldin this morning told jurors that Mough’s death was premeditated because Gear had time to dial 911 and take other non-lethal measures after his daughters called home to say a man was following them home and had collided with their car.
“His first instinct was to shoot” before finding out what type of vehicle the man was driving or getting any other information from his daughters, who had safely returned by the time Mough drove down their street, Mauldin argued.
“This case was about a man who shot first, who shot last and shot in between and didn’t ask questions before and didn’t ask questions later,” the prosecutor said.
Defense attorney Edward Tolley argued that the motorcyclist was the aggressor, and Mough could have continued driving home on Atlanta Highway instead of turning into Bogart after 21-year-old Chelsea Gear made an obscene hand gesture at him.
Even after Gear fired two warning shots at the passing biker, Tolley argued, Mough turned around and drove straight at Gear, who jumped backward and fired his gun.
“The only reason we are here is because this man did not want to back down,” Tolley told jurors. “We are here because Bryan Mough did not know how to back down.”
Jurors will have to sort through the testimony of 46 witnesses and more than 500 pieces of evidence, including Gear’s .40-caliber pistol and the clothes and motorcycle helmet Mough wore.
Court observers don’t expect that jurors will reach a verdict today in the trial that began with jury selection Nov. 17.
L
I remember reading about this when it happened. I believed then, and now, that the woman who caused this incident should also be charged as an accessory. She’s as guilty as her father, who pulled the trigger.
Unfortunately, that never happens. She’ll walk, just like the woman who manipulated her husband into murdering her elderly neighbor; by making up a story that the old man next door was crawling in their window at night to molest their 2 year old daughter.
Stupid men. Manipulative women. Lock ‘em all up. Make the world a better place.
I'm still trying to picture how he was shot in the back.
two warning shots and the guy drove straight at Gear?
Sorry, this doesn't add up. If the two warning shots were fired first, Mough knew the guy was armed and willing to shoot. Doesn't make sense that he would ride straight at Gear.
Hooligan Ping . . .
He has been found guilty. http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/120108/new_362331753.shtml
This guy murdered a kid on a motorcycle. He’s guilty as charged. Tragic.
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