Posted on 02/25/2022 6:19:36 PM PST by NautiNurse
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Curtis Reeves, the man who shot and killed Chad Oulson at a Wesley Chapel movie theater in 2014 was found not guilty on all charges Friday night.
After over three hours of deliberation, a six-person jury returned to the courtroom Friday evening and delivered its verdict. Reeves was found not guilty of the counts of second-degree murder and aggravated batter
Reeves has never denied shooting Oulson, but has maintained that he was acting in self defense.
The retired police captain spent several hours on the witness stand Thursday, telling a Pasco County jury about what he says happened the day he shot Oulson in the theater.
He also testified about his career in law enforcement. Reeves helped establish the SWAT team for the Tampa Police Department and ended his career as the head of security for Busch Gardens.
He told the jury he had never drawn his weapon and shot anyone in his years of service as a police officer and says he never encountered rage from anyone the way he did from Oulson the day of the shooting.
It sounds like you haven’t seen the theater security video.
I worked construction with paroled murderers when I was nineteen. The owner of the company would not hire thieves, but he had no problem with murderers. Two of those guys were talking on our lunch break. One asked the other why he killed the drunk in the bar. His answer was that the man needed killing.
I'm not saying the guy is right, he spent his time in prison for murder. But I've thought about this over the past fifty years and I believe that there are individuals that can only be killed for there barbaric acts.
Expecting someone to wait until they are murdered with one punch is idiotic.
What is lacking on this thread is the total actions of both the defendant and the deceased. It may have been a good shoot or a bad shoot. The jury had total knowledge of what happened. I trust their judgement. That is why we have juries.
About juries I would like to recant what happened in Jasper Texas. Three white men drug a black man to death behind a pickup truck. They were all ex convicts. I suspect this was a crime that actually started in jail.
A mostly white jury convicted them on fist degree murder. On appeal to George W Bush then the Governor of Texas he denied any clemency. They were executed as they should have been.
I’ve never understood people who think you have to be “almost dead” before you are in fear of your life being taken from you. At what point is it okay to stop your assailant? Are you supposed to ask them how far they plan to go before they stop? Are you supposed to be unconscious on the ground (that doesn’t make sense, because then you can’t fight back)? Fear is fear.
In this case, it appears the jury believed the older guy was in fear of being killed.
The jury spoke.
If Joe Citizen with CCW shot someone to death in a theater over a petty squabble over a cell phone, they'd be in the joint doing hard time. Bet the rent.
that’s not valid nor required
I hear you. Somebody above said self defense wasn’t justified because a concrete block wasn’t bashed over a head. I just shake my head.
Another says the “instigator” was the man who politely asked another movie patron to put away their cell phone.
Social norms and civility are in deep trouble these days. Perhaps some of the problem is cell phone addiction, among other self-centered lack of basic manners.
And why didn’t Oulson turn off his phone?
This is a fair point.
If it was me I would have probably just left. Seems more reasonable then engaging in anything with a leftist.
“What I learned from this trial is that you can’t trust anything that the media says.”
Aaaannnndd THERE IT IS!!! FOR THE WIN!!!
then you should stay in your home as leftists are everywhere
the texter should not have been shot to death but he was the ahole in this. Just follow the theatre rules and don’t text. go to the lobby to play candy crush.
Aw, precious. What is he to you, your uncle?
This verdict is a legal disgrace.
The movie hadn't started, and he was reportedly calling the babysitter to check on his child.
Ping.
You go with your feelings over the law. Got it.
Let this be a clear warning to anyone who texts or talks on the phone during a movie. You’d deserve this and MORE!
That’s not at all what happened.
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