As reported in the Austin American Statesman on February 10, 2011; shooter who killed 1, hurt another is acquitted of murder and gets probation.
Accepting his testimony that he acted in self-defense, a Travis County jury acquitted a 25-year-old man of murder in a fatal July 2009 shooting during a drug deal gone bad in South Austin. The jury, however, found Cody Duggan guilty of aggravated assault for shooting and wounding another man during the same incident at the Club at Summer Valley apartments on West William Cannon Drive near South First Street. The jury sentenced Duggan to five years of probation.
Duggan, who had been free on bail, hugged his lawyer, Kyle Lowe after the probation sentence was announced. In thanking the jury members for their service, state District Judge Julie Kocurek called it “a senseless crime that ruined a lot of lives.”
Austin criminal defense attorney, Kyle Lowe said that Duggan was a waiter and small-time drug user with no criminal record who heard from a friend in July 2009 that he could score about 150 Xanax pills for $300. During a meeting at the apartment complex in the early morning hours of July 29, Julian Garza took Duggan’s money and told Duggan to wait in the parking lot while he retrieved the drugs, Lowe said. Lowe stated that when Garza returned, he was with two men who told Duggan that he would not be getting the drugs or his money back. According to attorney, Kyle Lowe, Thomas “T.J.” Geredine and Josh Carlson, both 21, started coming at Duggan. As Geredine cocked a handgun, Duggan shot Geredine and Carlson. Geredine died; Carlson survived. Lowe stated that evidence during the 8-day trial showed that Carlson and Geredine had criminal records for assaultive crimes and that both had been using methamphetamine before the confrontation. Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment