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

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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