Florida Jury Buys Retired Cop’s “Stand Your Ground” Defense In 2014 Killing Of Man Who Threw Popcorn

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

Eight years after he fired a pistol inside a Wesley Chapel movie theater, Curtis Reeves was found not guilty of murder in the death of Chad Oulson. A panel of four men and two women took about 3½ hours Friday night to acquit the retired Tampa police captain.

The late-night verdict punctuated one of the Tampa Bay area’s longest-running and most closely-watched criminal cases — one that persisted through a 2017 stand your ground self-defense hearing, appeals, court delays and, finally, a three-week trial.

The jury spent 10 days listening to witnesses pick apart the interaction that ended the life of Oulson, a 43-year-old father who was on a date with his wife Nicole.

Law & Crime reports:

It all started when the older man complained about the younger man using a phone during previews for the film Lone Survivor. It escalated to Reeves shooting and killing Oulson after the 43-year-old grabbed the older man’s popcorn and threw it at him.

The question before jurors was whether the law enforcement veteran really feared for his life, or whether, as the state put it, he was firing out of anger. “He was explosive, and he was mad about the popcorn,” prosecutor Scott Rosenwasser told jurors in closing arguments on Friday.

Reeves complained about the phone usage, left to get a manager, and returned to his seat before the confrontation reached its tragic conclusion. The prosecution maintained it was Reeves who kept instigating, even after Oulson put away the phone and tried to ignore him.

ABC News reports:



Reeves, now 79, had been charged with second-degree murder for killing Chad Oulson during an altercation at a suburban movie theater on Jan. 13, 2014. During closing arguments, defense attorney Richard Escobar said that Oulson, 43, made Reeves, then 71, reasonably believe his life was in danger by turning, yelling and reaching toward him.

He said Reeves made the decision to shoot based on his nearly 30 years in law enforcement and hours of training on the justifiable use of deadly force. Reeves didn’t have to wait until he was hit before defending himself, Escobar said. Reeves “had more knowledge, more experience, more study in that area than anyone in this courtroom,” Escobar said.