Charges: First Degree Murder, Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill Inflicting Serious Injury, and Felony of Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill.
Client was wrongly accused of the above charges. He was charged with three offenses because there were three alleged victims; one was tragically shot and killed, one was shot but lived, and one was shot at but not hit. Since the state was not seeking the death penalty, if the defendant was convicted of first degree murder, the only possible sentence a judge could impose was life in prison without the possibility of parole. Attorney Chris Floyd served as co-counsel in the trial of the case which was litigated by a team of prosecutors. At trial, the getaway driver testified that he drove the defendant to and from the crime scene and helped dispose of the weapon. Police officers testified that the defendant’s cell phone was traced to a gun store the day of the offense and to the location of the crime scene at the time of the crime occurred. A co-defendant testified that he stood next to the defendant as he shot a rifle at the direction of three people. After a two-week jury trial, with over one hundred exhibits admitted, and after a devastating cross-examination by Chris Floyd of the state’s star witness, the jury came to a unanimous verdict.
