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Yes, I was there for most of the trial, the courtroom is down the hall from my office in the Court Complex.
First of all, the prosecution team (former JAG Captain Art Bieber) and his assistant (non-PS) Timothy Peters were over confident. They undervalued their hand, and under presented a rather dry "by the numbers" case.
On the other hand, the defense counsel (a very skilled and experienced attorney named Chase Smith) took a slow pace to his reaction to the prosecution proof.
As a result, the prosecution presented a boilerplate homicide case, in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated blah blah blah.
The defense did nothing to deflect the horror presented by the testimony of the facts surrounding the shooting. THEN, when it was time for the defense proof, the Defendant took the stand and accepted full responsibility (while denying intentional murder) and expressing his own horror at what he had done.
The effect on the jury was remarkable, and the Defendant came across as well decorated combat Green Beret veteran who self medicated himself "out of his mind" and as I've said before "woke up horrified at what he had done."
As a result, the jury elected to hold him accountable only for the actions he undertook while "sober" and did not attribute to him the actions while he was under the influence. So what he did was engage in reckless behavior (by taking the ketamine, while aware of and disregarding the substantial risk that bad psychosis could result) with zero intent to harm anyone. That, under Tennessee law, is the textbook definition of Reckless Homicide and Reckless Endangerment. So that finding became their verdict.
COULD the DA have tried a more emotional case? Probably. Would it have made a difference? Probably.
The prosecution took the ice cold "just the facts, ma'am" trial tactic, which was quite legally correct, but then gave the emotional high ground to the defense.
As every SF soldier knows, you can be technically and tactically correct, but if you can't engage in cross cultural communications and win hearts and minds, you will lose the campaign.
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