Eight years ago, a Florida jury found former Florida police captain Curtis Reeves not guilty of killing a man in a movie theater. Reeves initially entered a not-guilty plea and asserted self-defense, saying he was concerned for his safety if he and Chad Oulson got into a fight. According to previous reports, Oulson texted the babysitter for his young daughter while the previews were going on, and Reeves told him to put the phone away.
The incident injured Olson’s wife, but she lived. The jury began deliberating on February 25 after a nine-day trial during which Oulson’s widow hoped for a guilty verdict.
Richard Escobar, the defense attorney, urged the jury to put themselves in Reeves’ shoes at the time. Escobar, who was 71 years old, believed that he posed a threat. A “decorated law enforcement officer who received training in the use of force, assessing danger, and the dangers involved when we’re presented with a potentially violent interaction,” was how his supporters described him.
At the time of the murder, the case received a lot of attention. A court ultimately rejected Reeves’ claim of self-defense made under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which contributed to some of the attention.
According to WFTS, numerous motions, pretrial hearings, and COVID-19 contributed to the eight-year trial delay. The delays were “embarrassing,” according to TJ Grimaldi, who represents Oulson’s wife, but they also gave Reeves the opportunity to “be at home with his loved ones and spend time with his family.”
What happened to Chad Oulson and Curtis Reeves?
Accusations against Reeves include second-degree murder and aggravated assault in the 2014 death of Chad Oulson, 43, who was out with his wife on a date to the movies.
After a fight with his wife over Oulson allegedly sending SMS, Reeves claims he shot Oulson in self-defense. His wife asserted he was texting her babysitter while Lone Survivor was being screened at a theater close to Tampa. The criminal complaint claims that Curtis Reeves questioned Oulson about texting while watching the movie previews.
The complaint claims that when they argued, Oulson threw a popcorn bag at Reeves, who then shot Oulson in the chest with a handgun. Oulson passed away during his hospitalization. His wife got a hand wound from a bullet.
The complaint states that Curtis Reeves informed authorities that he was afraid of being attacked. His attorneys claim that during the shooting, Oulson forcefully bent over the chair and threw a smartphone at the victim’s head. Witnesses insisted they did not see Oulson throw his smartphone, and the prosecution argued that popcorn is not a weapon.
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