Amber Guyger dominated the headlines recently as the guilty verdict was rendered in the murder case against her. You will recall the facts of that case. She entered the wrong apartment thinking it was her own. Being a trained police officer, upon seeing a stranger sitting on the couch she drew her weapon and gave the stranger instructions. He didn't comply, and she shot him dead.
The David Charles Wilson case now pending in Midland, Texas, is the mirror image. Mr. Wilson was in his home when he shot and killed a police officer at his door.
The prosecution side of the argument will contend that the police officer was responding to investigate an automatic burglar alarm, opened an unlocked front door, identified himself, and was shot by the homeowner, Mr. Wilson.
Wilson was charged with manslaughter. And we learned in September that his attorneys have filled a motion to dismiss. Caitlin Randle describes a brief filed to support the motion in Court brief: MPD was mistakenly alerted. Here are some excerpts from that MRT article:
MPD was alerted about an alarm breach in the Wilsons’ pool house, according to the brief. The Wilsons’ have separate alarm systems in the pool house and the main house.
Heidelberg and the other officer first checked the backyard, but the gate was locked, the brief states. The officers then proceeded to the front of the house where they tried the front door and found it to be unlocked.
Once the officers opened the front door, a door alarm chimed, according to the brief. The chime woke Wilson’s wife, who then woke him and said she thought someone was in the house.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wilson can hear and see silhouettes outside with flashlights,” the brief states. “But they have no idea who is outside, what they are saying, or what they are doing. There were no red and blue police lights.”
It continues, “No one has contacted the Wilsons in any way to tell them it is the police outside. All they see are surreptitious silhouettes lurking with flashlights outside their home after midnight.”
The brief states that after seeing unidentified figures outside with flashlights, Wilson frantically retrieved his gun and ran from his bedroom at the same time Heidelberg fully opened the front door and shined his flashlight inside. It does not say that Heidelberg entered the home.
Wilson fired one shot before closing the door and calling 911, according to the brief.
The brief filed Thursday was in support of a motion by Wilson’s defense lawyers to dismiss the indictment.
Mistakes were made on both sides of that early morning mishap. We'll see whether this goes to trial.
Previously on these pages: Cop shot by homeowner in Midland fearing home invasion
------
2:46 PM 10/6/2019
Comments