Posted on 08/20/2023 7:18:30 AM PDT by marktwain
A South Dakota man facing six felonies in connection with a June 2022 shooting at the Sheridan County Livestock Sale Barn in Rushville has been acquitted.
After a four day trial, a Sheridan County District Court jury on Thursday found 45-year-old Gilbert Grooms not guilty of Attempted Murder, First Degree Assault, Terroristic Threats, plus three Felony Firearms charges that had been filed in the case.
Investigators had said following a verbal altercation, the Oglala, South Dakota man retrieved a shotgun from his vehicle and shot a then-35-year-old person multiple times.
In a statement following the end of the trial, defense attorney Tim Rensch said the jury deliberated for two and a half hours, concluded Grooms had acted in self defense and/or the defense of his family, and his client was thankful for the jury’s verdict.
The man on trial has no criminal record, as far as I can tell.
The reports of the incident I found were as vague as this article.
“Court records show Grooms and 35-year-old Charles Winter of Martin had been arguing at the sale barn on June 6th when Grooms got a shotgun from his vehicle and fired it in Winters’ direction.
“Winters retreated to his own vehicle as Grooms shot at him several more times before Winters was hit in the torso as he fled around a trailer.”
Investigators had said following a verbal altercation.
I guess he saw something he just had to have and wasn’t going to be outbid. Bet it was the lady in the second row.
Victim fleeing and self defense doesn’t sound right on the face of it.
That sure reads like murder to me.
All I can figure is the guy followed him to his truck, at which point the defendant made the decision to shoot — and followed through with the act to its final conclusion.
This is a bit confusing but if you have time to get a shotgun out of your truck, you clearly have an opportunity to leave. I guess I’m missing something.
missing something
Anger, apparently. Either man could have retreated. Sheridan is a nice cow town.
Sheridan
Wrong state. Sheidan is in Wyoming. Too early to be thinking
There’s got to be a lot more to this case. A guy gets in an argument, goes back to get a shotgun and then shoots at his protagonist, and they call it self defense?
Did Winters pursue Grooms to his truck? Leading Grooms to pull out his shotgun?
The victim did try to retreat.
Shot in the torso. Torso's everything that isn't limb or neck up. Torso's a great word to to avoid saying whether he was shot in the front, side, or back...
No, the hefty heifer was in the arena.
Sounds to me like the guy who was shot wouldn’t leave the shooter alone and threatened him in a way that made the shooter feel like he had to defend himself.
Shot in the torso. Torso's everything that isn't limb or neck up. Torso's a great word to to avoid saying whether he was shot in the front, side, or back...
That is all in the early reporting. My guess is this is what the person shot claimed happened.
The person doing the shooting was found not guilty in a jury trial. At the tail end, it is mentioned he was defending not only himself, but his family.
I really want to know what the jury heard.
No one is reporting on it.
I wonder why.
Good point. Have to give jurors enough credit for showing up and listening to the evidence.
On a serious note, Livestock auction barns in many places is a community ordeal. Families, wives/ girlfriends, children attend together. A social event. Who knows what if any threats against family members may have been made and violence could have been imminent.
I think the part that is missing is that only white hetero Christian gun owners have an “obligation” to retreat and not use force to defend themselves, while special groups are not held to that liberal standard
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