STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — A biracial man who says he was fending off a racist attack on a Georgia highway when he fired a gun into a pickup truck was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl in the truck’s back seat.
The trial jury spared 23-year-old Marc Wilson from a potential life prison sentence by acquitting him of felony murder for Haley Hutcheson.
Defense attorneys for Wilson was justified to shoot in self-defense when the pickup truck’s driver tried to run Wilson’s car off the road.
Prosecutor Barclay Black told the jury Wilson had no legal justification for firing a handgun in traffic & could have escaped if he was being harassed.
Wilson's sentencing scheduled sentencing for Sept. 20.
Wilson, the son of a Black father & white mother & his white girlfriend had just picked up food when the pickup truck pulled alongside Wilson. Wilson told police the pickup truck tried to run his car off the road as white teenagers inside yelled racist slurs.
The driver of the pickup & 2 passengers who took the witness stand denied threatening Wilson. They also acknowledged that they had been drinking that night, but denied being drunk.
One of the truck’s passengers, Luke Conley, declined to testify by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against giving self-incriminating testimony. He has been charged with misdemeanor obstruction after police said he gave investigators conflicting information about the shooting.
Emma Rigdon, Wilson’s girlfriend at the time, testified that she didn’t hear any racial slurs. But recalled being frightened when the pickup truck “started swerving into our lane” & forced Wilson’s car onto the shoulder of the highway.
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