Not guilty: The verdict in the trial.
After more than 19 hours of deliberations over two days, a jury acquitted the man in the shooting death.
"I just want to say thank you to the people who believed in me, who stood by me,” he said following the verdict. “I still have my regrets for the family; it's still an unfortunate situation for them. I am happy that at least this chapter is over."
As deliberations dragged on over two days and the jury asked for testimony to be read back, he admits he didn't know how it would all turn out.
"I was nervous of course,” he said. “You never know what direction this whole thing is going to turn, so I have no idea. But it worked out and I feel that justice (was) served today."
The teen's family members say justice wasn't served. They say the teen was murdered in cold blood, that he'd never been in trouble and the shooter acted as judge, jury and executioner.
"The message is that we can all go out and get guns and feel anybody that we feel is threatening us and lie about the fact,” said the teen’s father. “My son never threatened anybody. He was a gentle child, his nature was gentle, he was a good person and he was never, ever arrested for anything, and has never been in trouble. He was 16 years and four months old, and he was slaughtered."
The shooter says he acted in self defense when he confronted teen
The shooter says he shot the teen when the victim charged toward him.
"How can this happen to a beautiful, sweet child like that?” asked the teen's aunt. “All he wanted to do was go home."
The shooter says the last seven months have been difficult for him and his family. If he could go back to the events, there are things he says he would do differently.
"If it meant a person not losing their life, absolutely,” he said. “Would I still have tried to stop what was going on? That I would have done. But if I knew ahead of time that I could do something to help somebody from losing their life, I don't want anyone to lose their life."
The shooter says the first thing he was going to do was go home and get a good night sleep.
He shot a teenaged thug and killed him.
http://rochester.twcnews.com/content/news/490926/jury-finds-roderick-scott-not-guilty/
Last edited:
