71-year-old acquitted of murder by claiming self-defense after victim threw popcorn at him
Lucy Devine
Featured Image Credit: Fox 13
A 71-year-old was acquitted of a murder charge after he shot a man in a movie theater.
Retired police officer, Curtis Reeves, pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder and aggravated battery of Chad Oulson, a Navy veteran who died after the pair got into an argument in a movie theater back in 2014.
The pair had been watching a screening of Lone Survivor in Tampa, Florida, when the incident occurred.
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It allegedly started when Oulson started texting his children's babysitter, during which Reeves asked him to stop.
An argument ensued and Oulson allegedly threw popcorn at Reeves. It ended with Reeves taking out his handgun and shooting Oulson, according to the complaint.
Reeves had initially claimed that he shot Oulson in self-defense under Florida's 'stand your ground' laws, alleging that Oulson had thrown his phone and was 'aggressively' leaning over his chair towards him.
Judge Susan Barthle rejected Reeves' attempt to use the stand your ground defense, which carries immunity from prosecution, saying that she did not believe the 'circumstances' of the shooting were 'those envisioned by the Legislature when the "stand your ground" law was enacted'.
In 2022, after an eight-year delay, a jury in Florida found Reeves 'not guilty' of Oulson's murder following a nine-day trial and a three-hour deliberation.
The trial's delay was reported to be the result of a number of motions, hearings and the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Oulson's wife, Nicole, said the delay was 'embarrassing' and allowed Reeves to 'be at home with his loved ones and spend time with his family'.
"I want everyone to know that even though they tried to make Chad out to be a monster and the aggressor, he was an amazing man, husband, son, brother, friend and father," she told ABC News in a statement.
"I will not just accept this result lying down. Chad may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, and I will use my voice to try and make sure no one has to experience what myself and my family had to go through."
Speaking about the incident, Reeves told ABC News' Nightline: "I wish that none of this would have happened at all, but I don't feel like an instigator.
"It was something that was, I had no control over. He's the only one that could have kept it from happening.
"Certainly none of us, and I'm sure on both sides of the families, none of us wish it had happened like it did."