Curtis Reeves – Trial Could Be Held Later This Year
In January 2014, 71-year old Curtis Reeves shot Chad Oulson (43) to death in a movie theater over texting. Reeves is charged with second degree murder and he claims self-defense, alleging that Chad hit him with something so hard that it knocked his glasses off his face.
A recent forensic test on Oulson’s phone was negative for Reeve’s DNA.
Reeves’ defense is that at 71, and having health problems, he felt threatened enough to use deadly force.
There is a pending appeal with the 2nd District Court of Appeals on the court’s February order that denied Reeves bail. Reeves is detained in the Pasco County jail.
Against the argument of prosecutors, Judge Siracusa is allowing Reeves to appear in court in civilian clothes rather than the jail jumpsuit.
At a hearing this morning, Judge Pat Siracusa issued an order indicating the trial could take place between Oct. 8 and Dec. 18. If the jury is sequestered, court will be held on Saturdays.
No matter his age, and no matter his health problems, there are things that are logical and obvious. For one, this happened in a movie theater, not in a dark alley. Common sense says that Reeves, who is retired from law enforcement, would know that one bullet can end life. His bullet in Chad’s chest ended the life of a husband and father.
R.I.P. Chad. Our best wishes to Nicole Oulson. Stay strong.
Video of today’s hearing;
Posted on 07/09/2014, in Chad Oulson, Conceal Carry & SYG and tagged Chad Oulson, Curtis Reeves, Nicole, popcorn, text messaging, trial. Bookmark the permalink. 39 Comments.
Get wives and mothers on the jury……you know…..just like with FogenPhoole and Duhhnn.
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Racer,
Yeah, citizens of Florida who do not understand the law and the defendant’s fear of popcorn and a cell phone over rules all facts.
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That deadly rockcorn spilling,er being thrown with reckless abandon is so dangerous. I’d bet Moron O’ Mara would have a field day with a rockcorn tossing demonstration. I hate it when someone in the balcony looses control of their rockcorn bucket and it spills over the ledge.
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Racer,
You mean like saying salt on popcorn is a weapon? 🙂
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assalting?
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Yahtzee,
LOL! I think you missed your calling.
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LOL Yahtzee
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Thank you for keeping us updated. Why do the judges allow some suspects to wear ‘street’ clothes but not others?
It’s prejudicial imo.
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Xena, I appreciate your update here and plan to listen to the video of the hearing later today.
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Xena, the defense mentions that it is waiting for (or seeking) a GSR report from FDLE. What is that?
(mentioned at about timestamp 5:00)
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Correction…the prosecution is waiting for it.
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Yahtzee,
GSR is a gunshot residue report. It can be used to estimate the distance between the shooter and victim. Some prosecutors use that report from samples taken from the accused to establish that they were the one with the smoking gun.
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Thanks….got it 🙂
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Mindyme, don’t know. Some defendant’s don’t have proper clothes for court and appear in the jail garb. IMHO, the defense relies on juror biases when wanting the defendant to appear in street clothes.
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If one is allowed to than all should be allowed to.
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mindyme,
Funny how that is decided, isn’t it? Here’s how the courts operate — it can only grant relief that is requested. Thus, a defendant not asking to appear in court in street clothes, doesn’t automatically have that right.
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Thank you Xena for the update-I wonder why the jury sequestration -We all know jurors sequestration is name only(Taaffe)visit by families and husbands filling the dots from the outside world is an aberration,keeping the apparent justice intact while trying to contact book publishers jurors #37 again, or one sex jurors to please the defense lawyers,I hope marrano Ohara stay away with his malfeasance talking points. I’m waiting for dumb Dunn trial,and the coward child killer indictment(DOJ) if they grow some “cajones”.
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Hey Joseph! Re: jury sequestration. I’ve never really understood if it was to protect the jury from outside influences, or protect the jury from being threatened and bribed, or protect the jury against physical threats, or all of the aforementioned.
Dunn’s re-trial should certainly be interesting since prosecutors already had a dress rehearsal.
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Xena I agree for all of the aforementioned but with unattended consequences like tubby trial.
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🙂
if they grow….”
http://theincarceratedinkwell.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Bill-the-Cat-2-300×203.jpg
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Yahtzee,priceless! They are looking for it 🙂
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Xena, or anybody…at timestamp 22:50 the defense lawyers say they have a “feign allege a tave” case coming up in September which might take 3 weeks.
What does that term mean? Do you know what case it is?
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Yahtzee, I can’t understand what he said. The volume decreased when he spoke and even with the Youtube and computer volume turned up to the max, I still couldn’t make it out.
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October 14 (Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.) for next pretrial hearing.
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(From the video posted above)
Besides getting the depositions completed…issues to be considering at the October pretrial hearing:
l. County-wide panels? If case stays in Dade City, panel would be drawn from “this side of (HWY) 41. If it goes to Newport Richie (because judge might be reassigned there), panel would be from that side of county.
2. Jury Questionaire: both sides are to start thinking about it by next pretrial hearing although they may not get it done then. Requests must be in 3 weeks prior to the trial. The questionnaire the judge will provide will be much more detailed than his usual because of the national focus. (He will meet with some of the other judges who have handled medial intensive cases to talk to them about the questionnaires they’ve used and see what kind of positive and negative results they’ve had.)
3. Jury sequestration? (It is going to be a panel of 6)
4. Each side will weigh in with as to their expectations for jury selection. Case will open to public and media…if they want to be present for jury selection, rules for their presence will have to be set including cameras.
5. Determine what would be required if the jury is taken one morning to the theater where the killing took place.
========
They all feel that they will probably set a trial date in 2015 and so, in order to reserve a date at the beginning of 2015, they are going to meet September 10 at 10:00 a.m. for the purpose of coordinating calendars and picking a trial date at the beginning of 2015.
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so disgusting the way some ppl can just rip the life away from an innocent person, to watch it go away, and still have whatever they have that lets them live w themselves. then lie about the dead person to save themselves as if they deserve to even breathe!!!
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Shannon, you’re so correct.
It’s disturbing that people want to justify this clown’s actions by truncating the event that night and ignoring the fact that Reeves started the confrontation and then escalated it by being a tattle tell when reporting Oulson to the theater management.
I don’t know if you’ve heard this but Reeves intentionally sat in front of the Oulsons and texted his son after he and his wife sat down, but he freaked out because Oulson was texting his daughter’s babysitter even though Oulson attempted to explain the situation to him.
What I think happened is that Reeves was continuing the confrontation he had started three weeks earlier in that same theater with the female patron whom he followed to the ladies’ restroom.
He sounds like he has OCD which was never treated.
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They also interviewed a neighbor of his who had a confrontation with him. He was working on his car in his driveway and had the music playing too loud for Reeves. He came up and started to yell at the neighbor about the music. The neighbor was able to calm him down and apologize for the music and he went on his way.
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towerflower, thanks for that info. Sounds like Reeves has a short-fuse and controlling personality.
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He was a retired cop so he had a cop mentality (do as I say) and I honestly think that his short-fuse was more age related–you know the grumpy old neighbor type–than anything. I don’t recall if he had any any anger issues when he was a cop.
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UPDATE: Judge has set a bond for Reeves
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Hmm…..
!
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