Judge Won't Acquit Father Charged w/ Murder For Son's School Shooting

Lawyers for the father charged with murder over his son’s school shooting argued today that prosecutors haven’t presented evidence that warrants the jury deciding his guilt. The motion for directed verdict made this morning is a standard request seen in most criminal and civil cases after the prosecutor or plaintiff presents their evidence. They are not typically granted, and Judge Nicholas Primm didn’t grant the request this morning (Monday, March 2). Colin Gray’s lawyer Jimmy Dodd Berry argued prosecutors have not shown that Gray foreseed the likelihood of his son Colt murdering people before the 14-year-old went to Apalachee High School on Sept. 4, 2024, with a Sig Sauer M400 his father gave him for Christmas. 01:28 "We don't know at this point what conduct is criminal, because it's not against the law to have a weapon or ammunition not locked up. So when they're talking about criminal conduct, then you have to go farther than just the criminal conduct. And what that reasonable foreseeability is, we don't believe that the state has shown that." Berry has been a licensed attorney in Georgia since 1971. His storied career includes some of the state’s most prolific cases, and he’s represented defendants in 50 capital murder cases. He is representing Gray with Brian Hobbs. A prosecutor argued their evidence is sufficient, and she pointed to a previous criminal case in Georgia in which a mother "left a three year old, a four year old and a two year old completely unattended for an extended period of time in a room that had a space heater." 04:25 "And in that case, the evidence was sufficient to find that she committed involuntary manslaughter in the commission of reckless conduct. Obviously, owning a safe seater is in itself illegal. The manner in which she owned it was illegal," the prosecutor said. In Gray's case, "Owning a firearm and owning an addition is not in itself illegal, owning it and allowing access to it in a.manner that the defendant did rises to the level of reckless conduct. It rises to the level of criminal negligence, and therefore it rises to the level of a criminal act for proximate cause." 05:29 "The jury is to determine whether or not the state has proven criminal negligence and whether or not the state has proven proximate cause, as long as we've provided some evidence that the defendant was criminally negligent, and that these deaths were the proximate cause of his criminal negligence." Judge Primm said he believes "proximate cause almost always a question of fact to the truth to determine." 07:09 "I do think that there is evidence upon which the jury could, in fact, find proximate cause here, so I will denied the directed verdict." Background: A gunman killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on September 4, 2024. Eight students and one teacher were injured. The victims were Mason Schermerhorn, 14; Christian Angulo, 14; Richard Aspinwall, 39 and a math teacher and defensive coordinator for the school's football team; and Cristina Irimie, 53 and a math teacher. Colin Gray's oldest son, Colt Gray, is awaiting trial on 55 charges, including counts of murder and aggravated assault. The father currently is on trial for 29 charges, including involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, cruelty to children and reckless conduct. Prosecutors say he gave his son the rifle used in the shooting as a Christmas gift, despite being told by law enforcement to keep guns away from him. The jury was selected from Hall County instead of Barrow County. The trial is being held at the Barrow County Courthouse in Winder. Nicholas Primm, the chief judge in Georgia's Piedmont Judicial Circuit, is presiding. ****************************************************************************** Subscribe to Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff: https://www.legalaffairsandtrials.com...