An Austin jury has convicted Rashad Owens of capital murder from the 2014 South by Southwest Music Festival crash.
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The deliberations come after nearly a week of powerful testimony and graphic footage.
About 50 people crowded into the courtroom to hear the verdict.
The verdict means Owens will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. Four people were killed. Defense attorney Rick Jones said, “We don’t know at what point Mr. Owens perceived what was in front of him”.
Rashad Owens has been found guilty of capital murder in the deaths of four people after Owens’ auto plowed into a downtown Austin crowd celebrating SXSW in March 2014.
“Like Detective Harrington said, you can go through me without even knowing I was there if you are moving fast enough…and we know he was moving”.
Owens’ defense attorneys did not dispute that he had struck and killed people, but argued he was not guilty of capital murder, because he had no intent to kill.
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Prosecutor Marc Chavez said the minute Owens heard the thuds of his initial six victims, he should have stopped or slowed down, but instead he went on to hit about 20 more people. 08 legal limit. In earlier testimony, Andrew Bramwell said he, Owens, and another friend drove to Austin from Killeen. During the trip, Owens was drinking according to Bramwell. Despite avoiding several questions from Mitchell during the field sobriety test, Owens ultimately admitted to drinking and driving. The 10 and Red River intersection is where DeAndre Tatum and Sandy Le were killed, and others injured.
