Last night at 7:30 the 12 member jury in the murder trial of Brenton Lewis declared him not guilty of manslaughter after a second round of deliberations. They were instructed to go back into the jury room for a second round after they first found him not guilty of murder. With both verdicts in his favor, Lewis is clear of the murder of Marlon Budd who was shot to death a block from his home as he walked his dogs on the evening of November 26th, 2003.
The verdict was devastating for Marlon Budd's family, who followed up on the case diligently and watched as Marlon's younger brother, 16 year old Brenton testify as the lead eyewitness. Brenton, then only 14, was with his brother when he was killed and told the court that he saw Brenton Lewis pull the trigger and shoot his brother three times at close range.
With that compelling account the Budd family was convinced that the man they believed to have killed their son and brother would be convicted. But it
wasn't enough and today, Marlon's father, Calbert "Cally" Budd told us he doesn't know what went wrong.
Calbert Budd Sr., Father of Deceased
"The identification of the accused by Brenton, my son, was that when he (Brenton Lewis Smith) shot Marlon he turned around with the gun on him and he looked at him directly in the face. My son Brenton realized that he was in danger and ran away and he later came back and picked his brother up. I personally believe that the evidence that they had was enough to convict, to come to a guilty verdict."
Jules Vasquez,
How was this eyewitness account not enough to produce a conviction?
Calbert Budd Sr.,
"That's the same question I keep asking myself every time. What I am asking myself now is what happened in the jury room. None of the jurors wrote down any of the five factors that the Judge gave them because when the Judge was reading it out I was holding my paper and I was writing them down and none of them wrote nothing down on a paper. So how can they remember exactly what are the guidelines when they got in there. As a matter of fact I believe they had their minds made up already because they came out in like less than two hours."
Jules Vasquez,
Are you concerned for the safety of your son?
Calbert Budd Sr.,
"Most naturally I am concerned about the safety of my son because every time I move I got to move with him. I believe that the people out there must be satisfied that the guy didn't get convicted, so they probably will leave him alone."
Jules Vasquez,
You all invested a lot into this, you all risked your personal safety, you all underwent threats, you all invested all to see this case through to honor your son's memory, to make sure the people who you believe killed him are punished for it. That in your view did not happen. Is your confidence in the justice system shaken?
Calbert Budd Sr.,
"Most naturally my confidence in the justice system is more than shaken because there is no justice. What the justice system is doing is dictating to presently that we have to fight fire with fire and I really don't want to get into that type of justice."
Jules Vasquez,
Will you family be following up on this and trying to get a trial on a lesser charge since obviously you can't try somebody twice for murder?
Calbert Budd Sr.,
"My point of view is that whatever the justice system wants to do, whatever direction they want to take, it is all up to them. As far as I am concerned I don't want to go no further with it."
Budd also pointed to the poor performance of the police who failed to produce key pieces of evidence such as the bullet that killed Marlon Budd and blood samples taken form the scene.
