Milwaukee County, Wisconsin



From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of Septmeber 4, 2004

Man acquitted in shotgun killing on street



A Milwaukee County jury on Friday acquitted Rudolph Spears of all homicide charges he faced for killing a man with a shotgun last year.



Spears, 27, had testified he didn't know Randy Scott, 23, and wasn't armed when Scott ran toward him on the evening of Aug. 14, 2003. Spears pulled the shotgun out of his car and fired on Scott in the 1300 block of N. 37th Place. A medical examiner found Scott had been hit three times, including once in the head.



At trial, Spears and a neighbor of Scott's described him as a neighborhood ruffian known for firing guns and menacing people with a 3-foot pipe. Spears said prior encounters with Scott led him to buy the shotgun for protection.



Jurors found Spears not guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and of all three lesser charges Circuit Judge Elsa Lamelas had ordered them to consider: second-degree intentional homicide, and first- and second-degree reckless homicide.