Marc Wilson’s Murder Trial Begins
August 25, 2022
26 months after the death of Hutcheson, Wilson now faces trial.
What happened: Marc Wilson is accused of deadly shooting.
- Back in June of 2020, Wilson, a biracial man, was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in relation to the shooting of 17-year-old, white female, Haley Hutcheson.
- The 23-year-old claimed he acted out of self-defense. The defense claims Wilson was driving on Veterans Memorial Parkway when a pickup truck of four teenagers attempted to run him and his girlfriend off the road while shouting racial slurs. Wilson then shot into the truck, killing Hutcheson. The defendant turned himself in 3 days after the incident.
What’s new: Jury selection took place Monday in the murder trial of Marc Wilson.
- Jurors were selected on both Monday and Tuesday, followed by around 20 hours of questioning from each side. The panel now consists of eight white males, four white females, two black females, and one Hispanic male, with ages ranging from their 20s to 60s, according to WJCL.
- Wednesday, in opening statements, lawyers for both the prosecution and defense presented conflicting narratives about why Wilson fired several shots. Wilson’s defense attorneys claim he was defending himself and his white then-girlfriend who was riding in the car with him during a racist attack.
- “Here’s what we believe the evidence will show, that this case was about, and is about, self-defense,” said Francys Johnson, the defendants lead attorney. “This case is about how Emma Ridgdon…, Marcus Wilson’s girlfriend who was in the car with him, how Emma Rigdon was saved from being run off the road and being shot to death,” according to the Statesboro Herald.
- “We are going to prove that William Marcus Wilson fired shots at this truck and killed Haley Hutcheson…Words alone never justify the use of deadly force against another human being,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney, Barclay Black. “That’s the law,” according to the Statesboro Herald.
- Mason Glission, driver of the pickup truck, testified as a prosecution witness denied attempting to run the defendant off the road.
What’s next: The trial will continue today at 8:30 a.m. and could roll into the weekend.
Why it matters: This case is prevalent amidst the conversations of both gun violence and social justice.
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