After a jury trial lasting two days amd jurors deliberating for an hour and 15 minutes, Robert Stanley Hurt Jr. received a verdict of not guilty on charges of a felony DUI and murder.
Hurt, 43, of Riceville was indicted Oct. 25 on charges of drunken driving and murder following a vehicle accident that took the life of his sister, Lisa Lovelace, on March + 2004. He was arraigned Feb 3, 2005.
When the verdict was announced, Dorothy Stallings, Hurts mother put her hands to her face and screamed because she was overjoyed at her sons verdict. She said Judge John Rochester threatened to put her in jail, but that she didn't mind.
"I just couldn't help myself," Stallings commented.
If hurt had been found guilty of vehicular homicide in conjunction with the felony DUI, it would have been a Class A felony and carried a jail sentence of 10 years up to 99 years or life.
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Stallings said that eight months and two days prior to Lovelace's death, she had lost another daughter, Jewel Lovelace. A year before that, her mother passed away.
"I don't think I would have been able to take it if they had put him away," Stallings said about hurt.
She was greatful to God for answering her prayers that her son would go free and said she had been praying all day Wednesday.
The main objectiveof the case was proving wheather Hurt had been driving the vehicle the night of the accident.
According to Circuit Clerk Jeff Wood, hurt maintained his innocence that he was not driving the vehicle.
Defense attorneys Chris Sanspree and Ed McRight called an expert witness from Tallahassee, Fla, to the stand. This witness performed a crash reconstruction on the board to prove to the jury that Lovelace had been the driver.
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