After deliberating just under three hours, an Ector County jury convicted a Mississippi man of murder in the death of an Odessa woman who was shot while trying to de-escalate a fight between the defendant and another man.
However, the jury found Shemar Harrington, 22, not guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The punishment phase of the trial is expected to begin 9 a.m. Friday in the 70th Ector County District Court.
According to the testimony of several witnesses, Erika Peña, a 31-year-old single mother of four, was shot around 1:30 a.m. May 29, 2022, outside the Southwest Oak apartments, where she and several friends and acquaintances lived and often gathered to listen to music, drink and eat.
Harrington testified Wednesday LaPaul Scaggs erroneously believed he had been recording him on his phone and in the minutes before the shooting Scaggs had threatened him while brandishing a gun from a staircase landing in Building 5 of the apartment complex.
Harrington told jurors Scaggs followed him into the parking lot and Peña stood between the two of them to try to defuse the situation. The defendant testified he had his weapon pointed at the ground, but after Scaggs punched him in the face, he brought it up and fired it, thinking Scaggs was getting ready to shoot him.
Scaggs and Peña were struck by the same bullet. Scaggs was struck in the arm. Peña was killed when the bullet traveled all the way through her torso, striking several organs before exiting.
According to Texas law, someone can act in self-defense if they believe their actions are “immediately necessary” to prevent someone from using or attempting to use deadly force. In addition, the law states a “reasonable” person would have to behave in the same manner.
During closing arguments Thursday afternoon, defense attorney Phillip Wildman told jurors to ask themselves if it was reasonable to think a man who had been waving a gun just a minute or two prior was getting ready to shoot them.
“It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback and say he should have left the apartment complex, but life doesn’t always work that way,” Wildman said.
Wildman told jurors the Odessa Police Department did a great job tracking Harrington down after the shooting, but they didn’t investigate why the shooting happened. He reminded them prosecutors didn’t put a single eyewitness on the stand, but he put four such witnesses on the stand in addition to his client.
One of those witnesses, Jatarrius Kelly testified he didn’t know Scaggs didn’t have a gun until he threw the punch and the shooting took place just seconds later, Wildman said.
Wildman also asked the jurors to consider whether it was reasonable for Harrington to leave the scene following the shooting knowing the crowd was well acquainted with Scaggs and didn’t know him.
Assistant Ector County District Attorney Rikki Earnest told jurors at least one witness testified they heard Harrington yell out for Scaggs not to hit him. She said Harrington fired the shot because he was afraid of getting punched.
“You don’t get to bring a gun to a fistfight, folks,” Earnest said.
Assistant Ector County District Attorney Elizabeth Howard told the jurors the state can only bring witnesses to the stand if they know about them in the first place and if they can be found.
Most of Wildman’s witnesses didn’t speak with the authorities and one of showed up on an officer’s body cam video, but there was no way to identify him from that, she said.
Howard also noted Wildman appeared to discredit his own witnesses during closing arguments, even describing one as a “special kind of stupid.”
“I think the reason he backpedaled on his witnesses is maybe they didn’t help as much as he thought they would,” Howard said.
Specifically, Howard noted none of Wildman’s witnesses saw a gun in Scaggs’ hands in the parking lot that morning.
When Peña held the defendant back he didn’t have a gun in his hand. When Scaggs punched Harrington he didn’t have a gun and when Scaggs fell to the ground after being shot, he didn’t have a gun, Howard said.
Wildman’s own witnesses testified that after being shot, Scaggs ran to the apartment where he was staying and yet police officers couldn’t find a gun in the apartment he bled all over, Howard said.
Howard also cast doubt on Harrington’s insistence he stayed at the complex after first upsetting Scaggs because he was trying to de-escalate the situation.
“Why would Montreal Jordan have to hold him back if he was de-escalating the situation?” Howard asked.
Even if they believe Harrington shot Scaggs in self-defense, Howard said Harrington is still guilty, under Texas law, of murdering Peña.
Howard told jurors at the beginning of the trial Scaggs has been uncooperative with authorities. He is currently awaiting trial on a sexual assault of a child charge. He was arrested the night of the shooting and remains in custody in the Ector County jail.
Judge Denn Whalen is presiding.
