A Texas man who opened fire on a cop who was checking a security alarm at his house was acquitted of murder Wednesday.
A jury delivered the not guilty verdict in David Wilson’s trial after deliberating for about an hour and a half. Wilson had faced life in prison if convicted of killing Midland Officer Nathan Heidelberg.
Wilson had contended he mistook Heidelberg as a burglar, and shot him in self-defense when he entered the home to check the alarm in the early morning hours of March 5, 2019.
Prosecutors told the jury that the cop identified himself while he was outside Wilson’s front door, but Wilson had been hiding in a closet, and a Texas Ranger and a police trainee that were on the scene told defense lawyers it was possible that he did not hear Heidelberg’s announcement.
Midland is a mid-sized city in western Texas, about an hour’s drive from the New Mexico border.