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Storer case shows why we use juries, not computers

By SUE CARLTON
Published August 4, 2006

Few moments divide the world completely into before and after, when everything changes and nothing can be taken back.

For Shantavious Wilson, a moment like that came three years ago, when he tied a red bandana around his face, pulled on gloves, walked up to a truck parked on a dark street and put a gun in the face of a man named Lawrence Storer.

For Storer, a moment like that came Thursday morning, when the court clerk read the verdict.

Not guilty of manslaughter, the jury said. Not guilty for what happened after Wilson robbed him inside the Thai restaurant he runs in downtown Tampa. Not guilty for jumping into his truck, chasing Wilson four blocks, hitting him and killing him.

"You're free to go," the judge said.

The jury had spoken, as had more than a dozen potential jurors earlier in the week who said they could not convict a man who had done this. As had a stranger in a pickup who spotted Storer and his lawyer, John Fitzgibbons, leaving the courthouse the day before the verdict.

"Hey, Mr. Storer," the stranger called. "Good luck, sir."

The case against him resonated with us, put us there that night looking at a robber's gun. It sparked argument. We believe someone who points a gun deserves what might happen afterward. Or we believe Storer went too far and crossed the line from victim to criminal.

If you fed the details of what happened that night into a computer, then added the particulars of the law on manslaughter, maybe that computer would spit out a verdict of guilty.

But we put ordinary people on a jury to figure out how the law applies. We want their common sense, their smarts, the layers of life they have lived. Mostly, we want their humanity.

And ordinary they were, a recreation therapist, a business analyst, someone in sales and marketing. They asked for tape and an easel and markers and got to work. In the end, they could not see Storer as a criminal.

Much worked in his favor. The jury knew he was a hard-working businessman doing construction outside the restaurant after putting in a full day inside. They knew he worked alongside his family and had a son and baby daughter. They could probably guess he hadn't been in trouble before.

They knew Wilson had.

Storer said he was afraid his life was over. Wilson's gun - a pellet gun, as it turned out - was one scary replica, big, silver and lethal-looking.

Storer called 911 right after he was robbed and brought his portable phone along when he jumped in his truck. He said he believed help was on the way because the police station was around the corner. He said he meant to assist in the arrest.

And the whole thing took only three minutes.

The law on excusable homicide - which says a killing is legal if it happens by accident "in the heat of passion upon any sudden and sufficient provocation" - could have been written for the defense.

Prosecutor Jalal Harb said he respects the jury's decision but will always see this as a crime. "Four blocks is too far, I believe," he said. "Three minutes is too long."

But he does not believe the verdict sends the world a message that it's okay to go after bad guys and kill them. Regular people know this. Lawrence Storer knows this.

He said on the stand that going after Wilson was crazy. It was not reasonable. If this happened again, Harb asked, would he stay safely locked inside his restaurant? Storer barely let him get the question out. "Absolutely," he said.

"I don't wish it had happened this way," he said Thursday. "I hope everybody understands that."

He says this outside his restaurant, where he and Wilson faced each other. He is sweating in the sun, still wearing his dark courtroom suit. His family surrounds him. Well-wishers he knows and doesn't know stop to hug him or touch his sleeve. Three years have gone by. He is not going to jail.

A man died. The state charged a reasonable crime under the circumstances. A jury of six ordinary citizens considered the law and did their job. And Lawrence Storer is not guilty.

Sue Carlton can be reached at carlton@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 4, 2006, 01:27:51]