Gully found not guilty

Article Photos

Bryce Gully was found not guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery charges Friday afternoon, about an hour and a half after the jury began deliberations in Webster County District Court.

Gully, then 15 years old, was accused in the shooting death of Matthew Huffman, 40, of Fort Dodge, on Sept. 20, 2008. Huffman died of a single gunshot wound from a bullet that passed through his elbow and lodged in his torso. He was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a drug deal in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood.

Cheers and applause from Gully's friends and relatives erupted from the packed courtroom after Judge Allan Goode read the verdict. Gully and his attorneys, Derek Johnson and Dani Eisentrager, wiped away tears.

Gully, who was tried as an adult, had faced the possibility of life in prison.

"I always thought they had problems with the case," Johnson said late Friday afternoon. "I always thought Bryce had a good chance at acquittal.

"It was emotional for everybody. We care about our clients. We wanted him to regain his freedom. We grew very close to Bryce," Johnson said.

In closing arguments, he reminded jurors that prosecution witnesses repeatedly changed their stories. Anna Sankey, who drove Huffman to the intersection of 10th Avenue Southwest and 12th Street Southwest to buy drugs, and Dustin Akin, the other passenger in the vehicle, originally lied to police about where the shooting occurred.

That put law enforcement "close to six hours at the wrong crime scene," Johnson said, as officers began their investigation at the Brass Monkey in downtown Fort Dodge. Sankey and Akin were afraid, Johnson said, that if they had told the truth they would get in trouble with the police for being involved in a drug deal, and in their testimony, each accused the other of creating the lie.

Akin also testified that he was very intoxicated and smoked crack cocaine earlier in the evening, Johnson said. Neither could identify Gully as the person who shot Huffman.

Johnson tried to cast suspicion on Shermain Mosley, a prosecution witness who, he said, might have shot Huffman then tried to shift the blame to Gully.

"My client is a very easy target ... it's easy to blame the juvenile. He won't get in as much trouble," Johnson said.

There were no fingerprints on the Sankey car, on the .380-caliber casing found near the crime scene, nor on .380-caliber bullets in the house where Gully was found later on the morning of the shooting to link Gully to the crime, Johnson said. And there was no evidence on a sweatshirt that belonged to Gully that was seized by law enforcement.

No gun was recovered in the shooting.

The trial, which began Monday, involved a parade of witnesses whose stories changed.

Assistant Webster County Attorney Ricki Osborn, in her closing arguments, said Jordan Foy and Mosley, two of more than 20 prosecution witnesses, told officers that Gully shot Huffman. However, neither said he saw the shooting. Osborn said relatives of Gully's had pressured witnesses and hidden evidence.

The people who had testified, Osborn said, "don't want to be part of this because that's what this neighborhood is about. They don't want to snitch on their friends."

She said Darquell Mosley Green, who testified Thursday, said he had been told by Shermain Mosley that Mosley, not Gully, was the shooter. Osborn said Mosley Green's story was told only because "he was trying to keep his friend out of trouble."

She reminded jurors that Gully was found hiding in the closet at his girlfriend's house when officers came to arrest him two days after the shooting. She said a recorded phone call between Gully, when he was in custody, and his younger brother, Malik Veal, was about real guns, not BB guns as Veal had testified.

Osborn also replayed a video surveillance tape recorded at the intersection where the shooting took place.

"It is heartbreaking ... to see a 16-year-old sitting in this seat," she said as she turned toward Gully. But said, "we are here because of his actions."

She urged jurors to hold Gully responsible "for what he did, despite his age." She also said the state doesn't want to convict an innocent person.

Matthew Huffman's brother, Ron Huffman, said Friday afternoon that he appreciates the efforts of prosecutors and law enforcement officials.

But Friday's verdict isn't the end of the story.

"Somebody ... does know who the killer is. They have blood on their hands, and I hope they can live with it," he said.

The judge ordered Gully to be released Friday following processing by law enforcement officials.

Contact Barbara Wallace Hughes at (515) 573-2141 or bwh@messengernews.net