Man acquitted in 2010 shooting death of daughter's boyfriend on Hilton Head :: 11/05/2014

A jury need only about an hour of deliberation Wednesday to find a Hardeeville man not guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his daughter's boyfriend, his attorney said.

Public defender Trasi Campbell said she was pleased the jury agreed Gary Lee Simmons, 55, acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Alvin Sosa on Hilton Head Island on Dec. 4, 2010. Simmons, formerly of Bluffton, was also found not guilty of possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime, Campbell said.

Simmons did not testify in Beaufort County Court before Judge Carmen Mullen on Wednesday, the second day of his trial, according to Campbell.

He had admitted to law enforcement he shot Sosa, 30, twice after the man trailed him and Simmons' daughter, who was also Sosa's live-in girlfriend, to Farmers Club Drive. Sosa approached Simmons with a knife and a pair of brass knuckles, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office.

"I don't know that we were expecting that verdict, but we were certainly pleased with the verdict," Campbell said. "And we're very thankful."

Campbell declined to discuss the details of the trial.

Fourteenth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Sean Thornton said he believed the prosecutor, assistant solicitor Patrick Hall, presented enough evidence to convince a jury Simmons was guilty.

"Obviously, though, they did not find him guilty," Thornton said. "That's the jury's province, and we respect their decision."

On the morning Sosa was killed, he and Simmons' daughter had argued about attending a birthday party, according to the Sheriff's Office. Sosa stayed home but called Simmons and his daughter throughout the day and threatened them, witnesses told deputies.

When Sosa arrived at Farmers Club Drive, he charged at Simmons, who shot him with a rifle he had been using earlier in the day to hunt deer, witnesses told the Sheriff's Office.

Simmons still faces an unrelated charge of felony possession of crack cocaine, stemming from a March traffic stop. That case is pending.

http://www.thestate.com/2014/11/05/3793955_man-acquitted-in-2010-shooting.html?rh=1