(Editor’s Note: Due to the length of the trial being reported, Dublin Citizen staff were unable to attend part of the proceedings. Reporting of those portions were provided in cooperation with Beneath the Surface News. Those instances are attributed, and the Citizen thanks Beneath the Surface for their assistance.)
Garrett Dale Reeves, 23, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last week on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a family member. The charges following a grueling weeklong trial were for the shooting of his father, Kent Reeves, who serves as Erath County Auditor.
The charge is a First Degree felony and carries a punishment of five to 99 years and up to a $10,000 fine.
The trial was held in the 266th Judicial District Court with Judge Donald R. Jones presiding.
Kent was shot 19 times with an AR-15 and a 9 mm handgun on April 9, 2022 at the Reeves home.
After shooting his father, Garrett and his girlfriend at that time, Joan Huggins, fled from the scene, hiding out in the country until the next morning when Garrett turned himself in. Evidence uncovered that his girlfriend had no involvement in the shooting.
“This was a very grueling week with a troubling case,” Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash said after the trial concluded. “I respect the jury’s work to keep our community protected.”
Day 1 trial recap Monday, July 24
After an extended jury selection process, the state offered up opening remarks asking the jury to consider why guns were even part of a regular conversation between a father and son.
Court-appointed Defense Attorney Jud Woodley asked the jury to consider self defense in the case for the defendant.
After the conclusion of opening statements, Nash called his first witness-Erath County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Garrett Koonsman, who was a patrol deputy when the shooting took place and the first on scene. Jurors were able to watch body cam footage from both Koonsman and Erath County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Vanessa Griffin, who was the second one on scene.
Erath County Paramedic Colby Swearingen also provided day one testimony outlining how critically injured Kent was by the shooting.
Swearingen said when arriving in the house, he saw Kent lying in blood with multiple spent shell casings, and he was critically injured.
According to the paramedic, initial vitals from Kent taken in the ambulance showed his blood pressure levels at 138/109. When they got him on the helicopter they were 52/20.
“There was a very high chance of death,” Swearingen said.
Day 2 trial recap Tuesday, July 25
On day two of the trial, jurors heard testimony from Erath County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Chris Hill and watched body cam footage from the apprehension of Garrett the morning after the shooting, April 10, 2022.
They were found about three miles from the family’s home after having spent the night under a bridge.
According to Hill’s testimony, he responded to a call where a motorist was flagged down by Garrett and told that he had been involved in a self-defense shooting the night before and asked them to call the police.
After Hill’s testimony, Texas Ranger B.J. Hill was on the stand for the rest of Tuesday and the majority of Wednesday as the jurors watched a video of an interview between Ranger Hill and Garrett after he was taken into custody.
In that interview, Garrett said he knew his parents were being charitable allowing him and his girlfriend to move into their home more than a year prior.
He testified that he and his father had always had a pretty good relationship and no abuse took place.
On the night of the shooting, Kent and Garrett had a beer together on the patio and were listening to comedians on YouTube.
Then they went into the house and mixed some drinks with vodka with orange juice.
According to testimony, an argument took place between Kent and Garrett about the son’s career choices and inability to hold down a regular job. Things quickly became heated.
“He was on top of me and I fired one round because I believed I was in danger,” Garrett said in the interview, as reported by Beneath the Surface News.
After firing further shots, Garrett’s mother and Kent’s wife, Lora Reeves, ran down the stairs where she saw Kent lying in a pool of blood on the family’s area rug.
Day 3 trial recap Wednesday, July 26
On Wednesday, the jury again heard testimony from Ranger Hill as they concluded watching the interview video.
In the video, jurors could witness Garrett’s inability to recall certain parts of what occurred the night of the shooting.
“Can I think about it?” was a common phrase uttered by Garrett as he pushed himself to remember in the interview.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kent took the stand to recall the events from the shooting.
The father recalled having a great relationship with his son and described the relationship as loving and supportive.
As a firearms instructor, Kent said that guns are a big part of his family’s life. However, when Garrett began to carry both his pistol and his AR-15 everywhere he went, even inside the home to make a pizza.
“It was very odd,” Kent said as reported by Beneath the Surface News. “I didn’t understand it and hoped it would phase out.”
After the argument became heated the night of the shooting, Kent said that Garrett, who was armed, stood up and grabbed his rifle.
Kent then told Garrett it was time to put up the guns and go to bed. Garrett then asked his father numerous times if he was trying to disarm him.
Kent then went to grab the end of Garrett’s rifle and said, “This has gone too far. Stop,” according to Beneath the Surface News reporting of Kent’s testimony.
It was then that Garrett started firing. After several rifle rounds were fired, Kent heard Garrett draw his pistol and he shot his father in the stomach.
At this point, Kent took his son to the ground in a bear hug, he said.
“I didn’t want to hurt him and I didn’t want him to hurt me anymore,” he said, according to Beneath the Surface News.
Day 4 trial recap Thursday, July 27 On Thursday, Kent again took the stand where jurors heard an interview that took place between Ranger Hill and Kent three days after the shooting in the hospital.
Kent had not heard the interview prior to sitting on the stand. He could be seen composing himself after hearing that his son shot him in the back at point blank range, literally burning his skin with the weapon.
“He was shooting me while I was down?” Kent was heard asking Ranger Hill in the interview. “Yes.”
After Kent heard that information, his blood pressure monitor can be heard in the background going off in the hospital.
Defense called its first witness, Lora Reeves, on Thursday who testified that over time both she and Kent thought their son might have high-functioning autism.
“He was very gifted,” she said, recalling his childhood, stating he could read at three years old and was terrific at math.
Despite being homeschooled, Lora said Garrett did pretty well socializing and volunteered at a nursing home in Hico and at the Senior Citizens Center.
“He was always around a lot of people,” she said.
As lifelong gun advocates, Lora said it wasn’t strange in their household to carry weapons, however, both she and Kent hoped Garrett would phase out of carrying the AR-15 everywhere he went.
“I’ve never been worried about Garrett harming anyone,” she said.
Lora recalled the night of the shooting, saying she actually called for Garrett because she believed that there may have been an intruder in the house.
It was only once she went downstairs that she found out that Kent had been shot by their son.
On cross examination, the state established some key facts of Garrett’s life including being extremely talented at music and classical piano- so much so that he was able to earn a living in Austin prior to the pandemic by teaching lessons at a variety of schools.
Once the pandemic hit, Garrett was increasingly fearful of social unrest and urged Joan to quit her job and move back to the area and in with Joan’s parents.
The duo were also working on a trailer for a new video game, a project Garrett kept getting more and more frustrated about due to financing.
After about a year, an argument occurred between Joan’s family and Garrett. The couple then moved in with the Reeves.
It was understood, Lora said, after about a year that one or both of them would have to get an income, but the Reeves were willing to give them the time to see if they could make a go of the video game.
During that time, Garrett had a brief job at Smith Supply but left the job due to conflicts with coworkers.
After Lora’s testimony, both the state and the defense rested, allowing jurors to begin deliberations. After an hour, the jury found Garrett guilty of the charge.
Day 5 trial recap Friday, July 28
On day five, jurors heard more evidence before moving into the sentencing phase including testimony from Garrett’s former girlfriend Joan Huggins, psychologist Sheree Gallagher, friend Steven Allen and Garrett’s mother Lora Reeves.
A tense Joan took the stand outlining a relationship fraught with control and abuse.
Joan and Garrett originally met in Hico as musicians participating in the Spring Swing and continued their relationship professionally.
Joan originally moved to Austin in 2014 to pursue her career in music and in 2017, Garrett moved to Austin to further his career in music. In 2018, they moved in together as a couple.
“We were barely able to make ends meet and needed help from our parents from time to time,” she recalled.
As time went on and the pandemic hit, Joan said Garrett became increasingly interested in politics and guns. She recalled that he began carrying a firearm more often, first in his car then on his person.
Joan also said he played military type video games and asked her to also play.
The couple began working on their own ‘mod’ for a video game they were playing and started writing a story as part of that.
“It became sort of a solution to not being able to make ends meet,” she said.
After the pandemic hit, Joan said Garrett made it clear that they needed to leave Austin, that it was too dangerous. She wanted to stay, she said, a least for a bit since she was emotionally attached to her job with animals as a pet sitter.
When Nash asked Joan if he would ever make threats to harm her or others, she answered yes and stated she was afraid to leave.
After Garrett and Joan moved from her family’s house to Kent and Lora’s, Joan was not allowed to talk to her dad, had rare conversations with her mom and talked to her brothers through an app when Garrett would play the piano at church.
As time went on, they both developed more of an isolated existence. However, Joan said both Lora and Kent were extremely kind to her.
When asked by the defense attorney why she didn’t ask them for help, she simply said, “they were his parents and I did not feel safe talking to anyone about what was going on.”
Psychologist Sheree Gallagher provided some insight into factors involved in the shooting.
Upon completing mental exams of Garrett, she said she believed Garrett had a delusional disorder which included paranoid ideation.
She stated that, in her opinion, it was related to depression and that alcohol may have added to the paranoia.
Gallagher said that alcohol, weapons training, access to weapons, depression, delusions, social factors and even the theme of the game being intertwined in the delusion may have contributed to the shooting.
However, she said, it can easily be treated with medication and delusional disorder actually has one of the best prognoses of treatment out of any mental health illness.
Gallagher said when doing a risk assessment there is never no risk.
Steven Allen testified that if the jury did give Garrett probation, he and his wife would be happy to provide a living space and offer a job to him.
Garrett’s mother said ultimately she and Kent would like restorative justice but that was not possible in the current prison system.
“You always hope for the best for your child. But in this case I need to rely on others to make this decision because of my bias,” Lora said. “We hope to reconcile our family at some point.”
In closing remarks for sentencing, Nash implored the jury to give Garrett a “lengthy prison term.”
Nash asked the jury to place a zero in the fine category since this was in no way a financial crime.
“It still to this day makes me sick when a young man is remanded to custody to a penitentiary,” he said.
Nash reminded jurors that with every active shooter situation the public asks why the shooter was not in jail after so many warning signs.
“What terrifies law enforcement [and] prosecutors are the ones that are out there that we can’t identify yet. Where’s the next Uvalde shooter?” he said. “We can’t afford any other choice.”
Defense Attorney Jud Woodley said that the jury had the most difficult job in front of them still.
“It is a huge punishment range: 5-99 [years],” he said. Woodley said his worst fear coming into the case was what if the jury believes Garrett was a mass shooter.
“The state has a point of view to present to you that’s better safe than sorry,” Woodley said. “And I’ll admit to you, that in my opinion, and I say this with no disrespect: I think the easiest thing to do is to err on the side of caution. The harder thing to do is to take that risk.”
After deliberating for an hour and a half, the jury and Judge Jones sentenced Garrett to 30 years in prison, with no fine and no probation. He must serve at least 15 years before he is eligible to go in front of a parole board.