A jury began hearing testimony Monday, July 24 in the trial of Garrett Reeves, 24, who is accused of shooting his father Kent Reeves, current Erath County Auditor.
The trial is being held this week in the 266th Judicial District Court with Judge Donald R. Jones presiding.
Garrett is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a Second Degree felony after allegedly shooting Kent more than a dozen times with an AR-15 and 9 mm Glock inside the family’s home April 9, 2022. Garrett pled not guilty, claiming self defense.
District Attorney Alan Nash addressed the jury in his opening statement describing a night that started as a “fairly routine conversation between father and the son’s employment” but eventually turned to a heated argument that led to Kent being shot.
“How did it come about that Garrett Reeves, the son, shoots Kent Reeves, the father at least a dozen times, firing off at least 23 AR-15 rounds, as well as rounds from a 9 mm Glock pistol?” Nash asked. “And then asserts self defense.”
Nash asked the jury to consider why guns were part of the discussion and laid out details for the jury.
“This is a family steeped in the gun heritage,” Nash said. Kent taught license to carry classes, they had a lot of guns in the house and he taught his son a lot about firearms.
“Somewhere along the path from adolescence into young adulthood, young Garrett became somewhat fanatical about firearms, to the point that based on his fear of government, fear of outsiders, being steeped in social media and illogical extremism, he carried an AR-15 with him at all times, even at home,” Nash said.
Both Garrett and his girlfriend Joan Huggins, lived with Kent and his wife, Lora Reeves. Joan and Lora were upstairs when the shooting occurred.
According to Nash, on the night in question, Kent had invited Garrett downstairs to have a drink or two and watch comedians. Kent would show a comedian he enjoyed and then Garrett would show one he appreciated. Kent decided to bring up the subject of Garrett’s future and the conversation quickly escalated.
“The rage by the son, wearing guns, he begins to confront his father with firearms. The father tells him, ‘put the guns up and go to bed, we are done,’” Nash said. “Are you trying to disarm me?’ are echoes of words spoken.”
Nash said guns then started getting pointed and grabbed, and quickly at least 23 rounds from the AR-15 and several rounds from the 9 mm pistol are fired and Kent laid on his own living room rug bleeding out from at least a dozen wounds.
“Fortunately, we don’t have an autopsy to count all the wounds because he lived,” Nash said.
Court-appointed Defense Attorney Jud Woodley asked the jury to listen to all the information presented throughout the whole trial before making up their minds about the case and to “keep an open mind.”
Woodley led the jury down a path of facts that included Garrett being home schooled and taught from a curriculum that fit with the family’s ideals, calling it neoconservatism.
According to Woodley, Kent started taking Garrett to self defense classes at an early age including how to defend himself in a gunfight.
The defense attorney described Garrett as someone extremely talented in music, so much so that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic he was able to sustain himself financially by teaching piano lessons, living in Austin with Joan.
“He enjoyed it, loved it and was good at it,” Woodley said.
After the pandemic hit, the couple could no longer make ends meet and moved in with Joan’s parents. After a falling out, they moved in with Kent and Laura, who wanted them to be self sufficient, but they were building a video game.
The Reeves agreed to give them about a year to finish the game and become self sufficient.
“There was an undercurrent of tension really related to Kent saying it’s time to get a J-O-B but they weren’t talking about it,” Woodley said.
Then the night of the shooting happened.
“Words were said that were offensive to both of them,” the defense attorney told jurors.
After the shooting, both Joan and Kent ran off on foot, about 5 miles away from the house, falling asleep under the bridge.
Garrett then turned himself in the next morning to a passing motorist, being taken into police custody.
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 see body cam footage of a shaken Lora letting Deputy Koonsman through the front gate and leading him to the home, where Kent laid critically injured.
Immediately, Koonsman asked dispatch to launch an air ambulance due to the severity of his wounds, then began to ‘clear’ the residence while waiting on backup to arrive, attempting to locate Garrett and providing protection for the Reeves in an active shooter situation.
As additional witnesses Erath County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Vanessa Griffin and Erath County Paramedic Colby Swearingen provided day one testimony, jurors were able to see additional body cam footage from Griffin, escorting EMS into a ‘hot scene’ protecting them as they performed a ‘load and go’ literally dragging Kent out of the house on an area rug, transported him to the stretcher, then the ambulance, driving with lights and sirens to meet the air ambulance.
“Was this an intense situation?” Nash asked Griffin. “Very,” she responded.
Swearingen said when arriving in the house he saw Kent lying in blood, with multiple spent shell casings and he was critically injured.
Initial vitals from Kent, according to the paramedic which were taken in the ambulance, showed his blood pressure levels at 138/109. When they got him on the helicopter they were 52/20.
Mean Arterial Pressure, which is the blood flow needed to keep brain activity occurring, is typically 65% or higher – his was 30.7%.
“There was a very high chance of death,” Swearingen said.
On Tuesday, jurors were able to hear testimony from Texas Ranger B.J. Hill and Erath County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Chris Hill.
The trial is expected to continue throughout the week including witness testimony from Lora and Kent Reeves and Joan Huggins.