Woman not guilty in fiancé's fatal shooting
An Austin-area woman who said she was defending herself and her daughter when she fatally shot her fiancé two years ago got to go home after a Travis County jury acquitted her of murder and all other charges Friday.
Charity Ellis of Hudson Bend had testified during her trial in district court that she was the victim of continued physical abuse and fired a shotgun at her boyfriend, Bradley Sullivan, after he came home high on drugs Dec. 31, 2017, and shoved her into a weight bench. Ellis said she thought she had struck Sullivan in the foot and not in the back, where he suffered a fatal blow. That, she explained, is why she expressed indifference about Sullivan's well -being and spoke disrespectfully to Travis County sheriff's deputies after the incident.
Jurors made up their minds after more than five hours of deliberations that began Thursday afternoon. They also acquitted her of two lesser felony charges, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Ellis, who had been in jail since the shooting on bail set at $400,000, faced up to 99 years in prison on the murder charge.
Ellis, 50, was expressionless when visiting Judge Wilford Flowers read the verdict to a nearly empty courtroom. Her parents, who had attended the weeklong trial, were not present. Neither was Sullivan's family. Also missing was Ellis' defense attorney, Brian Erskine, who was traveling.
In closing arguments Thursday, Erskine argued that Sullivan's actions on the night of the shooting continued a pattern of erratic and violent behavior that were brought on by drug abuse. A toxicologist testified that Sullivan had methamphetamine and other drugs in his system at the time of his death. Ellis' daughter, who was then 15, testified that she was scared of Sullivan and kept a butcher knife near her bed for protection. Once, she said, she defended herself with a lighter and an aerosol can.
Erskine's co-counsel, Jason Jarvis, released a statement commending the jury's decision.
"Ms. Charity Ellis believed in her innocence and we held firm with her in that belief," the statement says. "She acted in self defense and we supported her in that over the past year while she waited in jail for her day in court. The jury conscientiously reached its verdict after an exhaustive and thorough evaluation of the evidence. Because justice was served today Ms. Ellis finally gets to go home an innocent woman and will be reunited with her family."
The trial was complicated by the absence of former Travis County medical examiner, Dr. Sam Andrews, who performed Sullivan's autopsy. Prosecutors did not call him to testify because of concerns related to a Texas Rangers and Texas Medical Board investigation into the Lubbock County medical examiner's office, where Andrews works now as chief medical examiner. Lubbock-based news station KCBD reported last week that the medical board issued a subpoena for records related to, among other things, complaints made against Andrews and any behavior issues he's had. KCBD also reported that the Lubbock County district attorney's office will not try any death cases that involve the current staff of the Lubbock County medical examiner's office.
During his time in Austin, Andrews came under scrutiny for changing his cause-of-death findings on the day before he was set to testify in the murder trial of a man who was suspected of fatally beating his boyfriend. State District Judge David Wahlberg said he was "disgusted" by Andrews' flip-flop and eventually excluded the doctor's testimony. Without confirmation about how the victim died, prosecutors could not pursue their most serious charges, including murder. The defendant, Bryan Canchola, was convicted of misdemeanor assault against Stephen Sylvester and agreed to a sentence of six months in jail.
Prosecutors in Ellis' trial elicited testimony from a medical examiner who reviewed the autopsy Andrews conducted on Sullivan. In closing arguments, Erskine told the jury that it was an "anomaly" to not have the chance to cross-examine the doctor who performed the autopsy. He then pretended to ask questions to an empty witness chair where Andrews would have been seated.
"When that came to our attention, we had communication with the Lubbock district attorney's office about their hesitancy in using him," Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore said. "That's when we decided to use the reviewing medical examiner instead."
Travis County spokesman Hector Nieto said the investigation into Andrews has not extended to Austin.
"Neither the Texas Rangers nor the Medical Board have reached out to the medical examiner's office regarding Dr. Andrews," he said.