Branch to appeal decision.
On July 13, attorneys defending the men responsible for the shooting that occurred in Morgan House last September asked the Division II Criminal Court Judge Randall Wyatt to sentence their clients to probation, arguing that the men acted in self-defense. The judge rejected their argument, however, and sentenced both gunmen to the maximum sentence of six years in prison.
Last spring, the gunmen pled not guilty and turned down a plea bargain, but, in order to avoid a jury trial, they decided to plead guilty to the charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a weapon on school grounds.
The judge’s decision to hand out the maximum possible sentence came at the end of a lengthy sentencing hearing. With the sentence, Wyatt made clear his disdain for violence on university campuses.
“There’s no place for folks coming onto a university setting, where parents send their children to get an education, and shooting weapons off,” he said. “The court has no tolerance for what they did.”
If Carlos Branch’s lawyer gets his way, however, the case may not be closed. According to Assistant District Attorney Jim Sledge, Carlos Branch is appealing his sentence. Sledge feels he is unlikely to succeed.
“I don’t believe he’ll be successful. They’d have to prove Judge Wyatt abused his power in order to get it overturned, which he didn’t,” he said.
In his closing comments of the sentencing hearing, Sledge referred to this case as the “But for the grace of God case,” stating that “but for the grace of God, George Smith would be dead or someone else would be dead.”
Sledge could not have been happier with the judgment, saying that he believed the judge made an excellent decision, and it couldn’t have gone any better.
George Smith, a Vanderbilt football player who was shot in the arm during the Sept. 25 shooting, was pleased with the result of the hearing as well.
“I feel comfortable that the judge made the right decision,” Smith said. “I am ready to move past this incident and concentrate on what is really important to me—school and football.”
