KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday declared a mistrial in a weapons case involving one of two brothers acquitted on charges of killing a Roane County deputy and the deputy’s friend.
The Knoxville News Sentinel (https://bit.ly/1byDGAW ) reports that the judge declared the mistrial Wednesday before lawyers could present opening statements in the trial involving Rocky Joe Houston. U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves declared the mistrial after Houston’s lawyer pointed out that the judge failed to strike one of the jurors that the defense wanted out.
Houston is charged gun possession by a felon. Prosecutors had originally charged him with 14 counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, but dropped 13 of the charges to streamline the case.
Houston and his brother, Leon Houston, were acquitted of charges of killing Deputy Bill Jones and a friend of Jones’, Mike Brown, during a 2006 shootout. Authorities say the gun battle took place after the deputy went to the Houston family farm to serve Rocky Houston a warrant.
Prosecutors had argued that the brothers ambushed Brown and the deputy. However, the Houston brothers insisted that the two had come to kill them. The brothers were acquitted after prosecutors were unable to prove who fired the first shots.
Rocky Houston was later convicted of reckless endangerment and evading arrest. Federal agents arrested him in January of 2013 after saying a hidden camera showed that he still possessed weapons on his property. The agents arrested Leon Houston when he showed up with a gun during the raid and acknowledged being high on marijuana, court records say.
Rocky Houston has claimed that his rights were violated when agents used the camera to obtain footage of his property. A judge, however, has said that authorities did not need to obtain a search warrant to use the camera because it was placed on a utility pole across from Houston’s property and not on his land.
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Information from: Knoxville News Sentinel, https://www.knoxnews.com
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