NEW BOSTON, Texas: A Bowie County jury deliberated the case of a husband accused of killing his wife by accidentally shooting her while intentionally shooting at someone else for about two hours Thursday evening before being sent home for the night.
Travon Walker, 27, is charged with murder in the shooting death of Kaitlin Lee. Lee, 23, was struck Jan. 30, 2018, by a stray bullet while standing in an alleyway near Apache Trail in Texarkana, Texas. Murquan Neal and Chris Shavers testified that they each have a child with the same woman and had been arguing throughout the day Jan. 30, 2018.
The men agreed to meet on Apache Trail and fight. Shavers and Neal both testified that Walker, a friend of Shavers’, took possession of a handgun Shavers carried before Neal and Shavers began exchanging punches.
When the fight was broken up as Neal got the better of Shavers, Walker fired a shot into the air which multiple witnesses testified sent them running in multiple directions. After the first shot, more rounds were fired. Several of those bullets were recovered from a garage and one struck Lee in the left side of her head.
Experts testified that the bullet that was recovered from Lee’s body at autopsy was fired from Shavers’ pistol as were the spent rounds and shell casings recovered by police from the scene. Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter pointed to the testimony of witnesses who said they saw Walker shoot the gun. Shavers’ sister-in-law testified that she drove Shavers to Walker’s apartment hours after the shooting. Shavers testified that he retrieved his gun from Walker’s apartment. The gun was seized the following day by Texarkana, Texas, police.
Carter told the jury that Walker was in the process of committing the felony offense of deadly conduct when he accidentally killed Lee. Under the law, a person can be charged with murder if they cause a death while in the commission of another felony.
If convicted of murder, Walker faces five to 99 years or life in prison. The jury was placed in an evening recess Thursday at about 6:45 p.m. with instructions to return to court Friday morning to continue deliberations.
