Former Pike County sheriff’s deputy Terry Beadles’ 18-month saga came to a close Wednesday evening when a jury found him not guilty of manslaughter in the March 15, 2015, shooting death of Troy Boyd.
Beadles was indicted last September after questions arose over his use of deadly force in his encounter with Boyd.
The jury deliberated for just 13⁄4 hours, capping the two-day trial.
The initial 911 call to which Beadles responded in northeastern Pike County was of a person in distress, possibly dead, slumped over in a four-wheeler.
While en route to the scene, Beadles, then a lieutenant in the Pike County sheriff’s department, learned when the reporting person made a second 911 call that the man was then driving his four-wheeler erratically in the area of Felder’s Campground.
When Beadles made contact with the man, only later identified as Troy Boyd, he observed that Boyd had blood on the left side of his face, and he did not respond to questions or instructions to get off of his four-wheeler. Instead, after a brief struggle, Boyd drove away, dragging Beadles with him.
Beadles returned to his car and followed Boyd, eventually attempting a rolling roadblock, a maneuver in which a police officer moves in front of the vehicle he is pursuing and slows down.
Beadles and Boyd both came to a stop and the deputy stepped from his car.
As he did so, however, Boyd began to drive in Beadles’ direction. Beadles shouted for Boyd to stop, but Boyd began to accelerate directly toward the deputy.
It was then, in fear for his life, that Beadles drew his service weapon and fired six shots at Boyd, two of which hit him.
Boyd’s autopsy showed two bullet wounds, one in his lower back and another in his ankle.
It was not determined which of the shots struck Boyd, but he continued driving past Beadles as Beadles fired. He came to a stop a half-mile away, where Beadles and another deputy found him lying on the side of the road.
Boyd died after cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene was unsuccessful. A fellow deputy and Beadles had performed chest compressions and rescue breathing, respectively, until a passerby who identified herself as an EMT took over for Beadles.
According to an autopsy report, both bullets had entered Boyd from the rear, and that is what led to Beadles’ indictment for manslaughter. A law enforcement officer may use deadly force only if he is, or reasonably perceives himself to be, in imminent danger.
The prosecution’s contention was that once Boyd drove past Beadles the threat had ended and Beadles was no longer in danger. He would then not have been allowed to keep firing.
Copiah County District Attorney Alexander Martin said in his closing arguments, “The only way those two bullets got in Troy’s back was after he was no longer a threat.”
He and Copiah County special prosecutor Marty Arrington had drawn attention during the trial to discrepancies between statements Beadles gave to investigators in the days following the shooting, Beadles’ testimony in the trial, and the testimony of a second sheriff’s deputy at the scene and a man who witnessed the fatal encounter from his front porch.
The differences related both to Beadles’ exact location as Boyd drove toward him, and to whether Boyd was indeed driving directly toward him or only trying to drive around the police car and head to his house, which was farther down Archie Boyd Road.
Prosecutors from outside of Pike County tried the case because of Beadles’ professional connection to the local justice system.
Ronnie Whittington, Beadles’ defense attorney, stressed that all six shots had come in the space of little more than one second, which was too little time for Beadles to determine a change in the level of threat from Boyd.
Whittington also emphasized Boyd’s state of impairment and reckless behavior.
“Nothing suggests that Troy did anything but act with total disregard to his own safety. ... Troy initiated a crisis, life-and-death situation,” Whittington said. “I’m not throwing (him) under the bus; he did this to himself.”
After the court clerk read the verdict aloud at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Beadles bowed his head and smiled a tight-lipped smile but remained at the defendant’s table with his attorney while Judge Frank Vollor — also specially appointed to hear the case — expressed his thanks to the jury. Jurors were given time to leave not only the courtroom but the building, and then Boyd’s family was allowed the same opportunity.
Only then did Beadles rise from his table. He hugged Whittington, his lawyer, and finally broke down into tears as he embraced his wife and family.
“My client and I are grateful to the jury that worked hard and deliberated hard and did their duty,” Whittington said this morning.
“We had a fair trial, a hard-fought trial, and we are satisfied completely that the right result was obtained. It’s a burden off my client and his family.”
Neither Alexander Martin nor Marty Arrington, the prosecutors, could be reached for comment today.
