Jury acquits soldier in home shooting

     A jury agreed a soldier acted in self-defense when he shot another man who entered his home. Corporal Timothy Ryan shot his girlfriend's brother in February of 2007. Thursday a Jefferson County jury found him not guility of aggravated assault. Jessica Holloway reports, prosecutors believe the Texas Castle Doctrine will play an increasing role in cases like this one.

    These soldiers are relieved. They've waited all day for a verdict and they're glad a jury acquitted Corporal Timothy Ryan.

     "I'm glad it's over. I finally can get my life back together, get back on track," said Timothy Ryan.

     "The victim was in the hospital for 3 weeks, his spleen removed, several lobes of his liver damaged. He got shot in the left side and it went all the way through to his right side," said Prosecutor Ramon Rodriguez.

     Ryan and his girlfriend broke up in 2007. She and a group of family members went to gather her belongings from his house at 11 p.m.

     "These people came uninvited into his home," said Defense Attorney Langston Adams.

     His girlfriend told jurors when Ryan began throwing pots and pans out of the cabinets, her brother came inside to help. Ryan said it was dark and he thought her brother had a gun.

     "I was real scared. I was in my own home. I was real scared," said Ryan.

      Ryan says he fired his weapon out of self-defense. Prosecutors say apparently the jury thought the same thing.

     "Granted he was in his home and with changes in the Texas law I think verdicts like this will become more common, no matter what the facts are," said Rodriguez.

      The Castle Doctrine, passed in Texas in 2007, allows residents to meet force with force, including deadly force, if they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent death.

     "A little after 11 p.m. without my consent without my permission to come in my home," said Ryan.

     "He didn't have to do it. There could have been other ways like calling police, remaining armed, go in a bedroom and lock the door," said Rodriguez.

     More than a dozen fellow soliders, all in uniform, some of them supenaed to court, waited to hear the outcome.

     "I wake up every night with this on my conscious. Now I can relax," said Ryan.

      Prosecutors were somewhat surprised with verdict.

     "They must have focused on the Castle Doctrine. That's the only way to explain it. They believed what he said," said Rodriguez.

     Corporal Ryan says he's looking forward to spending time with his family.