PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A Pinellas County man was convicted Monday of a lesser charge than prosecutors had hoped for in a March 2019 road rage shooting that killed Quentin Hicks and injured another man.
William John Shutt, of Seminole, was found guilty of manslaughter rather than second-degree murder. The jury acquitted him of attempted murder for wounding the second person.
Following a traffic dispute, prosecutors said Shutt, now 34, fired into a BMW near the intersection of 17th Avenue Northeast and Bay Street Northeast in St. Pete's Historic Old Northeast neighborhood. The BMW then crashed into a tree. Hicks died. The other man was shot in the leg.
Shutt was arrested in April 2019. For the last three years, he has awaited trial at the Pinellas County Jail.
"I am happy the jury cleared Mr. Shutt of murder, equally happy they acquitted him of attempted murder of the passenger, disappointed of the lesser manslaughter conviction. But I understand and respect the jurors' decision," said Roger Futerman, Shutt's defense attorney, in a statement to 10 Tampa Bay.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, which first reported the verdict, the jury deliberated for two hours, and Hicks' family declined to comment after the outcome was read.
Even before the events at the center of the trial, Shutt had a history of incidents on the road. Court documents showed he was cited for careless driving after causing a crash just five days prior to the shooting in question. A year before that, back in 2018, he was cited for reckless driving for "cutting in front, speed, and failure to obey," the documents read.
Shutt is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3. The judge could give him up to 30 years in prison.