Kingsland shooter accepts plea deal

KINGSLAND, Texas (KXAN) - A Hill Country man who shot and killed a suspected burglar at his neighbor's house accepted a plea deal for deadly conduct Friday. Tom Oakes, 65, will serve a one-year deferred adjudication, essentially probation, and pay a fine of $2,000.

Oakes' concealed weapon permit will also be suspended, and he must forfeit the 45-calibur handgun he used in the shooting.

"I just didnt think he deserved to go the penitiary for what occured here," said Llano County District Attorney Sam Oatman. "I think a jury would have arrived at the same decision that I made, and since I have to make the decision I felt like justice was served in what I did."

Deadly conduct is a class A misdemeanor. Under the plea deal, the criminally negligent homicide charge a Llano County grand jury originally indicted Oakes on will be dismissed.

"He just wanted to get things over with," said Jim Wheat, Oakes' attorney. "It was the best thing for him and his family.

Oakes had been looking forward to telling his side of the story to a jury. From the beginning, Oakes said he felt his life was in danger when he fired five shots toward a car full of three men the morning of July 30, 2008. He said he walked toward his neighbors house along the Llano River, armed with a gun, to check out a suspicious car that was backed up to the carport.

When he confronted the men, they started driving away. Oakes said one of the men in the back seat appeared to be reaching for something in the floor board, and that is why he started shooting.

"I would have loved to have taken it to trial," said Wheat. "He is 65, but his biggest deal is he just wants to get back to living his retirement and to try to get back to something normal."

One of the the bullets struck Casey Rowe, 25, in the back of the neck. He died two months later at a rehab facility in Lubbock.

Rowe's mother, Theresa Garcia, read a victim impact statement to Oakes in the courtroom. Oatman said tears were rolling down her face as she held out a picture of her son.

The Rowe family issued the following statement in response to the plea deal:

"The family feels today justice died along with Casey Rowe. When a young man can be gunned down without cause, in cold blood, and no one pays the consequences -- even though the killer was caught and facing trial by jury in two more weeks in the Llano Court. He pleaded out to a misdemeanor charge so the suspect could get on with his life with no regards for the young life he took that day. Also, the family feels the precedence set today in Llano County is not for families or the young. The family would like everyone to know -- from Tommy Oakes to the Llano County courts -- they are not through with trying to find justice for Casey Lee Rowe.”

Marble Falls defense attorney Eddie Shell is helping the family file a civil lawsuit against Oakes for wrongful death.

"His [Oakes'] actions were just over the top," said Shell. "There was excessive force used. It just wasn't real good judgement in shooting her young son."