KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Kansas City-area man who sat behind bars for 17 months awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge has been acquitted by a jury.
A jury took less than an hour earlier this month to find Terrance Wright, 25, Grandview, not guilty of the charge in the death of 49-year-old Benson Lewis on Nov. 23, 2019.
Police had said the fatal shooting occurred outside Lewis’ home during a custody dispute involving Wright’s child. Lewis was the child’s maternal grandfather. Wright maintained that he shot Lewis in self-defense.
Wright was arrested at the scene and held until his trial, because he was unable to raise the $250,000 cash bond set. In that time, Wright lost his job and said he has been left with no means to pay hundreds of dollars to get his car released from police impound.
“For now, I’m trying to play catch up and get at least to where I was,” Wright said.