Jury begins deliberating in shooting of Temple student
Richard Dodds of Montgomery County is charged with attempted murder in wounding of Ian Hirst-Hermans.
THERE'S JUST ONE undisputed fact: Montgomery County resident Richard Dodds shot Ian Hirst-Hermans, then a student at Temple, in the chest on Halloween weekend in 2010. Now, the jury has to decide whether Dodds acted in self-defense, or if he is guilty of attempted murder.
"Thank God Ian Hirst-Hermans recovered," Christopher Phillips, Dodds' attorney, said yesterday on the last day of the trial. "But his injuries are not the legal responsibility of Ricky Dodds."
Dodds is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
At a house party on 17th Street near Diamond in 2010, Dodds was beaten up by Hirst-Hermans' friends. When Hirst-Hermans and his friends left the house, Dodds held up his gun and fired once. Phillips claims Dodds feared that the men were there to finish the beating.
Regardless of whether an imminent threat was real, Dodds would be justified in acting in self-defense if he believed he was in danger of serious bodily harm, Phillips said.
After Dodds was kicked out of the house with black eyes and a bleeding mouth, partygoers followed him to the street. With his "head still ringing from the jackhammer beating," Dodds tried to protect himself, and therefore acted in self-defense, Phillips said.
But Assistant District Attorney Allison Worysz sees it differently. Hirst-Hermans and his friends left the party 15 to 20 minutes after the fight, one or two beers later, Worysz said. They had moved on. By the time they left the party, Dodds had gone to his car for his 9 mm Glock, packed with hollow-point bullets, and was waiting outside stewing, she said.
Dodds' ego was hurt after seeing his girlfriend talking with Hirst-Hermans and then getting beaten up and kicked out of the party, Worysz said.
"Losing your temper doesn't justify him losing his life," Worysz said of Hirst-Hermans.
With both sides of the story for the jury to mull, the case closed for the day.
"That man at the defense table had the last word that night," Worysz said, pointing to Dodds. "Now you have the last word."