TAMPA, Fla. — The attorneys for Gerald Declan Radford, who is charged with murdering a gay man at Tampa dog park in early February, are telling the I-Team they believe public pressure led to their client’s arrest more than a month after the fatal shooting.
Thursday afternoon, attorneys Matthew Futch and Marie Taylor participated in a 45-minute Zoom interview with I-Team investigator Adam Walser. They discussed the evidence they’ve learned about through the discovery process and how it might come into play in an upcoming “Stand Your Ground” hearing.
Radford, who goes by “Dec”, was arrested March 8th for the February 2 shooting and has been held without bond in the Hillsborough County Jail since his arrest.
We first tried to talk to him outside his home a week after he shot and killed Walt Lay at a Tampa dog park.
“I'm nowhere near over this. I’m nowhere near ready,” Radford told us at the time.
“The facts do a lot of heavy lifting for us”
Now his attorneys are speaking out about a case they say was a tragic incident that led to Radford having to shoot Lay in self-defense.
“We wanted to take the opportunity to reach out to you and kind of share some of our thoughts and some of the things I don’t think the public is aware of as it pertains to this investigation,” Futch said.
“This is a case of self-defense, and Mr. Radford’s statement has never been disproven,” Taylor said. “In this particular case, the facts do a lot of heavy lifting for us, and the facts speak for themselves.”
Days after Walt's death, other parkgoers told us about the escalating conflict between the two men, saying Dec taunted Walt because he was gay.
They said Dec frequently used derogatory homophobic slurs to refer to Walt.
Lead detective Robert Harrop said during a March 18 bond hearing that Radford admitted using those slurs in the past.
“Mr. Radford stated that he did in fact on multiple occasions in the past use derogatory language towards the victim’s sexual orientation,” Harrop testified.
Futch denies his client has a problem with gay people and says Dec even congratulated Walt about disclosing he was gay.
“It had nothing to do with hating him for his sexual orientation. Or anything like that,” Futch said.
Dec was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on March 8th.
At the time, prosecutors announced they plan to seek a hate crime enhancement if he is convicted.
Dec’s attorneys say Hillsborough County Sheriffs' Deputies originally treated him as a victim, not a suspect.
“The sheriff’s office referred him to a victim advocate with their own agency,” Futch said.
Attorneys say Lay’s friends put “incredible pressure” on agencies
Futch says detectives conducted most of their investigation in the first few days after the shooting, but the arrest came weeks later.
He says he believes that was a result of public pressure, not new facts.
“Incredible pressure was put on the state attorney’s office and the sheriff’s office in the form of online petitions that were sent by Mr. Lay's friends and relatives and people involved in his life,” Futch said.
One key piece of evidence obtained days after the shooting was a video Walt sent a friend the day before he died saying Dec threatened him that morning.
“We’re the only two people here and he comes up to me and screams at me, you’re going to die. You're gonna die,” Walt said in the video.
“Multiple character witnesses after this event reached out to me and initially it was provided by a character witness,” Harrob testified in March.
“When they confronted him with the video of Mr. Lay, he told the detectives that what Mr. Lay was saying in that video was out of context,” Futch said.
He says Dec was threatened by Walt.
We asked Futch if that’s why Dec took a gun to the park that day.
“I'm not gonna touch on that at the moment. But what... here’s the thing...it’s perfectly legal to carry a firearm,” he said.
Dec told detectives he shot Walt in self-defense after Walt attacked him with a travel mug.
Dec texted a photo to another parkgoer on the day of the shooting showing injuries to his face.
“He was bleeding. He had two open lacerations to his nose, which anyone with common sense would know if indicative of a scuffle,” Futch said.
Harrop testified at the bond hearing that forensic testing did not reveal the presence of blood on the mug.
“The absence of DNA doesn’t mean that the mug itself wasn’t used as a weapon by Mr. Lay or anybody for that matter,” Futch said.
Radford’s attorneys say detectives missed key evidence that could have exonerated their client.
Futch says detectives identified surveillance cameras in the area on the day of the shooting, February 2, including at a home where he believes video would have shown comings and goings in the area where the shooting took place.
Futch says detectives did not obtain a search warrant for the footage until more than a month later, on March 5.
“And because they waited so long, this is the sheriff’s office now, the footage only went back to the 15th of February,” he said.
Prosecutors say the autopsy report conflicts with Dec’s account
Walt’s autopsy report was recently released.
It shows a single bullet entered the right side of Walt’s chest, hit a rib, and took a downward trajectory through his heart, lung, stomach, and other organs.
According to the report, the bullet was found lodged in his lower back.
Walt also had injuries to his hand, forehead, the back of his head and both knees.
“Mr. Lay had lacerations to his knees. Which if we’re playing out reasonable hypotheses could indicate he was on top of Mr. Radford hitting him,” Futch said.
Investigators previously testified the path of the bullet doesn’t line up with Dec’s story.
“We are certainly going to explore hiring experts and things like that in terms of countering... looking into the trajectory. In any scuffle, how people are oriented is a constantly changing thing,” Futch said.
Dec’s attorneys say they are looking forward to presenting their client’s side in court.
“There'll be a stand-your-ground hearing and then, depending on where we find ourselves, a trial,” Futch said.
“The more information that comes out, the more clear it will become that Declan stayed consistent and has been telling the truth,” Taylor said.
Another bond hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.
Radford has been held in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond since his March 8 arrest.
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