An Ohio man was found guilty of killing two black teens for smoking marijuana inside a vehicle in his garage.
On Thursday, Victor Santana, 65, of Dayton, Ohio, was convicted of murder and felonious assault after fatally shooting two 17-year-olds. He found them inside his detached garage late at night on Aug. 28, 2019, according to 10TV. Santana tried to use the state’s new “stand your ground” law to defend the killings of Devin Henderson and Javier Harrison. However, a judge ruled earlier this year that the law couldn’t be applied retroactively.
Santana’s attorney, Lucas Wilder, claimed the defendant saw the teens enter the property through his front gate and was afraid of a home invasion, so he retrieved his weapon and sought after them. Wilder also stated that Santana responded aggressively because he didn’t know if the teens were armed, the Dayton Daily News reported.
“In that moment, fear hits him, and he decides to shoot,” he said.
“He didn’t hunt these young men. He didn’t sneak attack them,” Wilder added. “The deciding factor is that you have to put yourself in this man’s shoes at the time.”
An eyewitness Ja’shin Gibson, who was with the teens but was not injured and hid under the car, testified and said Santana opened the door and fired shots into the vehicle without warning.
“He didn’t say nothing at all,” he testified.
Gibson, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, said he and his now-deceased friends thought the vehicle was abandoned in the garage, and the trio just wanted a place to smoke marijuana.
“We just wanted to get high and go home,” he said.
Santana was found guilty of four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, and one count of attempt to commit murder, WHIO reported. However, he was acquitted of one felonious assault charge.
He is being held in the Montgomery County jail and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 20.
