Thomas Coutee Jr Wiki
Thomas Coutee Jr Biography
Who is Thomas Coutee Jr ?
Kayla Giles and her husband, Thomas Coutee, Jr., were embroiled in a contentious divorce and custody battle when she shot him in 2018.
On September 8, 2018, Kayla Giles met her estranged husband in a Walmart parking lot so he could take their two daughters from a previous relationship to a birthday party for the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.
But Giles shot her in what she said was self-defense of her, a claim a jury in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, rejected in a recent verdict.
On Saturday, Giles’ 35th birthday, the mother of three was found guilty of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in the shooting death of her husband, Thomas Coutee Jr., in Alexandria, court records show. .
Second-degree murder in Louisiana carries an automatic life sentence, and obstruction of justice carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
Giles is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.
Standing outside the courtroom and fighting back tears, Coutee Jr.’s mother, Cathy Pearson, said, “My baby got the justice she deserved,” KALB reported. “She can never hurt anyone else.”
Shooting
At the time of the deadly shooting, Giles, then 31, and Coutee Jr., 30, were embroiled in a contentious divorce and custody battle over their daughter, who turned two on the day of the shooting, Alexandria Town reported. Talk.
The couple split in February 2018 after nearly four years of marriage. Giles had two daughters from a previous relationship when she married Coutee Jr.
On August 20, 2018, a judge awarded the couple joint custody of their daughter.
Eight days later, Coutee requested a new trial in the custody fight, claiming Giles had been abusive in the past by slapping him during a custody exchange in May, KALB reported.
On Sept. 7, 2018, just a day before the shooting, Giles received papers ordering him to appear in civil court to reconsider the custody agreement, Alexandria Town Talk reported.
Coutee Jr. wanted sole custody of his daughter.
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“This defendant was not going to let that happen,” Louisiana Assistant Attorney General Joseph LeBeau said during opening arguments, Alexandria Town Talk reported.
On the day of the shooting, Coutee Jr. asked Giles to meet him to pick up his daughters so they could attend a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese that he planned for the couple’s daughter. He wanted to meet at the police station, but Giles suggested they meet in the Walmart parking lot, which she could see from her condo.
LeBeau said Giles arrived in the parking lot armed with a gun that he planned to kill Coutee Jr., KSLA News 12 reported.
“Kayla put a bullet in that heart,” LeBeau told the jury.
Giles’ attorney, George Higgins III, told the jury that her client did not plan to kill her husband, but that she acted in self-defense.
As a veteran of the US Army, Giles’ attorney argued that she learned to always be prepared and brought a gun because she was concerned about threats from her estranged husband, Alexandria Town Talk reported.
Coutee Jr. was leaning against Giles’ vehicle when she shot him, Higgins told the jury. He had also opened the door of her vehicle.
Higgins went on to argue that the evidence for Giles’ self-defense claim “is as clear as a bell,” KALB reported, especially since someone planning a murder “wouldn’t do it at noon in a Walmart parking lot.”
Lebeau argued that shooting someone for opening a car door was “not justifiable” as it was not illegal or forced entry, KALB reported.
During the trial, Giles’ eldest daughter, who witnessed the incident, testified that she never saw Coutee Jr. “throw himself” into the car, KALB reported.
As he left the courthouse, Coutee Jr.’s father had a message for his daughter-in-law, KALB reported: “Happy birthday, Kayla.”
Higgins told KALB that he will appeal.
“There’s just no law on this Stand Your Ground, it’s relatively new,” he told KALB. “It’s the first case of Stand Your Ground in a vehicle that we’ve seen. So (the verdict) doesn’t surprise me at all.”
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