TAMPA, Fla. (Scripps News Tampa/Court TV) — A Florida man was found not guilty of second-degree murder after a fatal shooting at a Tampa dog park.
Gerald Radford testifies in his own defense during a stand-your-ground hearing in Tampa. (Court TV)
A jury acquitted Gerald Declan Radford of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 52-year-old John Walter Lay. Prosecutors had sought additional hate-crime penalties if Radford was convicted at trial.
At a “Stand Your Ground” hearing in December, Radford testified he feared for his own life when he shot Lay. At the same hearing, several witnesses testified that Radford harassed Lay for months before the shooting, repeatedly using homophobic slurs.
Radford acknowledged using slurs against Lay. But he told prosecutors, under questioning, that he treated Lay differently because “of the way he treated me” and not because of his sexual orientation.
DAILY TRIAL UPDATES
DAY 2 – 2/5/25
- State rested after calling 7 dog park “morning crew” regulars to testify to escalating tension between victim Walt Lay and defendant Declan Radford that began in the COVID era with disagreements over politics and evolved into bickering among the men with Radford using homophobic slurs against Lay, threatening violence, and blocking Lay’s path a few days before the shooting.
- On cross, dog park regulars testified they never saw Radford get physically violent but feared he would and encouraged Radford to report him to police.
- Prosecutors reenacted Radford’s 12/6/24 preliminary hearing testimony in which he volunteered that Lay asked him out for a beer, implying it soured their “cordial” relationship.
- Prosecutors used skeletons and themselves to act out potential shooting scenarios during the testimony of Hillsborough County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kelly Devers.
- Devers testified on cross that Radford’s claim that Lay was straddling atop him — struggling with him for his gun when the gun went off – was also possible.
DAY 1 – 2/4/25
- Jurors saw cell phone video from victim Walt Lay’s phone filmed the day before Declan Radford killed him in which Lay said Radford “is gonna kill me.”
- Jurors listened to three different statements Radford gave to police, each with more details suggesting Lay was the aggressor who attacked Radford unprovoked after entering the dog park.
- In two jail calls after Radford’s arrest in March 2024, Radford called Lay homophobic slurs and accused Lay of nearing him with Radford’s own gun.
- In the state’s opening, Assistant State Attorney Joseph Diaz said the evidence would show Radford had “hate in his heart” for gay people that culminated in the shooting of Lay, who had invited Radford out for a beer after knowing him for years from a Tampa-area dog park. The invitation “dissolved their friendship,” the prosecutor said, and sent Radford down a path of hostile dog park confrontations toward Lay that included homophobic taunts and death threats, culminating in the Feb. 2, 2024 shooting.
- In the defense opening, Shanna Schultz said Radford pulled his gun on Lay in self-defense after Lay knocked Radford to the ground – possibly, with a thermos – and “overpowered him” with punches.
- Schultz acknowledged her client was a bit of an “asshole” – a “Yankee” from “another time” — who used “horrible, vulgar” language to express insults, not hatred, and never resorted to physical violence.
- Schultz accused prosecutors of bowing to public pressure to charge Radford in Lay’s death and failing to collect potentially critical security camera footage from a nearby home that might have provided an independent view of what happened.
- Hillsborough County Dep. Craig Hoffman, one of the first officers to respond to the dog park, introduced body camera footage and police photos of Lay at the scene showing him with bruises and blood on his face.
- Hillsborough Det. Kelsie Nicks identified crime scene photos including the men’s broken thermos mugs. No ballistics evidence was found except for two unrelated shell casings. Radford’s defense pressed her on the delay in attempting to recover video evidence.
