Ryan Duke Murder Trial: Jury finds Duke not guilty of murdering Tara Grinstead
Ryan Duke was found not guilty to 5 of the 6 charges he was handed. That one guilty charge was concealing the death of another person.
OCILLA, Ga. – Friday afternoon a jury found Ryan Duke not guilty of murdering Tara Grinstead after more than 6 hours of deliberations.
Emotions ran high inside of the Irwin County courtroom from both Duke and his family along with Tara’s family who have had a front row seat to this 2 week trial.
In a press conference outside the courthouse following the chorus of not guilty verdict’s, Duke’s defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant explained how he felt.
“He was very emotional, he said thank you many many times, just kept saying thank you and he felt like the jury heard him; and it’s something that’s been weighing on his mind for a very long time.” said Merchant.
When asked why she and her Atlanta-based legal team decided to defend the accused, this was her response.
“We believed in Ryan. Stephen actually called me and my husband John and I, we have our own family practice. It’s a small family law firm and we always have felt strongly about pro bono work.” said Merchant.
But Merchant wasn’t the only one who believed Ryan Duke, so did his former classmate and now defense attorney Evan Gibbs.
“So I believed Ryan right from the very beginning and getting him ready to testify and then having him testify in front of the jury. I think it was raw and it was real.” said Gibbs.
“The first thing I want to mention is the Grinstead family. It’s been a 17 year nightmare for them. I know they’re disappointed in the verdict today as we are.” Irwin County District Attorney Bryce Johnson said.
Prosecutors spoke briefly after the verdict came down, they want the maximum penalty for Duke’s lone county of conviction.
“The count 6, the concealment of the death statute carries a 1 to 10 penalty in the State of Georgia. We will be asking for 10 years to serve, the maximum sentence on that count.” said Johnson.
Ryan has been residing at the local jail in Irwin County for the past 5 years awaiting this trial and was sent back the verdict was announced. We got video of Duke coming out of the courthouse, but he did not answer any of our questions.
The question now posed is will Ryan be a free man come Monday or will he continue to serve more time?
We’ll know after the sentencing that is set for Monday.
We will also hear from Tara Grinstead’s family Monday for their victims impact statement.
Our Quinlan Parker will be inside of the courtroom as that sentencing is happening. Count on South Georgia Television News for the latest.
Ryan Duke was charged with the following:
- Malice murder
- Two counts of felony murder
- Aggravated assault
- Burglary
- Concealing the body of another person
Had Duke been declared guilty of all the charges, he could have faced potential life in prison.
