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Saustrup acquitted in 1998 killing
By Leah Quin American-Statesman Staff
Saturday, May 27, 2000

Jurors late Friday acquitted Paul Anders Saustrup of murder, finding
that he acted in self-defense when he shot to death Eric Demart Smith
after following the car burglar for two blocks in downtown Austin in
1998.

The verdict, coming at 10:45 p.m. on the fifth anniversary of the law
allowing Texans to carry concealed weapons, was cheered by Saustrup’s
family and friends.

On the other side of the courtroom, Smith’s sister, Charlotte Sledge,
covered her face with her hands and wept. She left the courtroom
without comment.

Saustrup said he had endured a “terrible, terrible ordeal” and was
looking forward to resuming a normal life.

His supporters were jubilant, hugging each other and the defendant.
“I’ll say we’re all kind of happy right now,” said Jolice Wiedenhof, a
friend of Saustrup. “We didn’t expect the deadlock to break.”

Jurors reached their verdict three hours after they had attempted to
declare themselves deadlocked. State District Judge Bob Perkins had
ordered them to continue deliberating.

If convicted of murder, Saustrup would have faced up to life in prison.

Saustrup is licensed to carry a handgun.
Although both sides said the case was not about the right to carry
concealed weapons, it was monitored from the beginning by gun safety
instructors and gun-control advocates.

In closing statements to a packed courtroom earlier Friday, attorneys
presented radically different interpretations of the facts.

Saustrup, 35, never denied shooting 20-year-old Smith after discovering
the man sitting in his girlfriend’s parked car on July 8, 1998. He told
police he did so because Smith had lowered his hands to his waist and
began to turn around, as though to attack.

Two bullets struck Smith in the back, one behind each shoulder blade.

Earlier this week, Saustrup’s girlfriend, Sasha Sessums, provided jurors
with a first-hand account of the minutes just before 2 a.m., when she
and Saustrup found the passenger window of her Chevrolet Suburban broken
and saw a man jump into the driver’s seat.

While Saustrup drew his .380-caliber pistol — shouting, “Freeze! . .
. Anyone else comes jumping out of there, you’ll be the first to die!”
– he told Sessums to call police on his cell phone.

When she turned around, she saw Smith standing outside the car, his
shirt off. Other witnesses testified that Smith’s torso was decorated
with gang tattoos and that he was drunk.

Smith then began to briskly walk away, at times running, pursued by
Saustrup and, farther behind, Sessums. Saustrup’s gun was pointed at
Smith.
The three made their way east on San Jacinto Boulevard, through an
alley, then turned south on Trinity Street.

There, Michael Hamilton, a transient who lived in a nearby alley, saw
them “zig-zagging” down the street as Smith frequently looked over his
shoulder “like he wanted to run.”

Sessums lost sight of the two men as they rounded the corner of another
alley. Shortly after she caught up with them, Smith made a sidestep,
turning his body to the left and his head to the right, as he put his
hands to the waist of his baggy tan shorts. Saustrup fired twice, and
Smith fell.

Smith was “going for something in his pants,” Sessums told the 911
operator in a recording played in court. Seconds later, she said, “He
jumped on him.
He shot him.”

Prosecutors Buddy Meyer and Doug O’Connell did not contend Friday that
Smith was turning at the time he was shot but argued that he was only
glancing around, as he had been doing for two blocks, to see if Saustrup
was still behind him.

O’Connell said Saustrup was tired of following Smith — as well as angry
about the break-in — and chose that moment, just after they had entered
a dark alley, to fire.

“This case is certainly not about self-defense,” O’Connell said. “The
defendant shot a drunk kid in the back two times.”

O’Connell told jurors that he thought the alley was too dark for Sessums
to have seen the shooting. He suggested that she parroted to the 911
operator what Saustrup told her had happened.

At that point, a juror leaned forward, putting her hands over her mouth.

Defense attorney Joe Turner then reminded jurors that Medical Examiner
Roberto Bayardo agreed the bullet angles looked as though Smith was
spinning before and during the shooting.

He referred to Saustrup’s gun instructor, who testified that Saustrup
followed the rules of self-defense, firing when he reasonably believed
he was in danger, without waiting to see a gun.

“He followed the instructions he was taught in a class approved by the
state of Texas,” Turner said. “And now the state of Texas wants to
prosecute him for murder.”

He told jurors it’s easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

“Here’s the good guy,” he said, pointing to Saustrup. “And here,” he
said, picking up a life-sized photo of Smith’s tattoos, “is the bad
guy. He’s dead because he’s the bad guy.”

You may contact Leah Quin at [email protected] or 445-3621.