Trial set to start for man charged with killing his son's teenage bully

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Trial set to start for man charged with killing his son's teenage bully

Fri Jan 21, 7:12 PM ET Crimes and Trials - Court TV
Court TV

ORLANDO, Fla. (Court TV) — Fed up with a teenage school bully who allegedly attacked his son, Clyde Blount gunned him down in a drive-by shooting, according to prosecutors.



Clyde Blount III is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Lonnie Hillery. His trial is expected to begin Monday in the Ninth Circuit Court in Orlando. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison.


Prosecutors say Blount, 41, killed Hillery minutes after speaking to a school vice principal about obtaining a restraining order against him.


Blount allegedly had met with the another vice principal of Apopka High School and asked how his son, Clyde Blount IV — aka C.J. — should handle any future attacks by Hillery. The classmates had clashed several times during the previous weekend, according to police reports.


The vice principal advised C.J. to report to a teacher if Hillery accosted him again. After speaking to the Blounts, the school official met with Hillery and told him to stay away from his classmate.


Despite the warning, Hillery followed C.J. off the school bus on the afternoon of Feb. 17, 2004. He then repeatedly punched C.J. and kicked him after he fell to the ground, according to witnesses.


When the boy, reportedly bruised and crying, returned home and described the attack to his father, Blount grabbed his .38 caliber automatic and began searching for Hillery in his family's white minivan, prosecutors contend. His son rode along in the front passenger seat.


According to the state, as the van approached Hillery and several friends outside a Florida elementary school, Blount pointed his handgun out the window and fired several shots. The boys fled, but not before a bullet caught Hillery in the back and pierced his liver.


After his gun jammed, Blount told police, he stopped firing and he and his son returned to Hawthorne Village, the nearby apartment complex where they lived.


"I did not intend to shoot or kill him, just scare him," Blount later told investigators.


Four gun casings were later recovered by police on the floor of Blount's Aerostar van.


Meanwhile, Hillery's friends hailed a passing pickup truck and asked the driver for help. The driver raced Hillery to a nearby fire station, where he received CPR and was then transferred to the Orlando Regional Medical Center in an ambulance.


Before the victim died, he recounted the events to fire department personnel and said it was C.J.'s father who shot him. Hillery died at the hospital from internal bleeding, according to the medical examiner.


After several 911 calls from witnesses, police located and arrested Clyde Blount and his son.


Though Blount faces second-degree murder charges, the defense is expected to argue for a lesser charge of manslaughter. C.J., who had no criminal record, was not charged and no longer attends Apopka High School.


Prosecutors acknowledge that the victim instigated the fights between the two classmates, and Blount admits to shooting at Hillery.


School administrators and the school bus driver are expected to testify that Hillery initiated the feud. The bus driver told police that on the afternoon of the shooting, Hillery chased C.J. off the bus, even though he had been ordered to stay in his seat.





Police reports also support this theory. Blount called police days before the shooting to complain that Hillery had harassed C.J. and was now harassing C.J.'s 12-year-old cousin. After the call, C.J. confronted Hillery on his cousin's behalf and escalated the feud. The cousin will likely testify about this incident.

C.J. is expected to testify for both the prosecution and defense, although he told police at the time of his arrest that his father had fired several shots but did not hit anyone.

Blount is expected to take the stand and tell jurors why he was enraged enough to chase down his son's bully with a gun.

Jury selection begins Monday.