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Former U.S. Marshal Convicted of Manslaughter
By David Snyder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 9, 2005; 4:57 PM
A former U.S. Marshal has been convicted of manslaughter for killing a 20-year-old Navy seaman after a traffic dispute on Rockville Pike in Montgomery County.
Arthur L. Lloyd, a now-retired 28-year veteran of the U.S. Marshals Service, was also convicted today of reckless endangerment and using a handgun in a violent crime in the death of Ryan T. Stowers, of Redding, Calif.
The jury did not convict Lloyd of the more serious first-and-second-degree murder charges sought by prosecutors.
He was off duty Oct. 29 when he encountered Stowers at the Mid-Pike Plaza on Rockville Pike around 8 p.m. After a traffic dispute, the two emerged from their vehicles and had a fistfight while dozens of shocked onlookers phoned 911.
Lloyd, 54, shot Stowers once in the lower leg, then minutes later fired three shots into Stowers's red Camaro. Stowers died in the driver's seat of his car, his aorta severed by one of the .40-caliber slugs fired from Lloyd's service weapon. Lloyd was off-duty at the time, driving with his wife and five children.
Lloyd acknowledges shooting and killing Stowers, but told jurors in testimony last week that he acted in self defense. Prosecutors say Lloyd deliberately shot Stowers in the back after becoming enraged during the fight.
Lloyd has been held without bond in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility since his arrest, several days after Stowers's death last fall.
In testimony last week, two police officers testified that they had confrontations with Stowers in the 18 months before his death. Both officers -- one in Maryland and one in California -- said Stowers verbally challenged and insulted them. The California officer testified that he had to wrestle Stowers to the ground.
Jurors also heard testimony that Stowers had nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood when he died.
The judge did not allow evidence of several prior violent acts that Lloyd is alleged to have committed. Twice in the last three years, Lloyd's wife, Wanda Guzman, filed restraining orders against Lloyd, alleging that he slammed her head into a kitchen door. Guzman later dropped both allegations.
Lloyd's defense rested in large part on his own testimony, which contradicted in several aspects testimony from many eyewitnesses to the shooting. Lloyd, for example, told jurors that he identified himself as a U.S. Marshal as soon as Stowers confronted him in at Mid-Pike Plaza that night. Witnesses said the first time they saw Lloyd identify himself as a law enforcement officer was after he shot Stowers the first time.
Former U.S. Marshal Convicted of Manslaughter
By David Snyder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 9, 2005; 4:57 PM
A former U.S. Marshal has been convicted of manslaughter for killing a 20-year-old Navy seaman after a traffic dispute on Rockville Pike in Montgomery County.
Arthur L. Lloyd, a now-retired 28-year veteran of the U.S. Marshals Service, was also convicted today of reckless endangerment and using a handgun in a violent crime in the death of Ryan T. Stowers, of Redding, Calif.
The jury did not convict Lloyd of the more serious first-and-second-degree murder charges sought by prosecutors.
He was off duty Oct. 29 when he encountered Stowers at the Mid-Pike Plaza on Rockville Pike around 8 p.m. After a traffic dispute, the two emerged from their vehicles and had a fistfight while dozens of shocked onlookers phoned 911.
Lloyd, 54, shot Stowers once in the lower leg, then minutes later fired three shots into Stowers's red Camaro. Stowers died in the driver's seat of his car, his aorta severed by one of the .40-caliber slugs fired from Lloyd's service weapon. Lloyd was off-duty at the time, driving with his wife and five children.
Lloyd acknowledges shooting and killing Stowers, but told jurors in testimony last week that he acted in self defense. Prosecutors say Lloyd deliberately shot Stowers in the back after becoming enraged during the fight.
Lloyd has been held without bond in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility since his arrest, several days after Stowers's death last fall.
In testimony last week, two police officers testified that they had confrontations with Stowers in the 18 months before his death. Both officers -- one in Maryland and one in California -- said Stowers verbally challenged and insulted them. The California officer testified that he had to wrestle Stowers to the ground.
Jurors also heard testimony that Stowers had nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood when he died.
The judge did not allow evidence of several prior violent acts that Lloyd is alleged to have committed. Twice in the last three years, Lloyd's wife, Wanda Guzman, filed restraining orders against Lloyd, alleging that he slammed her head into a kitchen door. Guzman later dropped both allegations.
Lloyd's defense rested in large part on his own testimony, which contradicted in several aspects testimony from many eyewitnesses to the shooting. Lloyd, for example, told jurors that he identified himself as a U.S. Marshal as soon as Stowers confronted him in at Mid-Pike Plaza that night. Witnesses said the first time they saw Lloyd identify himself as a law enforcement officer was after he shot Stowers the first time.
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