A trial over a 2012 triple slaying in Polk County sparked by a land dispute ended Friday with a single guilty verdict.
George Steven Waters initially faced the death penalty for fatally shooting his uncle, aunt and cousin in a family quarrel that suddenly turned deadly on a summer afternoon.
The district attorney's office dropped the death penalty request before Waters' two-week trial in Polk County Criminal Court. And a jury chosen in Monroe County found Waters guilty on one count of reckless homicide.
Waters' attorney, Scott Kanavos of Cleveland, Tenn., said Friday the verdict was appropriate, calling the death penalty request politically motivated overreach.
"The state rushed to a decision before they saw any of the forensic proof," Kanavos said. "It took a Monroe County jury to do what should have been done from the start," which was to listen and look at evidence showing that Waters acted to defend his father.
Steve Crump, 10th Judicial District Attorney General, said he withdrew the request after reviewing the facts and the law.
"There was not a particular fact or piece of evidence that changed my mind, but rather viewing the case in totality," Crump said Friday.
The tension among Waters family members over their property line in the Grassy Creek community was ongoing, and it boiled over on a Friday afternoon in August 2012.
The fact that George Steven Waters fatally shot his uncle Willard Waters, aunt Wanda Waters, and cousin Marion "Doug" Waters wasn't in dispute.
The Polk County sheriff at the time, Bill Davis, said George Steven Waters launched the attack after one of the victims was using a tractor to grade land around the property line and a confrontation ensued.
But Kanavos said Friday jurors heard testimony that George Waters was defending himself and his father.
He said "politics, incompetence and confirmation bias" caused investigators to "ignore all the evidence that showed self-defense or defense of another."
The Times Free Press reported at the time that Willard Waters had worked at Tennessee Copper Co. and Wanda was a cook for Polk County Schools. Doug Waters was a military veteran who worked at M&M Mars. He is survived by a daughter and three stepchildren.
Crump offered sympathy for the Waters family Friday, along with thanks for the jurors' service.
"While we would have preferred a different verdict, the jury has spoken and we respect their decision," he said.
Reckless homicide is a Class D felony and carries a prison term of two to 12 years. Waters will be sentenced May 26 by Criminal Court Judge Sandra Donaghy.
Contact staff writer Judy Walton at jwalton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416.