The man who fatally shot prominent businessman Chris Wright in the forehead in downtown Chattanooga was found guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
Darryl Roberts, 58, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Wright’s death.
A Hamilton County jury found Roberts guilty of the lesser offense after about seven hours of deliberation across two days. Roberts immediately faced a second trial starting at about 3 p.m. on one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in front of the same jurors.
Wright, 38, approached Roberts outside Patten Towers shortly before midnight Sept. 28, 2023, as he was drunkenly walking home from Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint.
He was a 2003 graduate of Baylor School, and it was the weekend of his 20-year high school class reunion.