Attorneys representing Austin Thompson, the teenager accused of killing five people in a Raleigh neighborhood in October 2022, are asking to delay his trial to 2026, citing a brain injury and the large amount of evidence connected to the case.
Thompson, who is in custody in a juvenile facility an hour from Raleigh, has a tentative trial date set for Sept. 22, 2025. In December, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told WRAL News there is a chance the trial could be delayed past September if the defense and court deem it necessary.
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"When we have these types of cases, it’s important to us that they be done in a timely manner, but it’s more important that they are done correctly," Freeman said.
In a 13-page "motion to continue trial" document filed Wednesday, Thompson's defense team asked for more time to prepare for the trial, citing the teenager's mental state and the vast amount of evidence they need to comb through.
Five people were killed in the Oct. 13, 2022, rampage that started at Thompson's home on Sahalee Way and preceded through the Hedingham neighborhood to the Neuse River Greenway.
Law enforcement arrested then-15-year-old Thompson in a shed close to 6 miles away from his own home. The teenager was found with a gunshot wound to his head.
Thompson's defense team referenced the teenager's mental state when asking for a delayed trial. The document reads:
While he has since been declared competent to stand trial, he is still a brain-injured adolescent. Further, he is being held an hour from Raleigh. These issues all require additional time and resources from defense counsel and the defense team to ensure Austin is appropriately counseled and made a part of each critical decision in his case.
Attorneys cited the vast amount of evidence connected to the case, writing, "The discovery in this case exceeds 8 terabytes of data and includes downloads of various cell phones, laptops, and iPads from Austin and his family members. It is critical for the defense team to go through these devices in detail..."
WRAL News on Wednesday spoke to Lee Turner, an attorney and former Raleigh police officer.
"It's hard to fathom the amount of evidence that would be involved," Turner said. "You have five homicides spread over a long area that he traversed that night. It's bound to be a room of evidence to go through, [and] now everything is digital, so they have to go through all that, print it out and look at each and every piece of it. I can imagine it's very time involved."
A previous search warrant revealed what items SBI agents seized from Thompson in the shed where he hid after the shootings. The items include a shotgun, $772 in cash, multiple pistols, "projectiles," knives, rifles, rifle magazines, shell casings, ammunition rounds and bullets.
Search warrants also listed 11 firearms and 170 boxes of ammunition seized from Thompson's home. In September, Alan Thompson, the teenager's father, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor storing a firearm in a manner accessible to a minor.
According to prosecutors, Alan Thompson told police he kept the 9mm handgun in a box near his nightstand. The box, which was not locked, contained a full magazine.
In the new motion to continue trial, the defense team also requested more time to obtain interviews and records related to Austin Thompson's case, writing:
As a result of Austin’s severe brain injury, compounded by his adolescence and the passage of three years, Austin is functionally an entirely different person than he was at the time of this event. Therefore, current evaluations do not fully identify Austin’s personality, state of mind, capacity to plan, or mental health at the time of this incident. Because of this, there are much higher demands on the defense team to obtain the records and interview collateral sources to develop this information.
Austin Thompson is facing five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of assault with firearm on law enforcement officer.
A judge has ruled the teenager should be tried as an adult. He will will not face the death penalty if convicted, as federal law prohibits the death penalty for those who are younger than 18 at the time of their crimes.
WRAL News spoke to Rob Steele, who was engaged to Mary Marshall, one of the Hedingham victims. Steele has been pushing for changes to the state's gun laws since the mass shooting.
"Whether he stands trial in 2025 or 2026 will not change the outcome," Steele said. "He is guilty, there is no question about it.”
The five people killed in the Hedingham shooting included:
- James Thompson, 16, brother of the suspect
- Officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who was on his way to work at the Raleigh Police Department
- Nicole Connors, 52, who was shot on her front porch with her dog
- Susan Karnatz, 49, who was running on the Neuse River Greenway
- Mary Marshall, 34, who was shot on the Neuse River Greenway
Thompson also allegedly shot and injured two people:
- Raleigh police officer Casey Clark was injured during the search for the shooter
- Marcille "Lynn" Gardner, a special education teacher, who lived in the Hedingham neighborhood