After deliberating for about 2½ hours, a six-person jury found that Gerald Declan Radford did not commit second-degree murder when he shot John Walter Lay at the West Dog Park last year. Prosecutors had also sought a hate crime enhancement, arguing Radford was motivated to shoot Lay because he was gay.

Gerald Radford has been found NOT GUILTY of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Walter Lay at a Tampa dog park.

“He said, ‘I’m going to hit that guy, I’m going to break his jaw,‘” Genovese recalled during the second day of testimony in Radford’s murder trial. He said Radford told him that when he saw Lay, he liked to walk up on him quickly “to try and scare him.”