A
Houston man was sentenced to 35 years in prison this week after he was
convicted of murder for shooting a friend after smoking methamphetamine,
Harris County District
Attorney Kim Ogg announced.
“This
man was a menace who repeatedly chose to smoke meth and get violent,”
Ogg said. “He threw away every second chance he was given and ended up
stealing from a friend,
leading to an argument resulting in that friend’s murder.”
Sean
Strout, 36, was convicted of murder after four days of trial for
killing 36-year-old Erron Walker on Oct. 14, 2017. He was sentenced to
35 years by a Harris County
jury late Thursday.
Strout,
a longtime acquaintance of the victim, went to the victim’s home with
another man to socialize. Strout had been there the day before, and the
victim believed Strout
had stolen some money and a pair of sunglasses. The third man left as
they started to argue over the stolen property.
A
neighbor heard gunshots later that day and went outside to see the
victim running out of his own garage as more shots rang out. Walker was
fatally wounded in the altercation.
“Every
witness, including the defendant, testified about what a caring and
loving person the victim was — he would have given the shirt off his
back to help a friend,” said
Assistant District Attorney Chadwick Scott, who prosecuted the case
with ADA Michael Abner, a chief in the trial bureau. “We’re proud that
the jury recognized that Strout has left a trail of victims that he has
impacted over the course of his life and decided
to hold him accountable.”
Jurors
heard that Strout was on probation for a robbery when he was arrested
for murder. He had been arrested several times for drug possession and
theft. While in jail
awaiting trial, he was charged with assault for hitting another inmate
with a sock with a weight in it. He also was charged with harassing a
public official for throwing urine and feces on a corrections officer.