JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — A jury has found the man accused of attacking a Kenner hotel owner not guilty according to a source told WWL-TV.
David Schulien, 33, of Texas was on trial for the June 2020 encounter with Ashok Patel, 67, who was the owner of the Radisson Hotel on Veterans Boulevard in Kenner.
A jury was seated last week, and Tuesday returned a not-guilty verdict. According to court documents, the unanimous verdict came on day six of the trial.
"It was a freak accident, and [the state] never should have brought this case, to begin with," said Billy Gibbens, one of Schulien's attorneys told NOLA.com.
Patel underwent multiple surgeries as a result of the altercation and ultimately died three months later from a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his heart.
At the time, investigators believed Schulien was speeding through the hotel parking lot to get to a rental car store nearby when Patel confronted him which led to an altercation where Patel fell to the ground and broke his leg.
During the trial, a forensic pathologist testified that Patel could be seen falling down in the video evidence but "couldn't have touched" Patel in the altercation as Nola.com reports.
Schulien was arrested in Texas and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office charged him with second-degree battery on August 28, 2020, but the D.A. raised the charge to manslaughter following Patel's death.
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