Man found guilty of murder over brutal attack on Texas lesbian couple
A man has been found guilty on a murder charge over an attack that killed one teen and left her girlfriend critically wounded.
David Malcom Strickland was arrested in 2014 over the 2012 shooting of lesbian couple Mollie Olgin and Mary Chapa.
The pair were shot and left for dead in the horrific attack in a park in Portland, Texas.
Ms Olgin, 19, died following the attack, but Ms Chapa, 18 at the time, miraculously survived her extensive injuries.
Police did not treat the shooting as a hate crime.
Yesterday, more than four years on from the attack, a jury found Strickland guilty of capital murder and aggravated sexual assault.
As prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty, he was given an automatic life sentence.
In an interview with KRIS-TV, Ms Chapa said: “I was very shocked at first. I didn’t know what to expect exactly.
“I was hoping that they [the jury] would see all the evidence that we had and they would go our way. [It was] very emotional…I wanted to just burst out into tears.”
GLAAD reports that Ms Chapa, now in her 20s, is still undergoing rehabilitation, but is now enrolled in college and is working on a book to tell her story.
Speaking at the GLAAD Awards in 2015, she said: “I just wish Mollie was here. She would have loved to see all of this, all the support from everyone.
“I know it’s a tragedy, but it also brings a lot of people together, and shows all the great people out there that’s willing to help and have good hearts.”
