Jury Hears Tear-Filled Testimony in Punishment Phase of Wollner Murder Trial

Robin Harrison turned her eyes to the ceiling Wednesday morning at the Tom Green County Courthouse, fighting back tears as she slowly spoke of her son, Samuel Sterling Harrison, who was murdered on Dec. 23, 2012.

Wednesday marked the third and final day of the murder trial brought by the state of Texas against 19-year-old defendant Trestin Blake Wollner, and character witnesses from both the prosecution and the defense took the stand to speak and be questioned on their loved one’s past, demeanor and future plans in the punishment phase of the trial.

Following two hours of deliberation on the night before, the jury had handed down a guilty verdict in the trial, which began on Monday, April 21; nearly a year and a half after the incident that took place on the night before 2012’s Christmas Eve.

According to a news release from the 119th District Attorney’s Office, both Sam Harrison and Trestin Wollner were at a party out in the county that night with a couple of other individuals. Witnesses testified that Harrison had been involved in a physical altercation with someone at the party and was allegedly behaving strangely, running around in boxer shorts and threatening to kill everyone present.

Following the altercation, Harrison is reported to have lain down in the bed of a truck, and, according to the release, was approached by Wollner, who pulled a blanket off of him and engaged him in a verbal altercation from a distance.

Those present at the trial reported that witnesses stated Harrison charged Wollner. The news release states Wollner had challenged Harrison with statements such as “Don’t think I won’t”, “Show me you’re a real man”, and “Come on, *expletive*”. The release goes on to say that Harrison, who was unarmed and wearing only socks and boxer shorts, then approached Wollner in something “between a power walk and a jog,” at which point he was shot and killed.

“He was my only son and it has changed my life forever,” Robin Harrison said, still holding her gaze at the top of the courtroom. “Sam was my gift. He was my only son.”

Ms. Harrison was asked to answer questions regarding her son’s immediate family, then proceeded on to explain her initial reaction to the news that her son had been killed.

“He was a loving child and a loving young man,” she said thoughtfully. “When I found out about this, I thanked God it was a Sunday morning and I was at church.” 

Ms. Harrison said she had just finished reciting all the names of Jesus that morning when the deacon came in and told her to get her things, someone was there to see her. “The Sheriff was standing there,” she said. “He came to tell me my son had been killed. There is no way to describe the grief and shock that you go through when you find out your son has been killed.”

Sam Harrison’s sister Kerstyn Macada added dimension to the story, chocking back tears as she recalled hearing of her brother’s death for the first time.

“On Dec. 23, my absolute worst nightmare came true,” she said. “We heard a knock at the door and the sheriff’s department was there and said Sam had passed on. I don’t know what my reaction was, my first reaction. I thought it was an accident…”

Macada went on to describe how she initially thought her brother had been involved in a car crash. The official news of foul play was delivered at the church that morning, Macada said, and she received word of it first and was able to thankfully console her mother, she said, recalling the wail of horror when her mother found out.

Macada told how she’d been so adamant about wanting to see her brother, to hold him, to hug him once more. “They said, ‘No, you can’t.’ and I realized it was still a crime scene. He was laying out there alone, in the cold. Then I found out they were going to take him to Lubbock,” she said, breaking up in storms of tears. Lubbock is the only center where autopsies are conducted in the state of Texas.

Ms. Harrison struggled through her testimony on the death of her son, but turned her eyes to the jury as she spoke of his devout beliefs and loving nature.

Asked by Ferguson to speak on her son’s plans for the future, Harrison said, “Sam was getting ready to go to ASU. He wanted to be able to help [other people].” She said he intended to become an RN and was planning on going through the university’s nursing program. Sam was also a talented musician, she said, and his music is “what I miss most.”

In a final word to the jury, Ms. Harrison said, “My world was ripped out from underneath me. I’ll never get to see my son again. He’ll never have a family…Sam didn’t want to die, he wanted to live. He was a very loving individual. He was painted as a monster, but he’s not. He wasn’t a monster, he was a pleasure and most of all, he loved God.”

Macada testified after her mother, describing the relationship she had with her brother. “He was the best friend I will never have,” she said through the tears. “So needlessly, so needlessly.” She then thanked the jury before stepping down, stating that she didn’t think she would have been able to move on if things had gone differently, and the defense called Trestin Wollner’s mother Carol Peek to the stand.

Carol Peek entered the courtroom, her eyes swollen with the stress of tears. She described her son as a good kid, who minded her and helped around the house, always went to school and got reasonably good grades. His home life was centered on family, she said, depicting how he’d wake up nights and help his fiancée, Ariel Johns, take care of their two daughters.

When the incident occurred in 2012, Johns was 36 weeks pregnant with his first daughter. In the interim between the incident and his trial, the newly engaged couple gave birth to a second daughter, who is now 2-weeks-old. “They’re really good parents as teenagers,” Peek said. “I’m really shocked.”

Peek testified that after the incident Wollner had some difficulty obtaining a job, but was rehired at Rosa’s Café, and worked another job in town to support his young family. He wanted to become a Marine and a fireman, she said, and had even filled out an application at the mall recruitment office, but perhaps due to the trial, was never called back.

Defense Attorney Fred Brigman asked Peek if her son had ever played sports, and she answered that he had played both soccer and football in high school, but had never been a hunter. Both she and Wollner stated that he didn’t have much experience with firearms, nor did he particularly know how to handle them.

Trestin Wollner cried from his seat at the defense’s table as his mother spoke, his eyes growing visibly red as she spoke of his past and future plans.

When Brigman asked about remorse, Peek responded, ‘we were all devastated. Trestin was devastated. Trestin was—he just…Trestin wishes he could take Sam’s place,” she struggled through tears. “He’s said it so many times. He’s a really good kid. This is just something that should not have happened.”

After Peek stepped down, Brigman called Johns to the stand and ran her through the series of questions he’d just posed Wollner’s mother. When asked whether she would be able to raise her children without Wollner, she responded, “I’ll have to try; I’ll have to.”

Wollner testified after Johns and upheld the statements of his fiancée and mother. Addressing the jury, the attorneys and the court, he said, “I’m so sorry. It wasn’t my intention to hurt or kill Sam. I wish it was me.”

Following the presentation of all new evidence, presiding Judge Tom Gossett read the instructions to the jurors for their deliberations on sentencing. The jury had already passed down a guilty verdict for murder in the first degree, which is punishable by 5-99 years of imprisonment and a fine not to exceed $10,000. Jurors may select any combination of time and fine, as long as it falls within those ranges.

A special note was added to the instructions, which would allow jurors to apply sentencing for the murder as a second-degree felony, should they find that Wollner acted in “sudden passion”. A finding of sudden passion would limit the range down to 2-20 years of confinement and is also punishable by a fine not to exceed $10,000.

Sudden passion is defined as follows according to the Texas Penal Code Section 19.02:

"Adequate cause" means cause that would commonly produce a degree of anger, rage, resentment, or terror in a person of ordinary temper, sufficient to render the mind incapable of cool reflection.

(2)  "Sudden passion" means passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed or another acting with the person killed which passion arises at the time of the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation.

Before the jury retired to the room for deliberation, both attorneys addressed them in a last effort to convey their client’s side of the story. Defense Attorney Fred Brigman spoke first, stating, “there is plenty of blame to go around here… This is not a typical defendant and this is not a typical case. This is an American tragedy that took place in our own town.”

Brigman stated that Wollner’s actions were the result of terror, and that the whole thing had been a horror story from the start. He reiterated that Wollner had not previously been in trouble with the law and asked the jury to consider Wollner’s age, his daughters and family as they passed down sentencing.

“It’s an unfortunate situation that our kids get into more and more and more,” he said. At the conclusion of his address, he submitted that the jury sentence Wollner to only two years, then took his seat at the table.

Prosecutor Jason Ferguson then rose and spoke to Brigman’s address. “He’s not the victim here,” Ferguson said of the defendant. “That was a lot of talk about what’s best for him. He’s not the victim here.” Ferguson then mentioned Johns, Wollner’s family, Harrison and his relatives, stating “those are the victims here. Pending this trial he has another kid. How serious is he taking this? He still believes he’s innocent.”

Ferguson had questioned Wollner before the judge gave the jury instructions, asking if he remembered speaking to his uncle the day before. Wollner replied that he had, and Ferguson probed further, asking if he remembered saying “I am not the victim here.”

“No—can you describe victim?” Wollner had responded.

“Those are your words,” Ferguson replied.

“I can’t remember,” Wollner said quietly.

In concluding his address to the jury, Ferguson reminded all 12 that Sam Harrison is never coming back, and that his mother and sister will have to think about how he was shot and killed every Christmas. “It wasn’t sudden passion,” he said.

The jury deliberated for nearly three hours before coming to a decision at just after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Judge Gossett read their decision to the court. The jury found that in the case of the State of Texas vs Trestin Wollner, sudden passion did not apply. Wollner was sentenced to 11 years in a penitentiary without the possibility of probation and a $5,000 fine.

Following the jury’s decision, Harrison’s mother and sister expressed relief that justice was finally done. Robin Harrison said she had already found forgiveness for Wollner and was concerned for his soul; she had sent a chaplain to him following the incident to ask if he was saved. “I’m letting God settle the score now,” she said.[[{"fid":"4675","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]

Above, Robin Harrison speaks on the sentencing. Below, Kerstyn Macada speaks on the relief that comes with justice.[[{"fid":"4676","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]