Lubbock Man Found Guilty of Murder in Drug Deal Gone Bad

LUBBOCK,TX – A Lubbock man charged with shooting and killing a woman in 2019 has been found guilty of the crime by a Lubbock jury.

Chris Copeland was on trial this week for the murder of Cassie Oden and now faces life in prison with the possibility of parole. It took the jury 20 minutes to find Copeland guilty.

Cassie Nesbitt, the Assistant District Attorney, said Copeland fired six shots at the vehicle Oden was in as she was driving away from him. She was killed instantly after being struck in the head. 

Nesbitt then said Copeland wiped his prints off of the gun and made another person hold it telling them “now we are all in this together.” The murder weapon was never found.

“They were all involved in drug transactions but that doesn’t give the defendant the right to commit a murder.” Nesbitt said. 

Police responded to 407 Martin Luther King Boulevard in Lubbock around midnight in early June 2019.

According to court documents, Oden was in the parking lot on LOL’s Gameroom. She, along with another woman and two men, were sitting in their Jeep when a white Cadillac pulled up. 

A witness said that a woman exited the Jeep and got into the Cadillac. There, Copeland pointed a gun at her and asked about drugs. The woman said she was there to pick up money but Copeland told her to call someone else.

She went to get her phone and Copeland made everyone get out of the Cadillac. 

LOL’s Gameroom surveillance video showed a white male, believed to be Copeland, walk to the passenger side of the Jeep. As the Jeep began to leave, the white male pulled a gun from his waistband and began shooting the vehicle.

The two males ran from the Jeep and the female reported that Oden was bleeding, unresponsive, and had been shot.

She was pronounced dead in the vehicle and one of the men was taken to the hospital after being shot.

Chris Copeland is currently an inmate in Lubbock County Detention Center and has a $750,000 bond.