Man found guilty in fatal shooting over car dispute

A Travis County jury found a man guilty of murder Wednesday for shooting a man to death in 2016 near Decker Lake.

In closing arguments in state District Court, prosecutors said all evidence pointed to Damon Fowler, who intervened in a dispute between his then-girlfriend and 24-year-old Kennie Crockett, as the one firing the fatal shot. In his defense, Fowler’s attorneys had pointed the finger at his brother.

But prosecutors said the brother had no reason to shoot Crockett.

“Only one man had the motive to do so,” prosecutor Jeremy Sylestine said.

Fowler, 38, fled for three weeks after the shooting before surrendering. He will be sentenced Thursday and faces up to life in prison. The jury spent about 90 minutes in deliberations before returning the guilty verdict.

On the day of the shooting, police said, Crockett and a friend followed Fowler’s girlfriend, whom he has since married, as she drove Fowler and another man into Eagle’s Landing Apartments, in the 8000 block of Decker Lane. Crockett co-owned the car, a Toyota Camry, with her, but he felt he had been denied access to it, according to an arrest affidavit and witness testimony.

Crockett, who was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher as he rode, said he had been in a physical altercation days earlier in which Fowler punched him.