C. J. Grisham found guilty in Temple open carry case

By Bob Owens | 6:58 AM | November 20, 2013

After two hours of deliberation, a six-person jury found Christopher “C.J.” Grisham guilty of interfering with the duties of a Temple police officer, a Class A misdemeanor.

Grisham’s wife, Emily, cried at the announcement of the verdict.

The punishment phase of the trial will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Grisham, an Army master sergeant who lives in Temple, opted to let the jury determine his punishment, the maximum of which could be a $2,000 fine and 180 days in jail.

I’m a little surprised that a verdict was reached this quickly, but then, I was surprised that the authorities would spend government resources to retry a misdemeanor case in the first place. Then again, this was essentially a “contempt of cop” case, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that the D.A. would push it.

Grisham is also facing charges in a trespassing case related to a Texas Open Carry protest on Veteran’s Day.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun. He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.