Lubbock man acquitted on battery charges

CLOVIS — A Lubbock man was acquitted Wednesday on battery charges in connection with the 2017 death of his son.

David Plyler, 61, of Lubbock, received the acquittal following roughly a day-and-a-half trial, with attorney Dan Lindsey noting the Curry County jury took just 31 minutes to acquit.

“I appreciate the jury,” Lindsey said, “but this case should have never gone forward.”

According to court records, Plyler, then 58, was visiting Clovis over the New Year’s holiday and ended up in an altercation with his 29-year-old son, Matthew Plyler. The older Plyler had his son “in a chokehold waiting for officers to arrive,” according to court documents. The younger Plyler died Jan. 19 at University Medical Center in Lubbock.

Lindsey said the state indicted despite the younger Plyler’s history of violence and witness accounts that the older Plyler was simply defending himself from being beaten to death by somebody half his age. Lindsey said the altercation was a tragic incident, but called the trial a waste of government resources.

“He had a history of violence (I’ve never seen) in over 30 years of practicing law,” Lindsey said, noting incidents of assaulting police officers and family members.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover tried the case for the state. He said it was a difficult case and an example of issues with the country’s mental health system, but that the case needed to be brought forward. Stover noted that over the younger Plyler’s life, he had shown numerous signs of instability, but that his family still allowed him to be in situations with access to alcohol.

“I understand the jury’s verdict,” Stover said. “I don’t have a problem with the jury saying the father acted in self defense. We need to do more as a society on mental health, and certainly his father needed to do more.”

Plyler was first indicted in Curry County Magistrate court on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, but that was supervened by a grand jury indictment of involuntary manslaughter. Following an issue with the medical investigator office in Lubbock, the case was dismissed and refiled as aggravated battery causing great bodily harm or death.