US cyclist who fatally shot passenger during road rage confrontation sentenced to 25 years

A Milwaukee man who shot dead a driver during a road rage confrontation was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday.

Theodore Edgecomb shot Jason Cleereman as he approached the cyclist on the night of 22 September 2020, but claimed it was in self-defence.

Moments before the shooting, Edgecomb punched the 54-year-old as he and his wife were waiting at a red light — the cyclist testified that Cleereman's wife had earlier struck him with her vehicle and the passenger had shouted a racial slur.

CCTV footage showed the cyclist riding away from the scene of the punch, as the vehicle followed. Witnesses said Edgecomb raised the gun as he approached, shooting Cleereman in the face.

In court, the 32-year-old said he had not meant to shoot the immigration lawyer and insisted his gun "just went off".

Edgecomb said he had felt threatened by the bigger man storming towards him while allegedly threatening to kill him. The man who was travelling by bike on the night of the incident's lawyer argued Edgecomb had never intended to kill Cleereman, and the shot was an involuntary reaction which unfolded too quickly for him to remember what happened.

Aneeq Ahmad also suggested his client would have been killed or badly hurt had he not been armed.

Following the shooting, Edgecomb fled the state and was arrested six months later in Kentucky.

At trial, the jury found him guilty of intentional homicide, upgraded from reckless homicide once prosecutors learned of the intention to argue self-defence.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the punch and shooting, and Evanjelina Cleereman told the court she swerved when the cyclist rode out in front of her — she denied hitting him and also denied Edgecomb's claim her husband racially abused the defendant.

Edgecomb said they hit him, knocking him off his bike, but the judge said this was unbelievable because the bike was undamaged and the rider uninjured.

Judge David Borowski said Edgecomb had "never shown any acceptance of responsibility for your actions, none" and, despite accepting he had many advantages — an education, employment, solid parenting experience and only a very minimal criminal record — compared to many homicide defendants, Borowski followed the state recommendation of adding 12 years to the defence's 15-year suggestion.

Prior to the trial, Edgecomb pleaded guilty to two counts of bail jumping, meaning he was sentenced to an extra two and a half years to be served concurrent to the 25-year term.

Borowski said Edgecomb's testimony was "not credible" and suggested the confrontation would have resulted in a fist fight, not a shooting, if the gunman was not carrying the firearm, which he was not legally allowed to own.

"This case is part of the insanity that goes in Milwaukee County with guns," Borowski said.

Recalling the incident, Cleereman's widow said she had "no opportunity to say goodbye or hold him as he took his last breath."

Last July, a Texas cyclist shot a driver who had crashed into another rider – with the city’s police department saying that he was justified in pulling the trigger, because he feared for his life.

> Texas cyclist shoots driver who deliberately crashed into his riding partner

The motorist allegedly shouted to a couple to get off the road as he drove his vehicle at a woman, prompting the man to open fire on the driver, who was taken to hospital for treatment on unspecified injuries and later charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.