Georgia trucker found guilty in road-rage shooting death of Florida man on I-81 in W.Va.
A Berkeley County, W.Va., jury found a Georgia tractor-trailer driver guilty of first-degree murder this week in the 2021 shooting death of a Florida man in what previously had been characterized as a road-rage incident along Interstate 81.
Harold Dexter Rue, 67, of Snellville, Ga., was found guilty Wednesday of the murder charge as well as the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to a news release from the Berkeley County prosecutor's office.
Rue shot and killed fellow trucker Reynaldo Gonzalez Mediavilla, 29, of Hialeah, Fla., during a Dec. 7, 2021, road rage incident that stretched for miles along I-81 in Berkeley County, according to the release and Herald-Mail archives.
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The jury, on Thursday, recommended Rue be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, the release states.
In arguing against a sentence with mercy, allowing for the possibility of parole after 15 years, the state asked the jury to consider "Rue’s violent criminal history, the callousness of the murder of Mr. Mediavilla and the lasting impact his death will have on his family, as well as the jury’s opportunity to ensure that Rue never has the opportunity to hurt anyone else," the release states.
Rue was previously convicted of second-degree murder in California, sentenced to prison and released, and then convicted of kidnapping to commit robbery, the release states. He also is a suspect in an armed robbery in Chesterfield, Va., on Dec. 5, 2021, which is two days before the local road-rage killing.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 5 before Judge Michael D. Lorensen in Berkeley County circuit court.
The sentencing includes a felony count of prohibited person in possession of a firearm, to which Rue pleaded guilty before the trail, the release states.
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According to a charging document in Berkeley County Magistrate Court, Rue told police the driver of the other truck had been cutting him off since he got on the interstate in Virginia after getting fuel.
Rue said they both pulled to the side of the road and he got out of his truck with a sawed-off shotgun and warned the other driver that he had a gun. He said the other driver took a swing at him and he struck him in the head with the shotgun, the document said.
As the altercation continued, Rue said he fired two shots, striking the other driver in the shoulder. Rue said he took the man's wallet "so I would know who he was," the document said.
Rue was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting occurred around 9:18 a.m. along the northbound lanes at the 23 mile marker, which is near Exit 23 for U.S. 11 in the Marlowe/Falling Waters area.
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The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department investigated the case, with help from Pennsylvania State Police, who apprehended Rue after he fled, the release states.
911 callers reported hearing two shots and described a shotgun being involved and a man lying on the side of the road. They provided a description of a tractor-trailer leaving the scene, according to the charging document.
Rue said he left the scene because he was concerned about delivering his load to Pennsylvania, court records state.
Maryland and Pennsylvania authorities were alerted to be on the lookout for the truck, which was stopped by Pennsylvania State Police in the Carlisle, Pa., area, and Rue was taken into custody.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Georgia trucker found guilty of murder in I-81 road-rage shooting
