Former UberEATS driver found guilty in murder trial
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - FOX 5 has learned the jury has reached a verdict in the case of a former UberEATS driver accused of killing a customer.
Robert Bivines has been found guilty on all four counts of murder for the death of Ryan Thornton. He claimed he pulled the trigger to protect himself.
“He said what he was going to do to me. I felt threatened,” Bivines told the court Thursday.
The jury reached a verdict early Friday afternoon.
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Bivines said he had no intentions of hurting anyone, but sensed aggression from customer Ryan Thornton. He claimed Thornton was upset that the driver did not walk the food to his door.
Surveillance video of the deadly encounter shows Thornton turn around three times before Bivines, a 36-year-old veteran grabbed his gun. Bivines said Thornton threatened him.
“He's coming toward my car and he said he was going to F--- me up,” Bivines said during his testimony. “Once I saw him coming back toward me, I reached down on my passenger seat and I picked my weapon up and fired.”
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During cross-examination, Bivines admitted he has four weapons and does not have a concealed weapons permit. He said he did not realize the loaded gun he kept in his front passenger seat violated Uber policy.
Prosecutors said 30-year-old Thornton did nothing to provoke the deadly attack and was walking away, but Bivines kept shooting him even after he collapsed.
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Wednesday in court, a police officer testified before Judge Jerry Baxter and the jury that the customer was not armed.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, Ryan Thornton ordered delivery from UberEATS Feb. 17 around and went outside The Concorde to pick up his food at around 11:30 p.m.
Defense Attorney Jackie Patterson told jurors Bivines is a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who fought in Iraq and fired in self-defense.
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Thornton's fiancé was in the Buckhead condo and heard the shots. Surveillance video shows her run down in disbelief.
Thornton was a graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and Morehouse College in Atlanta.