Why Texas dad who shot daughter dead after argument over Trump won’t face charges: legal expert
By
Natalie O'Neill and
Brianna Dunkers-Brown
Published Feb. 12, 2026, 9:44 p.m. ET
The Texas father who fatally shot his daughter after an argument about President Trump
won’t face charges because the grand jury that heard his case hails from a gun-loving, conservative part of the state, a legal expert told The Post Thursday.
Wine-drunk dad Kris Harrison — who claimed his Glock 9mm
pistol accidentally went off, killing his 23-year-old daughter, Lucy, last year — was able to skirt manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide raps due to right-leaning “politics” in Collin County, said Austin-based criminal defense lawyer Lindsay Richards.
“I honestly believe that the fact that he was not indicted and has not had any consequences for doing this is symptomatic of a very conservative county in Texas,” said Richards, a former prosecutor and partner at the law firm Coker and Connelly.
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Kris Harrison won’t face charges because the grand jury that heard his case hails from a right-leaning part of Texas, a legal expert said.
“The only thing we can boil this down to is looking at our political climate. A conservative county in Texas, and this was the result,” she said.
She said sympathy for gun mishaps and the politically charged nature of the case, including that it centered around Trump, likely played a role in the jury’s decision not to indict Harrison.
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Richards said criminally negligent homicide — which would require prosecutors to show Harrison failed to see a substantial risk that a reasonable person would have seen — is a “proper potential charge” for him.
The fact that Harrison, a “functioning alcoholic,” had allegedly gulped down a 17-ounce carton of white wine the morning he killed his daughter was also a major factor, she said.
“I also think it should be noted … that he had been drinking that day as well. So that’s another element to this that I cannot believe was not considered in his criminal negligence. That’s obvious,” she said.
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Lucy was visiting her dad on Jan. 10, 2025, when they got into a political argument at her dad’s home in Prosper, Texas, and he fatally shot her. Courtesy Jane Coates
Richards said she’s seen manslaughter convictions for far less reckless behavior.
“I’ve seen cases in Texas where individuals that have been indicted for manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide for running traffic lights,” she said. “So certainly an individual taking a firearm, showing it to his daughter. And had to have been pointing it at her … that doesn’t typically happen.”
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Lucy, who lived with her mom in Warrington, England, was visiting her dad on Jan. 10, 2025, when they got into a political argument — including over gun rights — at his home in Prosper, a suburb of Dallas.
He shot her in the chest in his bedroom as he was “showing her” his gun, Harrison said.
Lucy’s death was ruled accidental by a Texas grand jury in June, a decision that her mom, Jane Coates, described as “baffling” and “beyond comprehension” at the time.
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Lucy’s mom described the decision not to charge Kris Harrison as “baffling.” Courtesy Jane Coates
The Lone Star State has lax gun laws — including requiring no license to own a firearm — but they probably didn’t play a role in the case, Richards said.
“We have stand-your-ground laws, but I don’t see how they would have applied in this situation because that’s more of a self-defense [law]. Being in fear [for] your life,” she said.
“Not with your own daughter after you’ve been drinking wine and having an argument about politics.”
Wine-drunk dad Kris Harrison was able to skirt manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges due to right-leaning “politics” in Collin County, a legal expert said.
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