October 8, 2024
(McKinney, Texas) – District Attorney Greg Willis announced that Robert Crolley, 43, of Plano, Texas, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon Causing Serious Bodily Injury. This follows a jury’s guilty verdict.
On March 3, 2023, Plano Police Department officers responded to multiple reports of gunfire at the intersection of Parker Road and Ranier Road around 12:50 A.M. Among the calls was a distressing plea from the victim: “I’m dying! I’m dying!” Upon arrival, officers found the victim—an Uber driver—barely conscious in the driver’s seat, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He had just dropped off a passenger moments before the attack. The suspect had fled the scene.
Plano first responders administered life-saving treatment, but the victim lost vital signs en route to Medical City Plano. Trauma surgeons managed to revive him, though he spent over three months in the hospital and continues to require ongoing medical care due to the severity of his injuries.
Through diligent work, including multiple interviews with eyewitnesses and a review of surveillance footage from nearby businesses, Plano Police and its lead Detective Justin Duffy were able to identify Crolley as the shooter.
Throughout the course of the investigation, Crolley told three different stories. Text messages retrieved from Crolley’s cellphone revealed that he told his roommate the next morning that he needed to hide his car in the garage because he was driving drunk and he thought an officer had followed him. When detectives interviewed Crolley soon after, he told the police that he was not out that night and that several other people often drive the car involved. Then, when Crolley was ultimately arrested on the charge, he called his roommate from jail and told him that he did shoot the victim, but it was in self-defense after the victim pulled a gun on him. He told the roommate he “should be fine if [he] can just convince a jury.”
At trial, Crolley maintained his claim of self-defense, but there was no evidence that the victim ever brandished a firearm during the brief encounter, or would have even had the opportunity. The jury rejected Crolley’s self-defense claim and found him guilty.
Under Texas law, aggravated assault becomes a first-degree felony when a firearm is discharged from a vehicle into another occupied vehicle, causing serious bodily injury. The punishment for this crime ranges from 5 to 99 years or life in prison.
During the sentencing phase, the jury also learned of Crolley’s prior felony conviction for Grand Larceny and a misdemeanor conviction for Simple Assault and Battery, both in South Carolina. Based on this, the jury sentenced him to 40 years in prison and imposed a $4,000 fine. Judge George Flint presided over the trial.
“Road rage is a threat to every driver on our roads, and it has no place in Collin County,” said District Attorney Willis after the sentencing. “This victim didn’t know his attacker and did nothing wrong—he was just doing his job, when he nearly lost his life.”
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Madison Young and Mollie Thompson prosecuted the case, aided by District Attorney Investigator Mike Bennett.
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