ARCHER COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) — A jury in a murder trial in Archer County has returned a verdict.

The six-man, six-woman jury in Archer City returned late Wednesday afternoon, November 1, with a guilty verdict for Stephen Parsons after deliberating just over an hour.

Authorities said the defendant had admitted at the time of the shooting of Gary Kuykendall in Holliday last year that he was very drunk and upset about his job and shot a man.

The victim had nothing to do with Parsons’ work, though. He apparently was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Parsons became irate and went to get a gun.

Wednesday morning, a recording was played of a Texas Ranger interrogation of Parsons.

Parsons told the Ranger he had a lot to drink that day and had a bad day at work. When asked if he had the gun at work, he said he didn’t remember.

He said he was upset about another man who had been hired and that he went to his mom’s house in Holliday so he could feel needed.

On the way, he was stopped by a Wichita Falls Police Officer for speeding and then released.

Parsons went on to say he wasn’t mad at Kuykendall but at the guy at work.

While at his mom’s house, Parsons became upset and went and got his gun and came back and shot Kuykendall, who had reportedly tried to calm down Parsons.

Parsons later said he remembers very little of what happened.

The jury will return to set Parsons’s punishment, which could be 5 to 99 years, on Thursday, November 2, 2023.