Attorney For Accused Deep Ellum Assault Suspect Speaking Out

DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - The attorney for the former Dallas bartender accused of beating a woman outside a Deep Ellum bar is speaking out.

Police say Austin Shuffield was caught on camera brutally attacking L’Daijohnique Lee last month. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a felony, and the lesser charges of interfering with an emergency call, public intoxication and unlawfully carrying a weapon. 

Lee she said she had gone the wrong way in a parking lot and blocked Shuffield in as he was trying to leave. He got out of his truck to ask her to move, and the two began arguing.

Shuffield's attorney Scott Palmer claims Shuffield feared for his life the night of the incident, because Lee was not actually trying to call 9-1-1.

"She was on the phone calling for people to come to her and help hurt him. Shoot him. Scare him, that type of thing. That's really what set him off," he says.

He says there is absolutely no truth to the accusation that this was motivated by hate or racism.

"When you take a case that has nothing to do with race and change the narrative, it does a disservice for actual, legitimate hate crimes."

Shuffield is now expected to make his first court appearance in early May.​