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Kerrick Trial - Day 17 - August 12

By Mark Becker, wsoctv.com
By Mark Becker, wsoctv.com

What to know:

  • Randall "Wes" Kerrick is accused of shooting and killing unarmed Jonathan Ferrell in September 2013.
  • Kerrick faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted.
  • Dash cam video from Officer Neal's cruiser was released last week.

KERRICK TRIAL ARCHIVE

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Officer Randall "Wes" Kerrick is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of unarmed black man Jonathan Ferrell in 2013.

6 p.m. update: For eight days, Kerrick has sat silently at the defense table, just a few feet away from the jurors who will decide his fate.

Soon, jurors may hear from him directly.

In court Wednesday, Kerrick's attorneys twice told the judge the plan for Kerrick to testify at some point in his voluntary manslaughter trial.

https://twitter.com/BlakeWSOC9/status/631564559703261184

5:43 p.m. update: The jury has seen that dash cam video and heard from more than half a dozen witnesses describe the road and the ditch running alongside it that Officer Randall "Wes" Kerrick stumbled into as he was shooting Jonathan Ferrell.

Kerrick's attorneys wanted jurors to see it for themselves.

“You can't appreciate all these things until you go there, unless you see.  And these jurors are determining this man's liberty,” defense attorney Mike Greene said.

Prosecutors argued the jury has all they need to know about the crime scene.

The judge agreed and said no to the field trip and part of the defense's case.

They had plenty still in play including a CMPD officer who trains officers when to shoot and not to shoot using a video simulator. It’s scenarios similar to the one Kerrick faced.

Prosecutor Teresa Postel asked Officer Kip White about scenarios where officers aren't sure, like Kerrick wasn't, if the suspect has a weapon.

“If you're not exactly sure what's going on or what's in the person's hand or what he has or what he's doing, there is doubt,” Postel said.

“If there's doubt, White said you don't shoot.

5:02 p.m. update: Kerrick's attorney revealed Wednesday it's very likely he will take the stand in his own defense.

5 p.m. update: Officer Randall "Wes" Kerrick leaned over to his attorney and smiled Wednesday morning.

It was a rare and perhaps telling moment in a case where so much is on the line and where Kerrick 's attorneys are just beginning to tell his side of the story.

Officer Charles Thompson is a key part of that story.

He told the jury that back in 2012 he and Kerrick were together on a call where a suspect confronted them.

“My eyes were on the suspect so,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he and Kerrick pulled out their Tasers and Thompson fired his to stop the suspect.

A supervisor told them they'd made a mistake.

“He felt like according to our training one should have had lethal and one should have had non-lethal since there were two of us there.  So one should have had your Taser, one should have had your service weapon,” Thompson said.

A few minutes later, supervisor Lt. Eric Brady told the jury what he told Thompson and Kerrick: “I said, ‘Hey. You need to communicate among yourselves.  If one of you has a Taser out and you think he's going for a weapon, then one of you also needs to be there with lethal force in the event it turns into a lethal situation.’”

A year later, Kerrick would tell detectives when Jonathan Ferrell ran toward him and a fellow officer, who'd already fired his Taser and missed, he pulled out his gun and fired the fatal shots.

12:30 p.m. UPDATE: The defense called several witnesses Wednesday morning who discussed the training officer Kerrick and other officers received about when to use force against a suspect and how much force to use.

One of the people who testified is a police officer who worked with Kerrick on the overnight shift in the Hickory Grove Division in east Charlotte.

Officer Charles Thompson described a 2012 case where he and officer Kerrick confronted a suspect who refused to follow their orders and appeared to be ready to charge toward them.

Officer Thompson said both he and Kerrick pulled their tasers and only officer Thompson fired his.

Thompson said a supervisor later told them both that one of them should have been ready to shoot their pistol.

Kerrick's attorneys said that protocol explained why Kerrick pulled out his gun a year later when Jonathan Ferrell came toward him and another officer who had fired his taser.

Several officers who worked with Kerrick and another who teaches use of force at the CMPD academy also testified.

5:55 a.m. UPDATE: The defense will begin its first full day of calling witnesses Wednesday morning after the state rested its case in the voluntary manslaughter trial of CMPD officer Randall "Wes" Kerrick.

The state wrapped up testimony Tuesday with CMPD Capt. Mike Campagna, who testified that Kerrick was justified to raise his gun at Ferrell, but once he saw Ferrell was unarmed, he should have holstered it.

“Was shooting Jonathan consistent with law enforcement training and CMPD policy?” asked prosecutor Teresa Postel.

“It was not,” answered Campagna.

RELATED: CMPD captain says Kerrick was not justified in firing weapon

Kerrick’s attorney argued the judge should allow testimony about an incident in 2012 involving Kerrick and the question of using force – the discussion was done without the jury in the courtroom.

The defense said during that call that Kerrick drew his Taser instead of a gun, but days later was told by higher-ups that he should "gone lethal."

But the state argued that situation was different and that Kerrick clearly violated CMPD policy and the law.

A Western Carolina University professor of psychology was the first defense witness to testify Tuesday. David McCord testified about a series of psychological tests that Kerrick took prior to becoming a police officer. McCord said Kerrick's aggregate score exceeded 70 percent of those who took the test.

Earlier, the defense called to the stand a stream of Kerrick's supervisors at CMPD, who had positive reviews about the officer.

"He was a young officer but very mature," said Sgt. Robert McManus.

  • WATCH a condensed version of the dash cam video released for the first time in the trial:

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TIMELINE: Police detail of events in officer-involved shooting

Kerrick case background

Randall "Wes" Kerrick is accused of shooting and killing unarmed Jonathan Ferrell on Sept. 14, 2013.

Three officers were called to the 7500 block of Reedy Creek Road in east Mecklenburg County around 2:30 that morning. A woman told police Ferrell was banging on her front door.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Ferrell ran toward the officers when they arrived. One of the officers deployed his Taser, but it was unsuccessful. Kerrick fired his weapon 12 times at close range. Ten of the shots hit Ferrell, killing him.

Police later discovered a wrecked car that Ferrell was driving about 500 yards away. Officers say Ferrell was unarmed.

Around 9:30 p.m. Sept. 14, 2013, Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter, marking the first time an officer in Charlotte had been charged with manslaughter for actions on duty.

Kerrick was released from jail on a $50,000 bond. He remains suspended without pay from CMPD.

Ferrell, a former football player at Florida A&M University, was living in Charlotte with his fiancée. A toxicology report released in November showed Ferrell had 60 mg/dl of ethanol in his system, equal to a .06 if blown during a DWI check point. The legal limit in North Carolina is .08.

The Ferrell family filed a civil suit against the city, county, CMPD and former Police Chief Rodney Monroe on Jan. 14, 2014. The suit was settled in May 2015 for $2.25 million.

George Laughrun and Michael J. Greene will represent Kerrick. His attorneys were hired by the Fraternal Order of Police.

Recent stories:

Channel 9 will have a team of reporters covering the Kerrick trial each day. Follow @wsoctv on Twitter for continuous updates.

Twitter handles for reporters who will be covering the trial:

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