A witness’ comment upset family members of a slain police officer and sent them running from a DeKalb County courtroom Tuesday during the jury trial of the man charged with killing him.
“The man was dirty, the man was crooked,” witness Derrick Murchison said of one of the officers shot and killed Jan. 16, 2008, in a confrontation with Murchison’s friend, murder defendant William Woodard.
The 34-year-old Woodard faces a possible death sentence for allegedly causing the deaths of DeKalb Officers Eric Barker and Ricky Bryant in the parking lot of the Glenwood Gardens Apartments, where the officers were working off-duty as security guards.
Barker, 33, died instantly and Bryant, 26, died at the hospital. Both were married and they each had four children.
Woodard has pleaded not guilty to double counts of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a gun by a convicted felon. He acknowledges that he shot the officers but has testified that he did so in self-defense as they were beating him.
Murchison, who previously testified in his friend Woodard’s defense, was called back to the stand Tuesday by prosecutors who sought to show discrepancies in his testimony.
In other testimony Tuesday, crime scene consultant Chris Robinson testified for the defense that his analysis of the evidence shows Woodard opened fire on the officers while he was on the ground being beaten by one of them.
As Bryant stood nearby, Barker beat Woodard on the head with a baton, Robinson said. At this point, Woodard pulled out a gun and opened fire, striking the two officers.
Prosecutors disagreed and called witnesses to the stand who said they saw Woodard standing when he opened fire on the officers.
Testimony in the case ended Tuesday, and closing arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday.
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