Rick Halperin
2018-11-04 19:09:29 UTC
November 4
TENNESSEE:
Jurors to begin deliberations Sunday in Wilbourn death penalty case
Defendant changes mind, doesn't testify during trial for killing MPD officer
Shelby County Prosecutor Reginald Henderson stood in the middle of the
courtroom and pulled the trigger on an unloaded 9mm gun. He then pulled the
trigger 10 more times.
The gun was used as a prop to demonstrate for the jury the 11 times authorities
say Tremaine Wilbourn, the man accused of killing Memphis police officer Sean
Bolton, fired the same type of gun at the officer on the night of Aug. 1, 2015,
in a neighborhood in Parkway Village.
Authorities said Wilbourn shot Bolton after the officer approached an illegally
parked Mercedes-Benz in the 4800 block of Summerlane in the area of Cottonwood
and South Perkins.
The driver of the car fled after Bolton shined a spotlight in the car.
Wilbourn, who was a passenger, was being detained by Bolton when the two
scuffled and Wilbourn is accused of shooting the officer eight times including
once in the face. Bolton later died at Regional One Health after one of the
bullets pierced an artery in his thigh.
“There was a shot. Then there were 10 more shots. I submit to you that
premediation is not an issue. This is first-degree murder,” Henderson said.
Prosecutors urged jurors to convict Wilbourn, 32, of first-degree murder in the
officer’s death during closing arguments Saturday in the capital murder trial.
“There is no question who did it or where he did it, ” prosecutor Alanda Dwyer
told jurors. “We don’t know what was in Tremaine Wilbourn’s mind, but we know
what he did. If you shoot someone all over their body what is your intent? Your
intent is to kill them, and that is exactly what Tremaine Wilbourn intended and
he did everything in his power to get away with it.”
Defense attorney Lauren Pasley did not dispute that Wilbourn shot Bolton, but
she disputed that he intentionally meant to kill the officer.
“If he intended to kill him why would he ask all of those witnesses to get
their cameras out and record it,” Pasley said.
She said he panicked that night because he was a convicted felon with a loaded
gun that night.
“We admit to shooting Officer Bolton. He carjacked someone. The list gets
longer. He is an ex-felon.
"True, that is true, but that does not make Tremaine a cold-blooded killer
either.”
Wilbourn, who earlier in the trial said he intended to testify, told the court
Saturday morning that he “wishes to remain silent” and changed his mind about
taking the stand in his defense acknowledging that he understood that he could
be asked about possible gang ties.
He is charged with first-degree murder, carjacking, employing a firearm in the
commission of a dangerous offense and a felon in possession of a handgun.
Judge Lee Coffee told the jurors there are 15 possible verdicts to reach in the
case. He dismissed jurors at 4:27 p.m. Saturday, saying he did not want them to
think they had to rush to reach a verdict on the charges. They will begin their
deliberations at 9 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018.
The trial started at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, giving the 15 jurors
time to visit the crime scene before court got underway for the day.
During the proceedings, defense attorney Juni Ganguli presented a motion for
prejudgment acquittal to the court.
After reading a litany of case law and other factors in the case, the judge
denied the motion, telling the attorneys with the jury out of the courtroom
that the slaying of Bolton was a “particularly cruel offense.”
He added that the fatal shooting was premeditated by Wilbourn because the
defendant made the decision not to return to prison that night as he was a
convicted felon in possession of a handgun when he encountered the officer.
Wilbourn, who was convicted of federal bank robbery in 2005 and served 10
years, had been released from prison in 2014 and was on federal probation when
the shooting occurred.
“Officer Bolton was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Coffee said.
“Officer Bolton was acting 100 percent in the scope of what he was charged to
do that night. This is a particularly cruel offense where a officer was shot
multiple times and his face was ripped off by a bullet.”
Wilbourn turned himself in two days after shooting and killing the officer, but
Coffee said Saturday they never found the 9mm gun.
"Three years later it is nowhere to be found," Coffee said.
(source: dailymemphian.com)
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TENNESSEE:
Jurors to begin deliberations Sunday in Wilbourn death penalty case
Defendant changes mind, doesn't testify during trial for killing MPD officer
Shelby County Prosecutor Reginald Henderson stood in the middle of the
courtroom and pulled the trigger on an unloaded 9mm gun. He then pulled the
trigger 10 more times.
The gun was used as a prop to demonstrate for the jury the 11 times authorities
say Tremaine Wilbourn, the man accused of killing Memphis police officer Sean
Bolton, fired the same type of gun at the officer on the night of Aug. 1, 2015,
in a neighborhood in Parkway Village.
Authorities said Wilbourn shot Bolton after the officer approached an illegally
parked Mercedes-Benz in the 4800 block of Summerlane in the area of Cottonwood
and South Perkins.
The driver of the car fled after Bolton shined a spotlight in the car.
Wilbourn, who was a passenger, was being detained by Bolton when the two
scuffled and Wilbourn is accused of shooting the officer eight times including
once in the face. Bolton later died at Regional One Health after one of the
bullets pierced an artery in his thigh.
“There was a shot. Then there were 10 more shots. I submit to you that
premediation is not an issue. This is first-degree murder,” Henderson said.
Prosecutors urged jurors to convict Wilbourn, 32, of first-degree murder in the
officer’s death during closing arguments Saturday in the capital murder trial.
“There is no question who did it or where he did it, ” prosecutor Alanda Dwyer
told jurors. “We don’t know what was in Tremaine Wilbourn’s mind, but we know
what he did. If you shoot someone all over their body what is your intent? Your
intent is to kill them, and that is exactly what Tremaine Wilbourn intended and
he did everything in his power to get away with it.”
Defense attorney Lauren Pasley did not dispute that Wilbourn shot Bolton, but
she disputed that he intentionally meant to kill the officer.
“If he intended to kill him why would he ask all of those witnesses to get
their cameras out and record it,” Pasley said.
She said he panicked that night because he was a convicted felon with a loaded
gun that night.
“We admit to shooting Officer Bolton. He carjacked someone. The list gets
longer. He is an ex-felon.
"True, that is true, but that does not make Tremaine a cold-blooded killer
either.”
Wilbourn, who earlier in the trial said he intended to testify, told the court
Saturday morning that he “wishes to remain silent” and changed his mind about
taking the stand in his defense acknowledging that he understood that he could
be asked about possible gang ties.
He is charged with first-degree murder, carjacking, employing a firearm in the
commission of a dangerous offense and a felon in possession of a handgun.
Judge Lee Coffee told the jurors there are 15 possible verdicts to reach in the
case. He dismissed jurors at 4:27 p.m. Saturday, saying he did not want them to
think they had to rush to reach a verdict on the charges. They will begin their
deliberations at 9 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018.
The trial started at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, giving the 15 jurors
time to visit the crime scene before court got underway for the day.
During the proceedings, defense attorney Juni Ganguli presented a motion for
prejudgment acquittal to the court.
After reading a litany of case law and other factors in the case, the judge
denied the motion, telling the attorneys with the jury out of the courtroom
that the slaying of Bolton was a “particularly cruel offense.”
He added that the fatal shooting was premeditated by Wilbourn because the
defendant made the decision not to return to prison that night as he was a
convicted felon in possession of a handgun when he encountered the officer.
Wilbourn, who was convicted of federal bank robbery in 2005 and served 10
years, had been released from prison in 2014 and was on federal probation when
the shooting occurred.
“Officer Bolton was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Coffee said.
“Officer Bolton was acting 100 percent in the scope of what he was charged to
do that night. This is a particularly cruel offense where a officer was shot
multiple times and his face was ripped off by a bullet.”
Wilbourn turned himself in two days after shooting and killing the officer, but
Coffee said Saturday they never found the 9mm gun.
"Three years later it is nowhere to be found," Coffee said.
(source: dailymemphian.com)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
***@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/