On the third day of testimony in the Roy Oliver murder trial, prosecutors called a forensic video expert to the stand. Analyst Grant Fredericks showed jurors his breakdown of the footage taken from police officers' body cameras at the scene of the shooting that killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards last April.
On April 29, 2017 Oliver and a second officer broke up a teenage house party when they heard gunshots outside. Prosecutors said those shots came from another group who pulled into a nearby nursing home parking lot and left before officers went onto the street to investigate.
The officers who investigated the shots, confronted a vehicle as it left the house party. Five unarmed teens were in the vehicle. Oliver shot into the vehicle and killed Edwards, who was in the front passenger seat. Oliver's defense said he fired because he believed the driver was trying to run over a second officer at the scene.
Monday morning, Fredericks broke down the body camera footage from Oliver and the second officer, Tyler Gross.
"We can see the lens of the rear light. Therefore, the vehicle is past the officer and is moving away from the officer at this point," Fredericks explained.
Prosecutor Michael Snipes asked if the vehicle was past the officer before the first shot was fired.
"Correct. Yes, he is behind the vehicle," Fredericks answered.
"Officer Gross is not in the position to be impacted by the vehicle. The vehicle is moving away from the officer and even if it were moving backward, he still isn't in the line of the trajectory of the motion of the vehicle," Fredericks said. "He's still off to the right and behind the vehicle."
Fredericks played the body camera footage from officers, side-by-side to show jurors where each officer was right before, and during, the shooting.
He testified all five shots fired by Oliver were fired in .934 seconds, just under a second.
Fredericks told the jury the video and audio show the vehicle was moving away from Officer Gross and that Oliver fired the first shot after the car passed Gross.
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Defense attorney Miles Brissette pointed out the video analysis was one piece of understanding an officer-involved shooting. Brissette asked Fredericks if the video could help account for the psychological component of making a decision to shoot in an active shooting situation.
Brissette asked Fredericks if the video showed witnesses approach the officers and give them information about the initial shooting near the nursing home. In testimony last week, witnesses testified an unknown SUV pulled into the parking lot of a nearby nursing home and the people inside shouted gang slogans and fired gunshots into the air. In cross examination Monday, the defense worked to show the jury officers had limited information when they confronted the vehicle Edwards was riding in.
On the first day of testimony, prosecutors played the body camera footage for jurors. Monday, testimony once again centered on the footage, highlighting the significant role body camera footage is playing in this trial.
District Judge Brandon Birmingham is presiding over the trial. Testimony resumes Tuesday morning.
