Blood Done Sign My Name

News on the current trial related to the above series...

Jury selection begins in wrongful-death suit against Angier pastor
https://www.wral.com/jury-selection-begins-in-wrongful-death-suit-against-angier-pastor/18037140/

Jury selection began Tuesday in the wrongful-death lawsuit against a Harnett County pastor who shot and killed his son-in-law at his Angier home in 2013.

Pat Chisenhall, pastor of the Abundant Life Worship Center in Angier, told authorities he shot Christian Griggs after his son-in-law threatened him and his daughter and attempted to break into his home through a window.

Griggs' parents, who filed the suit against Chisenhall, dispute those claims. They say Griggs was at the home to pick up his then-4-year-old daughter from his estranged wife.

Griggs, an Army veteran, was shot six times – once in the stomach, once in the shoulder and four times in the back.

Harnett County District Attorney Vernon Stewart did not press charges in the case. Chisenhall's lawyer has argued the shooting is covered by North Carolina's Castle Doctrine, which protects people who injure or kill in defense of their homes, workplaces or vehicles.

The Griggs family has asserted in court filings that the investigation into Christian Griggs' death, conducted by the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, was flawed. They're pushing for an external investigation into their son's death.

The case was the subject of a five-part investigative series published and aired last week by WRAL News.

Jury selection in the suit began in the Harnett County Courthouse following a closed-door hearing late in the day Monday between Superior Court Judge Beecher Gray and lawyers from both sides.

Potential jurors were questioned Tuesday about military service, firearm ownership, their views on religious leaders and interactions with law enforcement.

The trial is expected to last through early next week.

The wrongful death suit seeks more than $250,000 in damages from Chisenhall, which the Griggs family says it will direct to Christian Griggs' daughter.
 
Medical examiner testifies in wrongful death case against Angier pastor
https://www.wral.com/medical-examin...ul-death-case-against-angier-pastor/18042011/

A state medical examiner testified Wednesday that she believes Christian Griggs was likely bent over or prone when he was shot four times in the back by his father-in-law, Pat Chisenhall, in 2013.

Associate Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lauren Scott, who performed Griggs' autopsy, told a Harnett County jury in the trial of a wrongful death lawsuit against Chisenhall that two of the wounds in his back would have been fatal.

Chisenhall shot Griggs six times at his home in Angier. No charges were filed against Chisenhall, a pastor at the Abundant Life Worship Center, who said he was defending himself and his daughter from her estranged husband as he attempted to break into the house. Chisenhall said he shot Griggs as he was coming through the front window of his home.

Griggs' family disputes those claims, saying Griggs was at the house to pick up his then 4-year-old daughter for scheduled visitation the day he was killed on Oct. 12, 2013. They filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Chisenhall in 2015, prompting a civil trial that begn this week.

A state medical examiner testified Wednesday that she believes Christian Griggs was likely bent over or prone when he was shot four times in the back by his father-in-law, Pat Chisenhall, in 2013.

Associate Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lauren Scott, who performed Griggs' autopsy, told a Harnett County jury in the trial of a wrongful death lawsuit against Chisenhall that two of the wounds in his back would have been fatal.

Chisenhall shot Griggs six times at his home in Angier. No charges were filed against Chisenhall, a pastor at the Abundant Life Worship Center, who said he was defending himself and his daughter from her estranged husband as he attempted to break into the house. Chisenhall said he shot Griggs as he was coming through the front window of his home.

Griggs' family disputes those claims, saying Griggs was at the house to pick up his then 4-year-old daughter for scheduled visitation the day he was killed on Oct. 12, 2013. They filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Chisenhall in 2015, prompting a civil trial that begin this week.

The case was the subject of a WRAL News investigation published and aired last week.

Scott told the jury that the trajectory of the four shots to Griggs' back – which entered at upward angles – meant that the upper half of Griggs body would have to be almost parallel to the ground. That's assuming the shooter was in a standing position, she said. She also testified that she had seen no evidence to suggest Chisenhall was crouching when he fired the shots.

Robert Levin, Chisenhall's attorney, pushed back against Scott's opinion of the body position, noting that the medical examiner had to rely on information she received from law enforcement, in addition to her autopsy, to form that conclusion.

Under questioning, Scott said it was possible Griggs could have been facing the shooter with the top half of his body twisted away, rather than with his back to him. In that scenario, she said the top half of Griggs body would still have to be close to parallel to the floor.

The jury did not hear a statement from Scott's 2015 sworn affidavit that the position of the body was "generally inconsistent with a claim of self-defense." That conclusion, Levin successfully argued to presiding Judge Beecher Gray before the trial, should be barred because it's outside the scope of Scott's job responsibilities and expertise.

Before the court broke for lunch Wednesday, jurors also began hearing testimony from Tony Griggs, Christian Griggs' father, who described Christian's early life and the beginning of his relationship with Katie Chisenhall.

The two had a child shortly after graduating high school in 2008 and married in January 2009, before Griggs enlisted in the Army. They separated in the fall of 2013.

Opening statements begin the day
At the center of the case is North Carolina's Castle Doctrine, which allows lawful occupants of homes, vehicles and workplaces to defend themselves and their property. A North Carolina law passed in 2011 inscribed the doctrine explicitly in state statute, adding that the occupant of those places has an automatic "presumption of fear" that must be rebutted by the other side – the state in criminal cases, or the plaintiffs in civil cases.

Delivering the opening statement for the Griggs family, attorney Rebecca Ugolick emphasized that the case is not an attack on the Castle Doctrine.

"I am not asking you to say it's not OK to defend yourself. I am not asking you to say it's not OK to defend your family. I am not asking you to say it's not OK to defend your home," Ugolick said. "What I'm asking you to do is say it's wrong to shoot a wounded, unarmed man in the back four separate times."

Levin, the attorney representing Pat Chisenhall, said they planned to present evidence showing Griggs had communicated clear threats to both Chisenhall and his daughter, Katie, making him fearful for his life.

"Pat Chisenhall, we submit the evidence will show, was defending his life, was defending his daughter's life at the time of this unfortunate incident," Levin said. "You have to decide if he was acting in self defense."

The Griggs family is seeking compensatory damages in the case, but ahead of the trial's opening day dropped their original claim for punitive damages of more than $250,000.

The trial is expected to last through early next week.
 
Tony Stark said:
And again,that kid would have made it home that night if Zimmerman had not starting fucking with him.Same with many blacks murdered by racists.
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H also would have made it home if he hadn't tried to kill GZ by pounding his head on the concrete sidewalk.
 
Arnie said:
H also would have made it home if he hadn't tried to kill GZ by pounding his head on the concrete sidewalk.
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They wouldn't have been fighting if Zimmerman hadn't gotten out of his car and chased Martin after Martin ran from him trying to avoid a confrontation.
 
Tony Stark said:
Not only do you support murderers like Zimmerman,you have a problem when blacks peacefully protest against it.
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N.B. I am just throwing in my two cents here in regard to Tony Stark's response above to a post by GWB.

I would question whether the Zimmerman incident is a very good parallel. In the South many of the perpetrators of lynchings and other murderers of black citizens went free for lack of due process under the law. In the Zimmerman incident, there was a full, detailed, investigation of the Martin killing and a jury trial of Zimmerman that had national press coverage and close scrutiny. No matter what we think of the verdict, or of Zimmerman himself, I don't see how anyone can claim that due process under the law, to the best of everyone's ability, was not followed. Mistakes may have been made, but if they were, apparently they were not of a nature that would justify the judge to declare a mistrial. We know our criminal justice system is imperfect. We don't have to like the verdict, or Zimmerman for that matter. But It seems to me that it would be very hard to make a credible case that due process under the law was not followed.
 
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More on the trial in North Carolina...

911 recordings trigger dispute in wrongful-death case against Angier minister
https://www.wral.com/harnett-county...case-of-son-in-law-s-fatal-shooting/18046150/

The Rev. Pat Chisenhall’s three calls to 911 on the day he shot and killed his son-in-law were dissected one sentence fragment at a time Friday in the wrongful-death civil trial against the Harnett County minister.

Rebecca Ugolick, a lawyer for the family of Christian Griggs, sparred with Harnett County 911 communications manager Dianne Raynor over what words were captured in the recordings of the calls.

Did Chisenhall tell the 911 operator that Griggs “fell back” through a broken window after he was shot? Or that he “jumped back"?

Did Chisenhall say he locked the door to the house to keep Griggs out? Or that his daughter Katie, who was then married to Griggs, did?

The exchange was interrupted at one point by Harnett County Superior Court Judge Beecher Gray, who said he’d noticed the witness frequently looking to Chisenhall’s defense attorney as though for cues.

“Take your cues from yourself, not someone else,” Gray admonished Raynor.

To which attorney Robert Levin replied, "I've never met this witness before, Your Honor."

Friday was the fourth day of trial in the wrongful-death case, which Griggs’ parents, Tony and Dolly Griggs, filed against Chisenhall in 2015.

Chisenhall shot Christian Griggs to death at his home in Angier in October 2013, and told authorities he did so in self defense. He has said he shot Griggs as Griggs was breaking in through a living-room window.

After the 911 calls were played in their entirety, Ugolick began to question Raynor about what could be heard on the recordings, with Raynor repeatedly saying she didn’t hear what Ugolick did.

In one portion of the recording, two people can be heard on the phone with the 911 operator -- Chisenhall and Christian Griggs.

Ugolick asked Raynor if she had heard Griggs say “give me my kid.”

Raynor said all she heard was “kid.”

Ugolick asked Raynor if she heard Griggs say, “How are you not going to let a father be with his child?”

Raynor responded: “I didn’t hear the victim. I didn’t hear whoever was on the porch.”

She wouldn't acknowledge that the sound of traffic on the recordings was in fact cars passing by or that, as Ugolick suggested, whoever was holding the phone had to be outside for the phone to pick up the sound.

Neither the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office nor district attorney filed charges against Chisenhall, saying the shooting was covered by the North Carolina Castle Doctrine law, which allows legal occupants of homes, businesses or vehicles to use deadly force to defend themselves against intruders.

It grants the shooter the “presumption of fear” -- meaning, in a civil lawsuit, that it is up to the plaintiff to prove that the shooter had no reason to fear for his or her life or serious injury.

The law and the lawsuit were the subject of a WRAL investigative series called Presumption of Fear, which was published online and aired on television last week.

The Griggs family disputes Chisenhall’s allegation that Christian Griggs tried to break into his home. And they argue that Chisenhall went further than the law allows, continuing to shoot after Griggs had been disabled.

Griggs was shot six times -- once each in the stomach and shoulder and four times in the back.

At the time of the shooting, Griggs was married to Chisenhall’s daughter Katie. They two were separated and were in a dispute over the custody of their daughter Jaden.

The Griggs family says Christian went to the Chisenhall house that Saturday morning to pick up Jaden for a scheduled weekend visit.

The Chisenhall family has not addressed the custody issue.

The Griggs family’s attorney rested his case Friday morning.

Levin, Chisenhall’s attorney, then asked Judge Gray to dismiss the Griggs family’s lawsuit, saying the Griggses had not proved their case. That is a standard argument and request when a plaintiff concludes his or her case.

Levin said the Griggses’ attorneys, Ugolick and Robert Jessup, had failed to show that Chisenhall was not in fear for his life. In fact, he said, testimony that Griggs was suffering from PTSD and receiving $1,600 a month in military disability pay supported the possibility of Chisenhall fearing Griggs.

Griggs served in Iraq while he was in the Army and was part of a convoy that was hit by a roadside bomb that killed two of his colleagues.

Gray denied Levin's request, and the trial proceeded to the defense portion.

Gray blocked Levin from calling an expert witness he had hired, Emanuel Kapelsohn, a use-of-force consultant fom Philadelphia. Kapelsohn's website says he has been "a firearms, tactics and use of force expert in trials across the nation, defending use of force cases in federal and state courts, in both civil and criminal trials." It notes that he has testified for plaintiffs, also.

Gray agreed with Jessup that Kapelsohn lacked sufficient medical expertise.

Levin questioned Kapelsohn while the jury was out of the room, to preview for the judge the testimony he would have given. Levin said Kapelsohn would not talk about medical aspects of the case.

Under oath, Kapelsohn said he had reviewed the evidence in the case and concluded that the shooting could have happened as Chisenhall described – from inside the living room, through a broken window, hitting Griggs in the stomach, shoulder and back.

He said an average healthy person could fire a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle – the gun Chisenhall used – as many as five times in a second. A wounded person can turn around in as little as half a second, he said, so it was possible that Griggs had spun around as he was being shot – a sequence of events that could have happened in less than two seconds.

Chisenhall, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting, has said that he cannot remember shooting Griggs.

He testified earlier this week that his clearest memories were of the look of fear on his daughter’s face and the “monstrous rage” he saw in Griggs. His memory stops, he said, at the point of a window in his living room being shattered.

Retired Harnett County Det. Hal Stroud, who was one of the investigators on the scene, said – after a very long pause and in response to a question from Ugolick – that he could not recall another situation in which the person firing the weapon did not remember the shooting.

He said he did recall cases in which the number of shell casings found did not match the number of shots fired. Investigators could locate only three shell casings in Chisenhall’s living room after the shooting though Griggs was wounded six times.

Stroud also testified that when he first entered Chisenhall’s house on the day of the shooting, he saw broken glass scattered around the living room and one window “smashed in.”

Christian Griggs’ father, Tony Griggs, has said he saw no signs of broken glass or of an altercation when he found his son lying face down and bleeding on Chisenhall’s front porch.

The Griggs family originally asked for compensatory damages – in effect, the amount of money Christian might have earned had he lived – and punitive damages of $250,000. Shortly before the trial began, they dropped the request for punitive damages.

Because they filed the lawsuit on behalf of the legal estate of Christian Griggs, any money a jury might award would go to his and Katie's daughter, Jaden.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday, Tuesday if the courthouse closes due to expected severe weather, and to last into the middle of next week
 
Obviously this is a case that is being played up because of the racial angle and because it fits the standard liberal template of a crazed gun nut racist Christian, in this case a minister, shooting a minority for no reason.

All I know of it is from the above posts. That said, it seems odd to say the least that a judge would not allow a use of force expert to testify in a trial concerning use of force. This applies doubly after he allowed the Medical Examiner to give obviously speculative testimony as to what happened.

What I find more alarming is the concept that if you are legally defending your home and family, you are somehow required to carefully calibrate the exact minimum amount of force necessary. So if your first shot wings the intruder, the plaintiff's argument here is that you cannot continue shooting until you ascertain if that stops the attack. This flies in the face of standard tactical training, which will teach you to try for immediate multiple hits. I note as well the defendant was using a .22 rifle, which is more suitable to plinking and squirrel hunting that self defense. Anyone with a modicum of defensive firearms training would know that one shot from a .22 would be unlikely to stop an attacker, particularly someone sufffering from mental illness.

Hopefully this case will be decided on the evidence, as the Zimmerman case was, and not on the basis of identity politics, as the Fields case in Charlottesville seems to have been.
 
piezoe said:
N.B. I am just throwing in my two cents here in regard to Tony Stark's response above to a post by GWB.

I would question whether the Zimmerman incident is a very good parallel. In the South many of the perpetrators of lynchings and other murderers of black citizens went free for lack of due process under the law. In the Zimmerman incident, there was a full, detailed, investigation of the Martin killing and a jury trial of Zimmerman that had national press coverage and close scrutiny. No matter what we think of the verdict, or of Zimmerman himself, I don't see how anyone can claim that due process under the law, to the best of everyone's ability, was not followed. Mistakes may have been made, but if they were, apparently they were not of a nature that would justify the judge to declare a mistrial. We know our criminal justice system is imperfect. We don't have to like the verdict, or Zimmerman for that matter. But It seems to me that it would be very hard to make a credible case that due process under the law was not followed.
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I wonder what the results would have been had this happened in a stand your ground state. An individual shouldn't have to be fearful of being stalked.
 
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