The function of a tossed bag of film popcorn performed a central half Monday as a trial opened for a retired Florida police captain who fatally shot a person in a theater eight years in the past. In the meantime, the sufferer's widow, who was additionally shot through the incident, took the stand.
The query is not whether or not Curtis Reeves shot and killed Chad Oulson on the theater on Jan. 13, 2014. It is whether or not Reeves felt threatened sufficient by Oulson to justify firing his .380-caliber handgun after the 2 argued over Oulson's cellphone use within the theater.
To prosecutors, the triggering occasion within the argument was Oulson's tossing of a bag of popcorn at Reeves - and that is not sufficient to say self-defense.
"What the proof will present you is that Chad Oulson was shot and killed over tossing popcorn," Assistant State Lawyer Scott Rosenwasser instructed jurors in a gap assertion. "That is no motive to kill one other individual."
The protection, nonetheless, contends that Reeves, then 71, was in declining well being and feared the 43-year-old, bigger Oulson would punch or in any other case assault him - and will have thrown his cellphone on the older man. Protection lawyer Dino Michaels stated Reeves additionally understood threat and sensed hazard from his 27 years with the Tampa Police Division.
"This is not about popcorn," Michaels instructed the jury. "You are going to see there was an assault earlier than the popcorn was thrown."
Reeves, now 79, faces a possible life sentence if convicted of second-degree homicide and aggravated assault with a lethal weapon. The trial, anticipated to final about three weeks, is being heard by a jury of 4 males and two ladies with 4 alternates.
Nicole Oulson, spouse of Chad Oulson, was struck within the hand by the identical bullet that killed her husband. She testified Monday that the 2 males bickered over the cellphone dispute and at one level Chad Oulson stood up, inflicting her to place her left hand close to his chest to information him again to his seat.
That is when the shot was fired, she testified, almost severing a finger.
"I felt like my hand was blown off," Nicole Oulson stated. "He took a few steps after which collapsed. I knew he was means worse than me."
Within the moments after the taking pictures, she stated she tried to assist her husband.
"I see his eyes are simply glazed over and I knew in that second," she testified, in keeping with CBS affiliate WTSP.
The case has been delayed for years as Reeves claimed he feared for his life and sought safety underneath the "stand your floor" regulation. A circuit decide dominated in opposition to him, however Reeves appealed. Lawmakers modified the regulation to shift the burden of proof to prosecutors, however the Florida Supreme Courtroom dominated that the modifications did not have an effect on circumstances retroactively.
Reeves has been dwelling at house underneath home arrest with a GPS monitor since his launch from jail on bond in July 2014, WTSP reported.
The taking pictures occurred after Reeves and Oulson, and their wives, went to a matinee exhibiting of the Mark Wahlberg movie "Lone Survivor" at a theater advanced in Wesley Chapel, a suburb of Tampa.
Oulson was utilizing his cellphone throughout previews earlier than the film started, prosecutors say, partially to examine on his younger daughter at a neighborhood daycare. Reeves demanded that Oulson cease utilizing the cellphone and was met with a curse-filled response, Michaels instructed the jury.
"Chad Oulson was irritated when Curtis Reeves tells him to place his cellphone away. He stays irritated," Michaels stated.
Nicole Oulson testified she didn't hear any profanity from her husband within the change.
"He stated, 'What's your drawback? The film hasn't even began but,'" she stated, quoting her husband.
Reeves went to theater administration about Oulson's cellphone use, returned to his seat and that is when the argument resumed, the popcorn was tossed and Reeves shot Oulson within the chest, in keeping with trial proof.
A lot of the confrontation was captured on grainy theater digital camera video, but it surely has no sound. Dozens of witnesses have been listed for trial but it surely's not clear what number of will truly testify.
Rosenwasser, the prosecutor, stated the proof will show that Reeves was incensed by Oulson's cellphone use and could not let it go.
"He seemed to be agitated and offended," Rosenwasser stated. "This was an intentional and purposeful taking pictures."