Defense begins Friday in courthouse shooting trial

Beretta CX4 Storm semi-automatic rifle used during the March 14, 2012, Jefferson County Courthouse shooting. The weapon was recovered at RCI by Beaumont police officers. The state entered the weapon as evidence today in the Bartholomew Granger capital murder trial. Sarah Moore/The Beaumont Enterprise less Beretta CX4 Storm semi-automatic rifle used during the March 14, 2012, Jefferson County Courthouse shooting. The weapon was recovered at RCI by Beaumont police officers. The state entered the weapon as evidence ... more Photo: Sarah Moore Photo: Sarah Moore Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Defense begins Friday in courthouse shooting trial 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

The prosecution rested just before 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the capital murder trial of Bartholomew Granger.

Defence attorneys are expected to make opening remarks Friday morning.

First on the stand this morning in a Galveston courtroom was forensic pathologist Lisa Funte.

Funte conducted the autopsy on Minnie Ray Sebolt.

Sebolt, 79, was killed when a gunman opened fire on the Jefferson County Courthouse on March 14, 2012. Three other women were injured in the shooting spree, including Granger's daughter and her mother.

Funte testified that Sebolt was shot twice, once in the left thigh and the right knee. A bullet struck Sebolt's femoral artery, killing her in a matter of minutes, Funte said.

Both bullets passed through Sebolt's body, so none were retrieved during the autopsy, Funte said.

Investigators testified previously that the bullets were found at the scene.

A ballistics expert testified that the shell casing found at the courthouse entrance came from a Beretta CX4 Storm semi-automatic riffle. The same weapon was recovered at RCI, where the courthouse shooter took hostages after fleeing police.

Upon cross examination by defense council, the ballistics expert testified that some of the fragments retrieved at the courthouse could not be identified.

In a statement made to detectives on March 23, 2012, Granger said he remembered nothing about the shooting or any events that happened on March 14, 2012.

DAY 3 COVERAGE:

Bartholomew Granger doggedly sought revenge during a lethal shooting rampage against family members at the Jefferson County Courthouse last March and was defiantly unapologetic after being subdued by workers he took hostage, witnesses testified in his capital murder trial in Galveston Wednesday.

Granger is accused of killing 79-year-old Minnie Ray Sebolt, an innocent bystander gunned down as Granger fired on an ex-girlfriend, Claudia Jackson, a witness against him in an aggravated sexual assault trial in Criminal District Court.

She and two other witnesses - Granger's daughter, Samantha Jackson, and his estranged wife, Rebecca Richard - were his targets that day as they arrived at the courthouse a couple of hours before the trial was set to resume, according to prosecutors.

Samantha Jackson, 22, testified she was the first to see her father rushing toward her as she walked behind her mother and Richard. She said she began yelling "No, no, no!" when she saw the gun in his hand.

The other two women broke and ran, but Samantha Jackson said she froze in terror.

He said nothing, she testified. He just opened fire, hitting her first in the leg and knocking her to the ground, she said.

"I tried to get up but my leg was too weak and I couldn't get up," she said. "I was laying on the pavement and I was looking up at the sky and I felt another shot."

She didn't see the pickup barreling down on her, but she felt it when the wheels rolled over her, she testified.

She was in a tremendous amount of pain, but she remained conscious until the ambulance ride.

Samantha Jackson was in a coma for almost three months, but she has recovered well, she and her mother testified.

She still walks with a limp and has problems with one arm, but her physical health is otherwise good.

Emotionally, Samantha Jackson is doing fairly well, Claudia Jackson testified.

"From time to time, she has a little anxiety, a little fear," she said.

Claudia Jackson, who was shot in the buttock, has also recovered, she testified.

Several of the witnesses to the shooting were lawyers coming and going for lunch breaks.

One, David Dies, was in town from Houston and had just gotten out of his car when he heard gunfire.

"I shouted, 'Get down! Somebody's shooting an AR-15,'" he said, adding he recognized the sound of an assault rifle because he owns one.

Dies said he saw Samantha Jackson's face as she was being shot.

"She was pleading, crying and begging him to stop," Dies said. "He kept shooting."

Dies wanted to go to her aid when there was a lull in the shooting, but it soon started up again.

In all, he heard three bursts of gunfire.

Another lawyer, Troy Soileau, had gone out to smoke in front of the courthouse when the shooting began and found himself in the midst of a hail of bullets.

He saw two women shot, Claudia Jackson and Leslie King.

From his vantage point, he also saw a beige pickup truck run over Samantha Jackson in the parking lot across the street. He ran to her aid.

"She was having trouble breathing … and she said, 'save me,'" Soileau testified. "I couldn't do anything but comfort her. I asked if she was a Christian, and she (nodded) yes. I asked her if she wanted to pray and she said yes. We prayed the best we could."

Samantha Jackson testified that she remembers Soileau, and praying with him.

It helped her, "just a little bit," she said.

As first responders were tending to Samantha Jackson, her shooter was still on the run.

After his vehicle was disabled by police gunfire, the gunman stormed into RCI, a company that does fabrication, welding and fitting for refineries.

Haylee Hatch was the first to see the armed man enter the building on Milam, and she ran to warn the others.

Edwin Hogue was so absorbed in his work, doing take-offs of isometric drawings, he paid her no mind.

Then he saw the armed man.

"He came in and said he was going to kill everybody and that's when I realized I had another problem besides the one I had on my desk," Hogue said.

Hogue testified that Granger put a gun to James Nash's head and told him to get down on the floor.

He told the workers he didn't want to hurt them, many of them testified.

He also told them what he had just done, said employee Melvin Bond.

"He said he had tried to shoot his daughter, his ex-wife and his ex-girlfriend at the courthouse," Bond said. "He said he wanted to kill them.

"His tone was that he was proud that he had done this - he was taking them out of the picture - he was proud that he was shooting these people."

Bond said Granger also expressed anger at the police officers who were chasing him and that Granger alleged he'd been shot 12 times.

He cursed them and said he wanted to shoot them, Bond said.

Granger was shot once in his shoulder and a bullet grazed his head, according to police testimony.

The RCI employees testified they saw their chance to overpower Granger when he began closing his eyes and leaning against a wall.

Nash said he kicked Granger hard in the groin, knocking the rifle from his hands. He then put Granger in a headlock.

Hogue picked up the rifle, but quickly set it down on a desk as SWAT officers streamed into the room. He said he didn't want them getting the wrong idea.

The officers cuffed Granger and took him out on a stretcher, the employees testified.

Granger continued to talk freely on the ambulance ride and in the hospital, Sgt. Mike Custer testified.

Custer said Granger told him, "I had to shoot them, I had no chance. How much can a man take? They treat me like a killer, I'm going to act like a killer."

Granger also said he planned to kill himself the first chance he got, Custer testified.

Custer said Granger told him he'd been set up and that "you can't go around lying on people."

Custer testified that Granger said: "I can't believe my ex-wife ran off and left her daughter to die. I would have taken a bullet for my child."

The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office is asking for the death penalty in Granger's case. The state expects to wrap up its testimony today. The defense hopes to be prepared to bring forward witnesses.

Defense attorneys said they had not planned to put their witnesses on the stand until next week, but the trial has moved more quickly than expected.

The defense had no comment about their trial strategy.

SCMoore@BeaumontEnterprise.com