SPOKANE, Wash., April 4 (UPI) -- A man went on trial this week in Spokane, Wash., charged with killing a suspected car thief who was at the wheel of the defendant's SUV when he was shot.

Gail Gerlach has been charged with manslaughter, and prosecutors say he was criminally reckless when he fired at Brendon Kaluza-Graham on March 25, 2013. Kaluza-Graham had pulled out of Gerlach's driveway and was heading down the street, where children were walking.


The major issue in the case is whether Gerlach, a plumber, had reason to fear Kaluza-Graham when he fired what Deric Martin, the prosecutor, called a "one-in-a-million" shot. The bullet struck Kaluza-Graham in the head, and Spokane County Medical Examiner Sally Aiken testified Thursday it would have killed him almost instantly.

The SUV went careering down the street and crashed moments later.

On Wednesday, the first day of testimony, jurors heard the 911 call Gerlach made after the shooting.

He began by reporting the vehicle theft before adding, “Honey, will you listen to me for a second? I took a shot at the guy.”

“The first thing he says is not, ‘My life was threatened,’ or ‘I shot another man.’ The first words out of his mouth were that his car was stolen,” Martin said.

Richard Lee, Gerlach's lawyer, said his client was not engaged in "vigilante justice," but saw Kaluza-Graham looking at him in a threatening way, as if he was about to shoot. The only weapon found on Kaluza-Graham's body was a closed jackknife.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday.

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