** TRIAL UPDATE** Defense questions officer about prior shootings in Markham trial

Defense questions officer about prior shootings in Markham trial
By Mike Cruz
Posted: 10/13/2010 01:21:06 PM PDT


The defense lawyer for a San Bernardino teenager accused of brandishing a gun at a police officer, which resulted in the young man being shot and blinded, delved into two of the officer's prior shootings today during trial proceedings.

Terrell Lewis Markham is on trial in San Bernardino Superior Court, where he faces felony charges stemming from a footchase in November 2007 that resulted in the shooting in a residential courtyard near Medical Center Drive and Temple Street.

Lawyer Dale Galipo, who represents the now 19-year-old Markham, questioned Officer Adam Affrunti about two of his prior shootings in the months before Affrunti shot Markham. Affrunti has testified that Markham reached for a gun, which was later found to be stolen, in his rear pocket.

Affrunti testified about the shootings of Kevin Lewis Spencer, then 24, in July 2006 in the 2100 block of East Sunrise Lane in San Bernardino and of Jerriel Da'Shawn Allen, who was shot as after he exited a vehicle that fled from police in April 2007 and crashed through backyard fences of a home on Colorado Street, in San Bernardino.

In the Spencer case, Affrunti chased him through an apartment complex as Spencer began pulling a MAC-9 assault pistol from his waistband. Affrunti fired his service weapon at Spencer, who kept running, according to court testimony.

"I envisioned him pulling that firearm out and using it against me," Affrunti said, adding that he thought he might die.

Spencer ran down


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East 19th Street, near Guthrie Street, and tried to hide under a pickup truck. He tossed the gun under the truck, and police took him into custody. Spencer was wounded in the shooting.
In the Allen case, a white SUV with three people in it got stuck on a backyard fence after it fled from police, and Affrunti got out of the patrolcar and approached the rear of the SUV.

Affrunti testified he saw Allen jump out of the passenger side, and someone inside the vehicle yelled "Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em!" The officer fired his service weapon at Allen, striking him several times.

Galipo finished questioning Affrunti, and Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster began conducting his examination of the witness shortly before the lunch break.

Markham's first trial on charges of brandishing a firearm at a police officer, having a stolen gun and street terrorism resulted in a mistrial earlier this year.

Prosecutors allege Markham is a member of the Projects street gang and was planning to rob the Westside Food and Liquor store on Nov. 17, 2007 when two police officers rolled up. But when the officers stopped to talk to Markham, he ran, they said.

After a brief footchase, Affrunti found Markham ducking behind a bush, and prosecutors said he wasn't following the officer's commands to get down and show his hands. When Markham reached for a gun from his back pocket, Affrunti fired his service weapon several times, striking the suspect, said Webster.

Galipo has earlier told the jury that Markham did not brandish a weapon at Affrunti, and he did not resist the officer by force of violence. The defense's theory is that Affrunti overreacted, and Galipo pointed to witness accounts saying that Affrunti threw and kicked Markham before the shooting.

Witnesses have also testified they did not see Markham with a gun. The defense says Markham is not a member of the gang.