Posted on 02/04/2014 6:24:59 AM PST by NautiNurse
WESLEY CHAPEL — A court hearing will be held Tuesday on a motion by the Pasco County State Attorney’s Office seeking guidance on the release of the surveillance video that shows the January shooting death of Chad Oulson.
[snip]
The motion seeks clarification on three items. First: Should the video be released to the defense attorneys and, if so, should it be a copy or viewed under the supervision of the state.
[snip]
The video depicts the shooting of Oulson and “related acts” before and after the shooting, the motion says.
[snip]
The motion will be heard at 11 a.m. in front of Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa at the Robert D. Sumner Judicial Center in Dade City.
(Excerpt) Read more at tbo.com ...
And the testimony that Reeves said “throw something in my face” just prior to firing his weapon really has the defense attorney upset. It must be pretty damaging to the defense.
Next witness:
Oulson threw the bag of popcorn. Reeves was sitting the whole time. He took the gun out in a “fluid motion” as if ... “he already had the gun in his hand”.
Thanks for the ping. Please keep me updated on this case
Regardless of the video, this is damning eyewitness testimony about the shooting:
“Later, a witness recalled the shooting. James Cummings testified that Reeves seemed very agitated after Chad Oulson told him that he was texting his young daughter.”I saw popcorn going into the air but I could not tell you who threw the popcorn,” he said. “It seemed like a very very short time after that, there was a bright flash and a gun went off.”After the shooting, Cummings said, Reeves had words for Oulson.”Something like ‘Throw something at MY face?’” Cummings recalled Reeves saying.Later in the afternoon, the judge heard testimony from Sumter County Corporal Allen Hamilton, who was in the movie theater off duty when the shooting happened — just a few seats away from Chad Oulson.Hamilton’s testimony included details about the conversation between Reeves and his wife after Oulson had been shot.”He leaned toward his wife and made a comment, and she postured and said ‘that was no cause to shoot anyone.’ And then he leaned back around, stuck his finger out, as to scold her, and said ‘you shut your f***in mouth and don’t say another word.’ Reeves gets up and goes down one chair and again postures, and the look on her face, she was P.O.ed at him.”Hamilton said Oulsen was the aggressor who was shouting and cursing at Reeves in the theater.”
Whatever the testimony of witnesses is, the video may (or may not) shed more light on what happened, which could either be good or bad for the defendant.
The video could either corroborate or dispute what the witnesses have said, or provide additional information that the witnesses did not know about or mention.
For the record, based upon the evidence I’ve heard, it would be difficult to think of a scenario where the shooting was justified, but nevertheless, all the evidence should be seen before judgment is passed.
Witnesses provided often conflicting accounts throughout the court proceedings, differing from and embellishing their original written and verbal recorded statements. For example, one witness said Oulson threw the popcorn with his left hand while holding his cell phone in his right, another said popcorn was in Oulson's right hand. There were notable differences by witnesses regarding sequence of events and utterances. The jury will have their hands full, sorting through conflicting accounts during the trial.
Bond hearing continues Friday 10AM ET. Anticipated witnesses include the theater manager and Mrs. Oulson, as well as the dubious theater video of the event.
And just what hearing were you watching??? They all corroborated each other more than anything else regarding how quickly the shot came after the popcorn flew and that there was nothing else thrown and that Oulson was not threatening Reeves.
For example, one witness said Oulson threw the popcorn with his left hand while holding his cell phone in his right, another said popcorn was in Oulson's right hand.
Wow -- that's a cause for dismissal right there. By all means set him free.
Both of these guys were in the wrong, in my opinion. However, Reeves chose to kill someone, and almost killed TWO people, while endangering an entire theater... his life wasn't threatened by being hit with popcorn, and he's ( again, in my *opinion*) guilty of at least manslaughter.
We'll find out what the jury thinks in a year or so.
Link to theater shooting video, now posted on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G27d9hCjsUE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Looks like Oulson shoved the popcorn into Reeves face. So whose popcorn was it? The witness said it was Oulson’s. the witness also said Oulson didn’t reach toward Reeves.
“That will teach you to throw popcorn at me.”- 3 witnesses heard Reeves say that.
According to the sheriff's deputy who confiscated Reeves’ gun, he heard his wife say: (rough quote) “That was no reason to shoot someone.”
Reeves then told her to “ Shut your fu#king mouth, and don't say another word.".”, according to the sheriff deputy.
-When his own wife said the shooting was wrong, why would you still defend it? -That is puzzling.
What do you estimate is the distance between Oulson’s hand/fist and Reeves’ head in the above video frame, post #70?
If you’re trying to make a claim for the defendant of self defense, consider that just before that frame, Reeves leaned into Oulson’s space and exchanged words with him. I can piece this puzzle together logically, with the information at hand.
We know this isn’t Reeves first confrontation over people texting at the movies. We know that he brought his gun into a movie theater and then confronted Oulson about his texting, and even after he went to management to complain, sat right back down behind Oulson, gun at the ready, and RE-engaged Oulson in the argument. This isn’t the behavior of someone who is feeling his life is threatened. Stand your ground doesn’t allow for people to provoke or escalate a confrontation, and then fall back on a claim of self defense after killing the person who is being provoked.
Your previous and extensive declarations are noted. What do you estimate is the distance between Oulson’s hand/fist and Reeves’ head in the above video frame, post #70? It is really a simple question.
-Are you trying to imply Oulson struck Reeves? What evidence of that is there? The deputy didn't observe any evidence of injuries on Reeves face, no marks, nothing. Even his sleazy attorney hasn't made that claim; and his attorney has badgered and belittled every witness; even to the point of trying to say the RN nurse who attended to Oulson was lying about hearing Reeves say: “I'll teach you to throw popcorn at me.”
Oulson grabbed the popcorn and flipped it, AFTER Reeves got in Oulson’s face. I'd estimate his popcorn was about at lap height. So you can guess the distance between the bag of popcorn and Reeves face.
But let's look at the next frame, shall we? Where are Oulson’s hands now? - Nowhere in sight, and Reeves is leaning towards Oulson, shooting arm extended. You want to try making the case that's a defensive posture? I believe Uncle Chip has a freeze frame of Reeves kicking Oulson’s chair back. Btw, I won't engage in asking trivial questions about how far you think Reeves gun was from Oulson's face.
http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Video/__NEW/f_flmovieshootcc_140207.jpg
......
I just love the way the freeze frame refers to the bag of popcorn as “object” like witnesses haven’t already told us and we can’t tell from the video what was tossed there, or as if the “object” might just be that long searched for but never found mythical unidentified flinging “object”.
Perhaps Nauti can post his own thread of mysterious freeze frames from the video but do so under the “UFO” or the “Humor” sections.
I'd estimate it to be about the same distance between the barrel of Reeves' gun and Oulson's chest when he fired it -- the main difference is that Oulson's hand was discharging harmless popcorn while Reeves' gun was discharging a deadly bullet.
Certainly you are not equating popcorn with a bullet or are you???
Humor us and answer that question.
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