Opening statements are set to begin on Wednesday in the trial of a white suburban Detroit homeowner charged with killing a black teenager with a shotgun blast to the face after she knocked on his door seeking help early one November morning, according to The Associated Press.
Theodore Wafer, 55, faces a second-degree murder charge and up to life in prison for the killing of Renisha McBride, 19, on his front porch, the AP reported.
Wafer is claiming self-defense but prosecutors have charged the 55-year-old with second-degree murder, saying there was no reason to use deadly force instead of calling police, according to the AP.
The racially charged case has sparked protests in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and comparisons to the 2012 shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, according to the AP.
Wafer, an airport maintenance worker who cares for his elderly mother, told police after the shooting in November that he believed McBride was breaking into his home and that his shotgun went off accidentally, blasting through a closed screen door, the AP reported.
McBride had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit for driving in Michigan when she died and had crashed a car hours before, according to witnesses who testified for prosecutors at the preliminary examination, according to the AP.
A woman who reported the crash testified that McBride appeared confused and injured, not combative, the AP reported. Wafer called 911 after the shooting and police have said he admitted firing the fatal shot but said it was an accident.
Defense attorney Cheryl Carpenter repeatedly told jurors that they need to put themselves in Wafer's shoes, and portrayed him as a man under siege in his own home around 4:30 a.m. Nov. 2, according to the AP.
Asleep in his recliner, Wafer heard pounding at a side door - "boom, boom, boom, boom" - Carpenter said, the AP reported. He dropped to the floor, couldn't find his cellphone and then heard more pounding at the front door, she added.
"His heart is coming out of his chest. ... There's a shadowy figure coming off the porch and going to the side of the house. He thinks it's not one person; it's two or more people," Carpenter told the jury, according to the AP.
Carpenter didn't tell the jury whether Wafer will testify or whether his version of events will be relayed during the testimony of police officers who interviewed him extensively after the shooting, the AP reported.
Prosecutor Danielle Hagaman-Clark said Wafer had other choices when McBride arrived, displaying a cheerful picture of the victim on a screen, followed by a photo of her dead body on the blood-stained porch, according to the AP.
"His actions that night were unnecessary, unjustified and unreasonable," Hagaman-Clark told the jury, the AP reported. She said there was no evidence of an attempted break-in, and any damage to the screen was from the shooting, not McBride.
