Jury Deliberates In Dearborn Heights Porch Shooting Trial :: 08/06/2014

A Wayne County jury went home without reaching a verdict, Wednesday, in the case of the 55-year-old man who killed 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his front porch last fall.

Wafer does not deny fatally shooting the unarmed woman; but testified that he did so in self-defense after she pounded on his door and tried to break into his Dearborn Heights home on Nov. 2.

McBride, who had an extremely high blood-alcohol level, was shot in the face three hours after she walked away from a car crash in Detroit— about a half-mile away from Wafer's home.

In closing arguments, prosecutors argued that they have met the elements of second-degree murder. Patrick Muscat said Wafer shot McBride because he was upset and wanted a confrontation when she knocked on his door at 4:30 a.m.

He showed a form to the jury indicating that Wafer caused McBride's death and intended to kill and/or  intended to create great bodily harm and/or knowingly created a very high risk of death or great bodily harm.

Muscat told jury that Wafer did not have to kill McBride.   "He had so many other options," said Muscat. Muscat said Wafer's Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun "is a dangerous weapon, and the way he handled it – he handled it like a toy….And as a result, a 19-year-old is dead."

"There is no excuse for what Mr. Wafer did, we ask that you return a verdict of guilty second degree murder,"  Muscat said.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/jury-deliberates-in-dearborn-height-porch-shooting-trial/