By Tom Blakey
November 01, 2006 01:44 am
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By Tom Blakey
Transcript Staff Writer
Jurors in District Judge Bill Hetherington’s courtroom listened intently Tuesday morning as prosecutors in the first-degree murder trial of Kristopher Morphew played portions of a taped conversation between Morphew and one of the first police officers to reach the scene of the slaying Dec. 3, 2004.
Morphew, 24, of Elmore City, is accused of intentionally shooting and killing Adam Baker, 23, at the apartment the men shared in the 1100 block of Biloxi Avenue.
The audio tape was recorded by Master Police Officer Charles “Chuck” Daily, a Norman patrol officer of 19 years, who said he carried the cassette player in his pocket to record “potential evidentiary” interactions at crime scenes.
Daily testified, upon his arrival, that Morphew was outside the second-story apartment, “rolling around on the ground, crying.”
Daily said he went inside the apartment while another officer stayed with Morphew. Once inside, Daily said he saw Baker, covered in blood, sitting on a small sofa with a “large, gaping wound to his head.” The slug from the .44 caliber Smith and Wesson had entered Baker’s right forehead, and made a large exit wound in the back of his head, testimony revealed.
After securing the apartment, Daily said, he went back outside and talked with Morphew, asking him what had happened.
On the tape, Morphew said Baker and he were sitting around, listening to music, when Morphew got up and began walking to the bathroom to take a shower.
He said Baker was playing with the gun, as Baker often did, when he pointed it at Morphew.
“I told him, ‘Dude don’t play like that — I think it’s loaded,’” Morphew said.
He said Baker replied, “No it’s not, I’ll show you.”
Baker pointed the gun at himself and pulled the trigger, Morphew said.
In showing the officer how Baker was holding the gun, Morphew first extended his arm and, holding the gun level, twisted his wrist back toward himself. Morphew then turned the gun upside down, with its butt in the air, which offered more room between the barrel and the shooter’s head, Daily testified.
After the shooting, Morphew ran from the apartment, screaming and asking a neighbor to call 911, according to testimony.
Assistant District Attorney Rick Sitzman said Morphew’s story changed as detectives questioned his version of events. “Finally,” several days after Baker’s death and after his arrest, Morphew confessed to Norman Police Det. Steve Lucas that he was the one who shot Baker, Sitzman said.
Morphew told Lucas he turned around while saying to Baker, “Now who’s got the gun,” and pulled the trigger, Sitzman said.
Morphew’s defense attorney, Jim Rowan, described the situation differently, saying Morphew came out of the bathroom while continuing a discussion with Baker about a TV show they were watching.
He said Baker pulled the gun out and began spinning its cylinder — “essentially playing with it.”
“Kris told Adam, ‘Give me the gun’ and Adam tossed it to him,” Rowan said.
As Morphew was walking toward a mantel on which he planned to place the gun, Baker made a comment to Morphew concerning the TV program, Rowan said. Morphew turned around with his finger on its trigger. The gun went off, and Morphew fell to the floor.
“It was deafening. It scared the hell out of him. He said, ‘Oh my God, we’re in trouble now.’ Then he saw the large wound in Adam’s head,” Rowan said.
Rowan said Morphew “walked over to his best friend and dropped the gun” and then ran outside screaming. “Kristopher told his neighbor, ‘My best friend shot himself.’
“Why? I don’t know. I wasn’t there to advise him. Decide for yourself what was going through his mind,” Rowan said.
Rowan told the jurors there was “no malice aforethought” on Morphew’s part.
“Ask yourselves, at the end of the trial, what was in Kristopher Morphew’s mind at the moment the gun discharged.
“That is the essence of this case,” Rowan said.
The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. today.
Rape trial opens
Also Tuesday, testimony began in the first-degree rape trial of Kendall Dewayne Carr, 36, of Oklahoma City.
Carr is accused of offering to take the victim home from a nightclub, and instead taking her to Lake Stanley Draper, where he allegedly raped the woman three times.
A jury was seated Monday in the courtroom of District Judge Lori Walkley, and the prosecution, overseen by Assistant District Attorney Dave Batton, began putting on witnesses Tuesday. Carr is represented by Oklahoma Indigent Defense System attorney Tracy Schumacher.
Carr has 42 prior convictions and is serving time at Granite State Reformatory, according to Department of Corrections records.
Tom Blakey366-3540tblakey@normantranscript.com
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