The man responsible for gunning down Renisha McBride will be appearing before a judge in just a few days.
Nine months after he fatally shot the 19-year-old on his porch, the Associated Press reports that Theodore Wafer is finally expected to appear in court. His trial was originally slated to begin in June, but Wayne County Judge Dana Hathaway pushed it back to July 21.
Theodore is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. He’s also facing a felony weapons charge following the November 2, 2013, incident. He shot Renisha in the face through a screen door. She’d come to his place around 4 a.m. looking for help after walking away from a crash.
The Huffington Post reports that witness told the court in a preliminary hearing that Renisha may have had a head injury and that she appeared confused before stepping onto Theodore’s porch. According to their testimony Renisha was only trying to get home after slamming her car into a parked vehicle about half of a mile from Theodore’s home.
Back in April, a judge denied the request to use Renisha’s text messages as evidence for the defense, the Associated Press reports. Theodore’s attorney Cheryl Carpenter said the texts, which contain slang words for marijuana, suggest that Renisha may have been a drug dealer and thus possessed an aggressive side.
“I don’t want to use this to drag her through the mud. You won’t hear me argue at trial she’s a bad person.” Cheryl stated, adding that the messages are a key component of her defense strategy. “If you strip this from me, you’re going to hamstring the defense.”
Wayne County Judge Dana Hathaway decided that using the messages wouldn’t be fair because none of them do anything to prove that Renisha was an aggressor in her shooting.
Renisha McBride’s Killer To Stand Trial Next Week was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
