Murray was waiting in the Burger King parking lot for Young to return from the store. As Young approached, Murray saw one man (later identified as Redd) pursuing Young and hassling Young for his beer. She heard that man threaten Young, “You don’t know me. I’ll shoot you.” (Redd admitted that he – and only he - made this threat.) Murray saw that man pull a gun out of his waistband. That night, Murray told police that the man who shot MacPhail was the same man who threatened to shoot Young immediately before he retrieved a gun from his waistband and pistol whipped Young.
Five days later, the police required Murray's participation in a group reenactment because they could not get Redd, Young, and Collins "to agree on where they were standing when the assault occurred.” Detective Ramsey’s police report, page 49. The police asked Murray to “place everyone in the positions that she saw them in when Young was assaulted.” Id. She repositioned people according to her memory, she recalled that Collins was behind Young, but had trouble “putting a face” to the two men standing in front of Young.
After the reenactment, Murray viewed the photo array. She selected Davis as “one of the three guys at the incident. [Though, she could not] put exactly what position he was in.” Murray resisted the overwhelmingly suggestive implication that another man – Davis – inexplicably intervened and finished Coles’ fight. She repeatedly told the officers during the reenactment that, although she remembered the relative positions of the three men near Young, she could not “put a face” to the two men standing in front of Coles. Murray did not identify Davis as the shooter when she selected his photo; she merely said Davis was at the scene. At trial, she finally put Davis’ face where the detectives wanted it – on the body of the shooter.
She retracted that testimony later and returned to her original account of what happened - the man who first hassled Young for his beer and threatened to shoot him was the same man who struck Young and shot Officer MacPhail.
|
|
 | |
|