BELTON, Texas — Tensions flared on day eight in the trial of former Temple police officer Carmen DeCruz.
DeCruz is accused of killing Michael Dean during a traffic stop in 2019. If convicted, DeCruz faces 20 years in prison.
In trial, the defense brought forensic analyst Robert McFarlane to the stand. McFarlane presented body camera footage to the jury and went frame by frame to get an understanding of where Dean's hands were prior to the shooting.
According to McFarlane, the body camera footage reveals that Dean grazed the top of the gun prior to gun firing.
On the other hand, the state attorney says the body camera footage does not at all show Dean reaching for the gun and that the footage is too blurry to see anything.
Both the state and defense attorney demonstrated to the jury what they believe they saw in the footage. At one point, the judge had to intervene in the state's demonstration to demand order in the courtroom.
A big point in the trial was the use of 'gun retention mode'.
Gun retention is described as general awareness of the scene, knowing who is present and at what distance, avenues of approach toward the officer and the side in which the officer's gun is facing, according to Police1.
The state says DeCruz's shadow in the footage shows that his gun is not in retention mode like the defense and analyst had said. But the analyst says Dean's gun was in fact in retention mode.
Trial continues Monday Feb. 6 at 9 a.m. at the Bell County Justice Complex.
The court judge told the court room he expects to come to a verdict either Wednesday Feb. 8 or Thursday Feb. 9.
