At the center of the trial is an undisputed act.
On October 16, at about 2:45 in the morning, Michael Addison shot Officer Michael Briggs and left him lying in a Manchester alleyway.
Briggs died from the single bullet wound, but not before police apprehended Addison later that day at his Grandmother’s home in Dorchester, Massachussetts.
In her opening statement, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte argued Addison intended to kill Briggs.
AYOTTE: It was a shot motivated by the defendent's desire to avoid capture -- no matter what the consequences to the lives and safety of others. It was a shot that served the defendent's purpose. It was a shot meant to kill.
Shooting a police officer in the line of duty is one of the few crimes under New Hampshire Law that warrents the death penalty.
Defense attorney David Rothstein admitted Addison killed Briggs.
But, he told the jury, Addison didn’t intend to.
ROTHSTEIN: Michael Addison wasn't thinking about shooting anybody. He fired a single shot. He did not aim. He did not stop. He was in constant motion. Officer Briggs was in constant motion.
The defense calls it a reckless act, showing extreme indifference to human life.
They've asked the jury to find Addison guilty of the lesser crime of second degree murder.
The maximum penalty for that would be life in prison.
Over the past three weeks, prosecutors brought forth medical and ballistics experts, detectives and patrol officers, and Addison’s friends.
One of the first witnesses was Officer John Breckinridge, Briggs's bike patrol partner.
He gave an eyewitness account of the moment when Briggs caught up with Addison who was wearing a red sweatshirt.
Breckinridge testified that The officers were nearing the end of their shift when they caught sight of Addison with his friend Antoine Bell-Rogers.
The two were wanted for a series of crimes, including armed robbery.
Breckinridge told Assistant Attorny General Jeffrey Strelzin that Briggs ordered them both to stop, but Addison didn’t.
BRECKINRIDGE: He's just off his left shoulder. I describe it as he was on top of him. He was right there, within an arm's length of the guy in the red sweatshirt. STRELZIN: Had the man in the red sweatshirt changed his pace at all just before he shot Officer Briggs?
BRECKINRIDGE: He was walking slowly. Like I said I believe he was slowing down as it went along. STRELZIN: Do you recall, was Officer Briggs standing up and moving when he was shot? BRECKINRIDGE: At the moment he was shot, you mean? STRELZIN: YES. BRECK: He was walking, yes, right towards, he was upright, walking, right towards the guy in the red sweatshirt STRELZIN: Was he on his bike or off his bike? BRECK: I recall him walking.
Breckinridge demonstrated Addison's motions for the jury.
He pivoted swiftly and aimed at close range in a deliberate fashion -- an image that bolsters the state's case that Addison acted with intent.
Officer Simmon Beaule arrived on the scene at around the same time but didn't see the shooting.
But under questioning from defense Attorney David Rothstein, her account casts some doubt over Breckinridge's.
ROTHSTEIN: You talked about Officer Briggs what you called straddling his bike at the time he was shot. Correct? BEAULE: Right.
Beaule also described removing the bike from between Briggs's legs after he was shot.
Other officers testified that Addison turned around and appeared to try to shoot a second time.
But Breckinridge had said Addison took off without turning back.
Prosecutors sought to establish consistency among Addison's friends and associates.
Several testified that they heard him say he would pop, or shoot, a cop.
Among those friends was Angela Swist, who had taken part in a robbery at a 7-11 convenience store with Addison and Bell-Rogers.
SWIST: The night he did say he would pop a cop was the night of the 7-11.
But defense attorney Caroline Smith hammered Swist on her record of lying.
SMITH: You said that Michael actually had hit you? SWIST: Correct. SMITH: to stop you from saying anything right? SWIST: Correct. SMITH: And Michael had not hit you. SWIST: No he didn't.
Swist had received a plea bargain for her testimony against Addison.
And the defense continually questioned her truthfulness.
SMITH: So, again, you told the police basically what the crime was, but you told lies to make yourself look better and to make yourself look better you told lies to make them look worse. SWIST: Correct.
But senior assistant attorney general Will Delker spelled out the ramifications of lying.
DELKER: Do you know how many years in prison you could be facing? SWIST: I do not. DELKER: Do you have a ballpark? SWIST: I know I could get my 7 and a half to 15 years. I know there's more above and beyond that.
One of the most incendiary accounts was by Tereisa Shipley, another accomplice in the 7-11 robbery.
She told prosecutors she received a call from Addison after he had shot Briggs.
SHIPLEY: HE was like nice huh? I said, What do I care, one more pig off the streets."
But the defense got Shipley to admit that she had also lied repeatedly to police.
And no one could produce cell phone records to verify the call.
Paul Birely was an acquaintance of Addison and Bell-Rogers, and described his time with them as a low period in his life…one of drugs and violence.
He too has been in and out of jail.
Birely: I came forward to clear my name, and if I was to pick up charges, I did that..If you look at my grand jury testimony, I said I do not care about immunity. I never asked for any special treatment whatsoever.
Birely also said he’d heard Addison say he would “pop a cop”, but he told defense attorneys he heard that more as bragging than planning.
Lawyers are scheduled to make their closing arguments later this morning.
Then after instructions by Judge McGuire, the jury will begin deliberations.
For NHPR News in Manchester, I'm EG.
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