Pubdate: Wed, 29 Sep 2004
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2004 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Jason Riley, The Courier-Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

OFFICER SAYS HE FOUGHT FOR HIS LIFE

Mattingly Testifies In Murder Trial

Former police Detective McKenzie Mattingly told a Jefferson County jury 
yesterday that he was in a struggle for his life with a drug dealer who was 
reaching for a gun when Mattingly shot him.

A sometimes emotional Mattingly testified for nearly two hours before a 
packed, silent courtroom, saying he had no choice but to fatally shoot 
19-year-old Michael Newby on Jan. 3.

"I felt like if I didn't stop him, he was going to kill me," Mattingly said 
on the seventh day of his murder trial. "The only way to stop him was to 
shoot."

But under questioning from prosecutor Scott Davis, Mattingly acknowledged 
that he never saw a gun on Newby. He also said he never told other officers 
at the scene that he thought Newby was armed.

"I didn't," he said. "I should have."

Mattingly was the last of three witnesses called by the defense yesterday. 
Prosecutors rested their case after taking the jury to the scene of the 
shooting at 46th and Market streets and calling an internal affairs officer.

After hearing closing arguments this morning, a 12-person jury will decide 
whether to convict Mattingly. The jury could convict him of murder and 
wanton endangerment or the lesser charges of first-or second-degree 
manslaughter or reckless homicide.

The trial so far Prosecutors told a Jefferson County jury that former 
Louisville Metro Police Detective McKenzie Mattingly made several "fatal" 
mistakes that led him to shoot fleeing teenager Michael Newby in the back.

Defense lawyers argued that Mattingly was in a "fight for his life" with an 
"aggressive, armed drug dealer."

Greg Hill, the owner of the western Louisville liquor and food store where 
the shooting took place, testified that he saw Newby running away from 
Mattingly when he was shot.

Four officers in Mattingly's platoon testified that Newby continued to 
struggle and reach toward his waist after Mattingly shot at him. After 
Newby was handcuffed, officers discovered the teen had been shot and had a 
gun in his waistband.

Two twin brothers riding with Mattingly's platoon the night of the shooting 
said that Mattingly was shaken after shooting Newby and that he told 
another officer he thought Newby had shot him.

Mattingly's partner, Detective Matthew Thomerson, testified that he thought 
"very seriously" about shooting at Newby after the teenager maneuvered 
between vehicles, away from him and Mattingly. But Thomerson testified that 
"at no point did I see a weapon or see him (Newby) make an aggressive 
movement other than when he was down on the ground and probably already 
been shot."

A state medical examiner, Barbara Weakley-Jones, testified it was possible 
that Newby was turning when he was shot - even though the bullets were all 
in his back.

Yesterday's highlights

Mattingly testified that he was in a "struggle for my life" as Newby turned 
toward the detective and was reaching for a gun, and that he had no choice 
but to shoot Newby.

But Mattingly acknowledged that he never saw a gun on Newby and never told 
other officers he suspected the teen was carrying a weapon.

The jury was taken to the scene of the shooting, outside a liquor store and 
small grocery near 46th and Market streets.

The former Louisville Metro Police Department detective, who was fired 
after the shooting, faces one year to life in prison if convicted.

In their opening statements to the jury Thursday, prosecutors said 
Mattingly made fatal mistakes during an undercover drug deal that led him 
to shoot Newby in the back as the 19-year-old was running away.

But Mattingly told the jury yesterday that he was caught up in a drug deal 
that quickly escalated out of his control, with Newby and three men robbing 
him and appearing to flee.

Hoping to point responding officers in the right direction, Mattingly 
stepped out of his vehicle at 46th and Market streets and was shocked to 
find Newby bending over and picking up a $20 bill, he testified.

Mattingly said that he had suspected Newby had a gun because the teen had 
lifted his shirt during the drug deal as if to indicate he was armed.

As Newby approached, Mattingly said he told the teen repeatedly he was a 
police officer.

"Very quickly, he got this look in his eyes; he didn't care," Mattingly 
said. "He was going to hurt me."

Mattingly said he pulled his weapon and held it at his side, with his 
finger away from the trigger to avoid an accidental shooting, again telling 
Newby he was an officer.

Newby grabbed the gun and the two men struggled over the weapon, with Newby 
pulling the gun upward, toward the detective, Mattingly testified.

"I thought, 'This is bad,'" he said.

As they wrestled, Mattingly said, he was able to force the weapon downward. 
But Newby managed to fire the weapon, Mattingly said, and the detective 
believed he had been shot in the foot.

"I thought, 'He just shot me with my own gun,'" Mattingly said, his voice 
choking.

After the shot, the two men soon broke apart, and Newby began moving away 
between vehicles towards the liquor store, Mattingly said. But, he added, 
"He was not running away."

Mattingly said Newby was slowly and clumsily moving away, reaching down to 
his waist and repeatedly looking back toward him, bumping into the vehicle 
he was passing.

When he rounded the vehicle, Newby turned, nearly fully facing him, and 
began to pull up his shirt, Mattingly said.

"I believe he is going to get his gun out and shoot and kill me," Mattingly 
testified.

"He was facing me just as I am facing you all," Mattingly told the jury 
while looking straight at them, with his chest and head turned to the group.

Mattingly said he raised his weapon and fired, and Newby slumped to a 
sitting position, his back resting against the liquor store wall.

A state medical examiner testified Monday that it is possible that Newby 
was turning when he was shot - even though the bullets were all in his back.

It was only after the shooting, Mattingly said, that he noticed his 
partner, Detective Matthew Thomerson, was nearby and yelling at Newby to 
show his hands.

Other officers moved in, and Mattingly said he went into what he later 
thought was shock.

"I felt like I was going to throw up," he said, adding that he saw an 
officer talking to him but couldn't hear any words. "It was like I was 
physically there, but I wasn't."

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Scott Davis, Mattingly acknowledged 
that he normally didn't leave his vehicle during an undercover drug buy and 
that he never used a code word that night which would have indicated to the 
officers backing him up that he was in trouble.

"I didn't feel it (the code word) was necessary at that point," after the 
men had just robbed him, Mattingly told Davis, explaining that, at that 
time, he didn't yet feel he was in serious danger.

Mattingly confirmed that Newby and the three men with him were not the 
suspected drug dealers that his platoon was trying to find that night, but 
the detective said he decided to deal with them after his contact didn't 
show up.

The men were aggressive, trying to get in the passenger side door of 
Mattingly's truck and reaching in to try and grab his cell phone at one 
point. As the deal unfolded, Mattingly said one of the men snatched his 
money and Newby tried to get the cocaine that he had just handed to the 
officer.

When Davis later asked Mattingly if he felt Newby was going for a gun, the 
former detective replied: "If I hadn't believed he was going to kill me, I 
would have done anything else."
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