When a Vancouver police sergeant stopped a car minutes after a home-invasion robbery, two men inside were faced with a decision of desperation, a deputy prosecutor said Thursday: Surrender or kill the officer.
They had been caught red-handed, he said, with a stolen marijuana plant in the back seat.
“The decision that was made, we submit to you, was to shoot the officer,” Clark County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Denny Hunter told jurors. “In an attempted murder case, there’s probably no more of a substantial step (of intent) than shooting somebody.”
Hunter gave his closing argument in Clark County Superior Court in the trial of Daylan E. Berg, 23, and Jeffery S. Reed, 27. Both Portland men are charged with first-degree attempted murder in the shooting of Vancouver police Sgt. Jay Alie, who had followed and stopped the suspects’ car April 15, 2009.
Defense attorneys Jeff Sowder and Mike Foister will give their closing arguments this afternoon, with the case then heading to the jury.
‘Clear intent’
Hunter said the men’s intent to shoot was clear: When Alie stopped the Kia Spectra on Carolina Lane, they rolled down all the windows. They had a minute or two before the sergeant approached the car to formulate a plan.
Once Alie was outside the driver’s side window, Hunter said, that plan took form.
“This driver makes this furtive, exaggerated lunge forward — so exaggerated that his head is actually beneath the steering wheel,” he said. “Simultaneously, the passenger turns and points the gun. So you have a unified movement.”
Alie was shot “point blank” in the chest, Hunter said, but suffered only a mild abrasion because he was wearing a ballistic vest.
Berg is alleged to be the shooter and Reed the driver.
Though neither robbery victim Albert Watts nor Alie could positively identify their assailants, Hunter said there was still strong circumstantial evidence linking Berg and Reed to the crimes.
First, Alie had recorded the Kia’s license plate number, which was then traced to a woman living in Southeast Portland, who was married to Reed.
When Reed was detained in Portland later that night — fleeing in a maroon Camaro — he allegedly had Watts’ stolen cell phone in his pocket. He also had marijuana residue on his tennis shoes.
As for Berg, Hunter said, he was detained the next day at a friend’s house. On him was a .40-caliber pistol, which allegedly matched the bullet fired at Alie, Hunter said.
In addition was a link to the home-invasion robbery: The mother of Reed’s child used to live at the home in the 7500 block of Delaware Lane. She was visiting the homeowner two weeks before the robbery when Reed came by to take her to the airport. It was then that Reed discovered the new tenant was growing medical marijuana.
Hunter has identified the marijuana as the motive for the robbery.
“We believe with the direct and physical evidence, the truth is at hand,” Hunter said in closing.
In addition to attempted murder, the defendants are charged with first-degree burglary, robbery, kidnapping and intimidating a witness. Reed also is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm because he is a convicted felon and at one point during the robbery is alleged to have had the pistol.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
