Forensics Experts Testify on Second Day of Hagan Trial
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Teresa Carrano-
Vonda Kelsey, eye witness to the shooting, also took the stand.
The Honorable Judge James Heuer is presiding over the trial.
Hagan has maintained he acted in self-defense in the shooting death of Adam W. Porter in Hagan’s backyard at 229 W. Buckeye St., South Whitley. A November grand jury recommended charges of murder and reckless homicide after considering three days of testimony.
Whitley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney DJ Sigler called and questioned Indiana State Police Detective and lead investigator in the Porter shooting, Andrew Mills, along with Derrick Hummel, Stacey Hartman, Dean Marks and Dr. Sheila Arnold.
Mills presented maps and photos of the crime scene showing the relationship of people and buildings in Hagan’s backyard the night of Aug. 15. Porter’s body was 35 feet away from the back of the house.
Included in this presentation were photographs of four handguns in a drawer and a closet full of rifles and shotguns. An ammunition speed loader was mounted on the dresser in the bedroom.
With a word to the gallery about graphic images from Sigler, Dr. Scott Wagner discussed Porter’s autopsy, saying the cause of death was a shot to the back of Porter’s head under the “bump,” or occipital protuberance, with the exit wound at the top of the head.
He described soot at the back of the head as indicative of a gun fired very close to the skin. The bullet then went through the brain “ripping and tearing out of the top of the head, leaving it splayed open.”
Wagner said Porter bled to death because of lacerations to the brain.
With a photograph of Porter’s back on a wide computer screen, Wagner also pointed out two nodules on Porter’s mid-upper back which he said Porter received after his death because there is no hemorrhaging or bruising around them.
Fingerprint expert Derek O'Connell said there weren’t any readable fingerprints on the handgun at the scene because it had been handled, unloaded and placed on a towel, smearing any possible clear prints.
Firearms expert Stacey Hartman described the weapon used to shoot Porter as a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum revolver with an 8-1/2-inch barrel. She had examined the gun and found it operational in the single- and double-action positions.
She said a single-action shot, with the hammer cocked, takes 3-1/2 pounds of pressure on the trigger to fire. The double action mechanism requires 10-1/2 pounds of pressure. The gun has an internal safety mechanism in which a hammer block fails to retract if pressure is released at any time during a pull on the trigger. She said this safety mechanism was operational on Hagan’s gun.
Marks described the blood stain pattern found on the left side of the T-shirt, jeans and socks Hagan wore that night. Using sketches and opening the evidence bags containing Hagan’s clothes and showing them to the jury, Marks said the lower 5 inches of the T-shirt were unmarked, indicating it was tucked into the jeans or folded or bunched up. He said there were grass stains on the knees of Hagan’s pants and the toes of both socks.
Marks said because of the blood pattern the source of the blood – the back of Porter’s head when it exploded – was somewhere between Hagan’s left hip and left knee.
In answer to a juror’s question about whether or not Porter was standing up when he was shot, Marks said the pattern on the left side of the pants indicates an explosive pattern in a direct line to the nearest object – the left side of the jeans. He said the blood source had to be approximately a foot away to create the concentration and pattern of blood found on the thigh, knee and calf areas of the jeans. He added that Hagan’s knee was bent but he could not determine the angle. He couldn’t determine Porter’s position.
Hagan’s attorney, Patrick Arata, asked Marks if Porter’s clothing was examined and Marks said only by looking at photographs.
He asked if Porter was on top of Hagan when the shot was fired and Marks said that was not indicated by the blood stain pattern.
On redirection, Sigler asked Marks why Porter’s clothing wasn’t examined for a pattern. Marks said Porter's shirt was saturated with blood and it had been moved by others who also transferred blood onto his clothing.
Forensic toxicologist Dr. Sheila Arnold talked about the effects of alcohol, saying a .04 concentration per 100 millilitres is the point where a person’s brain is effected. The legal limit in Indiana is .08. Levels between .09 and .20 mean concentration and judgment are impaired, vision and hearing are decreased along with a person’s awareness of their surroundings.
Porter’s alcohol levels came back as .24 in blood tests taken from his heart and .25 in tests coming from the vitreous fluid from his eye. She said his motor skills and judgment would have been extremely impaired, but that people who routinely drink beyond .08 develop coping skills that mask their impairments.
She said alprozolam – or Xanax – is often taken by people who regularily drink because it is “alcohol in a pill.” The levels found in Porter’s blood were described as at therapeutic levels.
The amphetamine found in Porter’s blood – atrazine, found in Adderall – would have been taken to help him focus. She said people often use depressants and stimulants to balance how they feel. The amphetamine would not have neutralized the effects of the alcohol and Xanax.
Hagan’s blood alcohol level was .15, which Arnold described as definitely impaired and that he would have problems seeing, his emotions would have been altered and his brain not processing.
Arata asked Arnold if she had any clinical experience, and she said no.
He asked for specific levels of the amphetamine, which was 69.4 nanograms, and the atrazine, which was 16 nanograms, both mid-range therapeutic levels.
She described Porter as a “naive” user because the medications weren’t prescribed to him and it is assumed he was not taking them consistently.
She said the .25 alcohol level would make a person almost comatose with mental confusion, an exaggerated emotional state, trouble speaking, hearing clearly and he would be drowsy. She said the amphetamine could make him more alert.
When Arata asked if Adderall was a schedule II controlled substance, she said yes.
Arata asked if this combination of drugs would make a person dangerous. She said if the person were driving or had a weapon there could be danger.
She was asked how many Bud Light 12-ounce cans at 4.2 percent alcohol Porter would have had to drink over an eight-hour period to have a .24 alcohol concentration equivalent, and she said 14-1/2 to 19-1/2 cans.
Mills was recalled to the stand by Whitley County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Rentschler. Mills said the cell phones of David Hagan, Adam Porter, Vonda Kelsey and Linda Bowers were either seized or confiscated and checked for text messages relevant to the investigation.
On July 17 Porter texted Kelsey: “Do you have any more goodies?” Kelsey did not respond.
On July 18 at 9:14 p.m. Porter texted Vonda: “Hey Vonda, it’s Adam.”; at 9:14 p.m. “How are you?” Kelsey: “I’m okay.” Porter to Kelsey at 9:30: “Hey I have a question.” Kelsey: “Okay” Porter, at 9:40; “Do you have a few goodies I can get?” Kelsey did not respond to the text.
Mills said “goodies” is a slang term for drugs.
Porter continued texting Kelsey that evening, at 9:43 p.m.: “Ppplease!!!”; at 9:45 p.m.: “I love you.”; at 9:50 p.m.: “Is that a no?”; at 9:57 p.m.: “Sad.”‘ at 11:08 p.m.: “Vondaaa”
Porter sent various texts of greeting or concern to Kelsey on July 19, July 26, July 31 and Aug. 12. She did not respond.
There were very few texts between Bowers and Kelsey and Mills described them as not relevant to the case. There were no calls or texts between Porter and Bowers and Hagan.
There were a lot of calls from Kelsey to Porter and Bowers in July with calls to both of them from Kelsey on July 25.
On Aug. 12 there was a 1:34-minute call from Porter to Kelsey at 5:32 p.m., a missed call from Porter to Kelsey and an 8-second call from Kelsey to Porter.
On Aug. 14 Porter called Kelsey at 5:36 and 6:01 p.m. with no response from Kelsey.
Rentschler moved to have David Hagan’s Facebook postings, certified by Facebook’s Custodian of the Records, entered as evidence. Arata opposed the documents, saying they couldn’t be authenticated. Heuer said he would look over the papers and have a decision Thursday morning.
Vonda Kelsey, 61, was called to the witness stand by Rentschler. Kelsey, Hagan’s long-time girlfriend was one of two witnesses to Hagan shooting Porter. The other witness is Linda Bowers’ 5-year-old son, Elijah.
Kelsey entered the courtroom using a crutch on her right side and walked to the witness stand with the aid of Mills, who steadied her left side.
Kelsey said she and Hagan have lived together for 20 years. Her daughters initially lived with the couple but they had grown up and moved out about 15 years ago.
She said the relationship was romantic and that she and Hagan were girlfriend and boyfriend. She said she worked in a factory for 20 years and in a health care facility for 15 years. She stopped working about three years ago when a degenerative disc in her back disabled her and she had developed COPD. She said Hagan worked at DePuy in Warsaw.
She said she met Adam Porter and Linda Bowers at Val and Mike Sims' house four or five months before the shooting incident.
“I really liked Adam,” she said. “He was a really nice guy.”
She described her relationship with Porter and Bowers as casual, involving beer drinking, enjoying a fire and just talking. She said Porter and Bowers spent an evening at her house playing cards and the couple also attended a backyard cookout with other neighbors during the summer. She said there were no problems between Hagan and Porter when the couple visited.
Her testimony differed from Bowers in that she said she gave Bowers two Percocet on one occasion and one more on another occasion, the last being when Bowers and Porter came to play cards. Hagan was not aware of the second exchange. She said she just left the kitchen, got the pill and gave it to Bowers.
“I didn’t think nothing of it,” Kelsey said. “But after those times Adam started hounding. He would start a general conversation, then ask for pills. It was always Adam asking.”
Rentschler asked Kelsey if she remembered Adam’s July 18 text message asking for goodies. She said she didn’t specifically remember the date or the wording.
“He wanted some pills,” she said, when asked what goodies meant. “What other kind of goodies would he want?”
Rentschler asked Kelsey if Hagan knew she gave Bowers the pills, and Kelsey said she told him after she gave Bowers pills the first time.
“He didn’t care much for me doing that,” she said and added that she wasn’t given any direction or orders by Hagan. He just told her she shouldn’t do it.
Kelsey also was questioned about the time she was visiting neighbor Lydia Hyden, who lives across the street to the south, and Porter and Bowers came to the her house.
Kelsey said Bowers went to the front door, which faces south, and Porter went to the west side door. She could not tell whether or not Hagan answered the front door. She could see Porter standing at the side door. He did not knock or attempt to enter the house.
The couple left and drove around the corner. Kelsey and Hyden ran into Hyden’s house and they could see the couple looking over the fence at Hyden’s house.
“They were looking for me. I didn’t want them bugging me,” she said of the retreat. “Enough is enough.”
She said she never told them to stay away, that Hagan took care of that.
She could not recall the conversations between herself and Porter on Aug. 12.
She said on Aug. 14 Hagan went to work and arrived home around 5 p.m. as usual. She spent the day at home. When Hagan got home he went into town and bought vodka. They both had a few drinks, and she added that she doesn’t drink every day but when she feels like drinking, she drinks, and reminded Rentschler that she was of age.
She said sometimes Hagan would “get mouthy” with her when he drank or dance around the house and turn up the music, but nothing different or crazy.
Around 8:30 p.m. she was walking the dog in the back yard and Porter came over and had Elijah with him. The boy took over the dog-walking and moved away from them. She and Porter stood “carrying on a normal conversation.”
Porter’s back was to the back of the house.
Kelsey, facing the back of the house, said she saw Hagan come out the door with a gun at his side in his right hand and said to Porter, “Adam, he’s got a gun.”
Rentschler asked Kelsey why she said that. She said she wanted Adam to be aware of it.
She described the .44 as his most powerful gun and that he’d had it quite a few years.
Rentschler said during an videotaped interview at the sheriff’s department Kelsey said Hagan had the gun in his left hand. She thought about it and stuck with the right-hand version.
Rentschler asked Kelsey how far Hagan was from them and stepped forward until she said the distance, about 10 feet, was right. At that time, Kelsey said, Porter charged Hagan and knocked him to the ground. She said the men scuffled around on the ground a little bit – a minute or two.
Rentschler asked if Hagan kept the gun.
Kelsey said she didn’t know.
Rentschler asked how she could not know that her boyfriend was on the ground with a gun. She said Hagan was on top of Porter and getting up. She couldn’t recall Porter’s position. She said a shot was fired.
“Two times you told the police there were two shots, now there’s only one,” Rentschler said.
Rentschler asked her if she knew how important it was to recall everything and she said, “Yes.”
“Adam is dead,” Rentschler said.
“I know,” Kelsey said. “I’m being as truthful as I can be.”
“You told the police three times that David was on top of Adam,” Rentschler said.
“Why would I lie?” Kelsey said.
“Your boyfriend is on trial for murder,” Rentschler said.
“I know,” Kelsey said. “I went to see if Adam was alright. I realized he wasn’t. I ran in the house to tell David to call 911 and he was already calling.”
She said Linda Bowers had come into the back yard.
Rentschler asked what happened to Elijah, and Kelsey said he’d run to his mother.
“Did you ask, ‘Who is going to pay the bills?’” Kelsey said she paid her own bills and was saying, “Call 911.”
When asked where Porter was shot, she thought it was the side of the head. Rentschler corrected her, saying it was at the base of the skull and the bullet came out the top of the head.
Rentschler asked Kelsey if Hagan ever abused her and Kelsey said he’d never laid a hand on her.
Rentschler said Kelsey talked to Stacey Herr, the next-door neighbor, the next morning and said: “David snapped and wouldn’t let me answer the phone.” “The first shot was fired before Adam charged him.” “David was so calm. I’ve never seen him like that.” “David grabbed Adam, the shot missed. He grabbed him again and shot him.”
Rentschler said when her daughter, Michelle, and her wife, Danielle, visited one weekend David said “If Adam ever comes back, I’m going to shoot him.”
“You went to Linda’s house recently and told her, ‘David said, he’d shoot Adam if he ever came over again.’”
Kelsey called her neighbors liars and wondered why people would lie like that.
“They lie to look good, they tailor the facts to meet what they want,” the prosecuting attorney said.
Kelsey was asked to identify the person who shot Adam Porter, and she pointed to Hagan at the defense table and described the green polo shirt Hagan wore.
Heuer ended the day’s testimony around 4:40 p.m. saying the witness had been questioned an hour and he expected the defense attorney to question her at least that long when the trial starts at 8:30 a.m. today.[[In-content Ad]]
Vonda Kelsey, eye witness to the shooting, also took the stand.
The Honorable Judge James Heuer is presiding over the trial.
Hagan has maintained he acted in self-defense in the shooting death of Adam W. Porter in Hagan’s backyard at 229 W. Buckeye St., South Whitley. A November grand jury recommended charges of murder and reckless homicide after considering three days of testimony.
Whitley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney DJ Sigler called and questioned Indiana State Police Detective and lead investigator in the Porter shooting, Andrew Mills, along with Derrick Hummel, Stacey Hartman, Dean Marks and Dr. Sheila Arnold.
Mills presented maps and photos of the crime scene showing the relationship of people and buildings in Hagan’s backyard the night of Aug. 15. Porter’s body was 35 feet away from the back of the house.
Included in this presentation were photographs of four handguns in a drawer and a closet full of rifles and shotguns. An ammunition speed loader was mounted on the dresser in the bedroom.
With a word to the gallery about graphic images from Sigler, Dr. Scott Wagner discussed Porter’s autopsy, saying the cause of death was a shot to the back of Porter’s head under the “bump,” or occipital protuberance, with the exit wound at the top of the head.
He described soot at the back of the head as indicative of a gun fired very close to the skin. The bullet then went through the brain “ripping and tearing out of the top of the head, leaving it splayed open.”
Wagner said Porter bled to death because of lacerations to the brain.
With a photograph of Porter’s back on a wide computer screen, Wagner also pointed out two nodules on Porter’s mid-upper back which he said Porter received after his death because there is no hemorrhaging or bruising around them.
Fingerprint expert Derek O'Connell said there weren’t any readable fingerprints on the handgun at the scene because it had been handled, unloaded and placed on a towel, smearing any possible clear prints.
Firearms expert Stacey Hartman described the weapon used to shoot Porter as a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum revolver with an 8-1/2-inch barrel. She had examined the gun and found it operational in the single- and double-action positions.
She said a single-action shot, with the hammer cocked, takes 3-1/2 pounds of pressure on the trigger to fire. The double action mechanism requires 10-1/2 pounds of pressure. The gun has an internal safety mechanism in which a hammer block fails to retract if pressure is released at any time during a pull on the trigger. She said this safety mechanism was operational on Hagan’s gun.
Marks described the blood stain pattern found on the left side of the T-shirt, jeans and socks Hagan wore that night. Using sketches and opening the evidence bags containing Hagan’s clothes and showing them to the jury, Marks said the lower 5 inches of the T-shirt were unmarked, indicating it was tucked into the jeans or folded or bunched up. He said there were grass stains on the knees of Hagan’s pants and the toes of both socks.
Marks said because of the blood pattern the source of the blood – the back of Porter’s head when it exploded – was somewhere between Hagan’s left hip and left knee.
In answer to a juror’s question about whether or not Porter was standing up when he was shot, Marks said the pattern on the left side of the pants indicates an explosive pattern in a direct line to the nearest object – the left side of the jeans. He said the blood source had to be approximately a foot away to create the concentration and pattern of blood found on the thigh, knee and calf areas of the jeans. He added that Hagan’s knee was bent but he could not determine the angle. He couldn’t determine Porter’s position.
Hagan’s attorney, Patrick Arata, asked Marks if Porter’s clothing was examined and Marks said only by looking at photographs.
He asked if Porter was on top of Hagan when the shot was fired and Marks said that was not indicated by the blood stain pattern.
On redirection, Sigler asked Marks why Porter’s clothing wasn’t examined for a pattern. Marks said Porter's shirt was saturated with blood and it had been moved by others who also transferred blood onto his clothing.
Forensic toxicologist Dr. Sheila Arnold talked about the effects of alcohol, saying a .04 concentration per 100 millilitres is the point where a person’s brain is effected. The legal limit in Indiana is .08. Levels between .09 and .20 mean concentration and judgment are impaired, vision and hearing are decreased along with a person’s awareness of their surroundings.
Porter’s alcohol levels came back as .24 in blood tests taken from his heart and .25 in tests coming from the vitreous fluid from his eye. She said his motor skills and judgment would have been extremely impaired, but that people who routinely drink beyond .08 develop coping skills that mask their impairments.
She said alprozolam – or Xanax – is often taken by people who regularily drink because it is “alcohol in a pill.” The levels found in Porter’s blood were described as at therapeutic levels.
The amphetamine found in Porter’s blood – atrazine, found in Adderall – would have been taken to help him focus. She said people often use depressants and stimulants to balance how they feel. The amphetamine would not have neutralized the effects of the alcohol and Xanax.
Hagan’s blood alcohol level was .15, which Arnold described as definitely impaired and that he would have problems seeing, his emotions would have been altered and his brain not processing.
Arata asked Arnold if she had any clinical experience, and she said no.
He asked for specific levels of the amphetamine, which was 69.4 nanograms, and the atrazine, which was 16 nanograms, both mid-range therapeutic levels.
She described Porter as a “naive” user because the medications weren’t prescribed to him and it is assumed he was not taking them consistently.
She said the .25 alcohol level would make a person almost comatose with mental confusion, an exaggerated emotional state, trouble speaking, hearing clearly and he would be drowsy. She said the amphetamine could make him more alert.
When Arata asked if Adderall was a schedule II controlled substance, she said yes.
Arata asked if this combination of drugs would make a person dangerous. She said if the person were driving or had a weapon there could be danger.
She was asked how many Bud Light 12-ounce cans at 4.2 percent alcohol Porter would have had to drink over an eight-hour period to have a .24 alcohol concentration equivalent, and she said 14-1/2 to 19-1/2 cans.
Mills was recalled to the stand by Whitley County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Rentschler. Mills said the cell phones of David Hagan, Adam Porter, Vonda Kelsey and Linda Bowers were either seized or confiscated and checked for text messages relevant to the investigation.
On July 17 Porter texted Kelsey: “Do you have any more goodies?” Kelsey did not respond.
On July 18 at 9:14 p.m. Porter texted Vonda: “Hey Vonda, it’s Adam.”; at 9:14 p.m. “How are you?” Kelsey: “I’m okay.” Porter to Kelsey at 9:30: “Hey I have a question.” Kelsey: “Okay” Porter, at 9:40; “Do you have a few goodies I can get?” Kelsey did not respond to the text.
Mills said “goodies” is a slang term for drugs.
Porter continued texting Kelsey that evening, at 9:43 p.m.: “Ppplease!!!”; at 9:45 p.m.: “I love you.”; at 9:50 p.m.: “Is that a no?”; at 9:57 p.m.: “Sad.”‘ at 11:08 p.m.: “Vondaaa”
Porter sent various texts of greeting or concern to Kelsey on July 19, July 26, July 31 and Aug. 12. She did not respond.
There were very few texts between Bowers and Kelsey and Mills described them as not relevant to the case. There were no calls or texts between Porter and Bowers and Hagan.
There were a lot of calls from Kelsey to Porter and Bowers in July with calls to both of them from Kelsey on July 25.
On Aug. 12 there was a 1:34-minute call from Porter to Kelsey at 5:32 p.m., a missed call from Porter to Kelsey and an 8-second call from Kelsey to Porter.
On Aug. 14 Porter called Kelsey at 5:36 and 6:01 p.m. with no response from Kelsey.
Rentschler moved to have David Hagan’s Facebook postings, certified by Facebook’s Custodian of the Records, entered as evidence. Arata opposed the documents, saying they couldn’t be authenticated. Heuer said he would look over the papers and have a decision Thursday morning.
Vonda Kelsey, 61, was called to the witness stand by Rentschler. Kelsey, Hagan’s long-time girlfriend was one of two witnesses to Hagan shooting Porter. The other witness is Linda Bowers’ 5-year-old son, Elijah.
Kelsey entered the courtroom using a crutch on her right side and walked to the witness stand with the aid of Mills, who steadied her left side.
Kelsey said she and Hagan have lived together for 20 years. Her daughters initially lived with the couple but they had grown up and moved out about 15 years ago.
She said the relationship was romantic and that she and Hagan were girlfriend and boyfriend. She said she worked in a factory for 20 years and in a health care facility for 15 years. She stopped working about three years ago when a degenerative disc in her back disabled her and she had developed COPD. She said Hagan worked at DePuy in Warsaw.
She said she met Adam Porter and Linda Bowers at Val and Mike Sims' house four or five months before the shooting incident.
“I really liked Adam,” she said. “He was a really nice guy.”
She described her relationship with Porter and Bowers as casual, involving beer drinking, enjoying a fire and just talking. She said Porter and Bowers spent an evening at her house playing cards and the couple also attended a backyard cookout with other neighbors during the summer. She said there were no problems between Hagan and Porter when the couple visited.
Her testimony differed from Bowers in that she said she gave Bowers two Percocet on one occasion and one more on another occasion, the last being when Bowers and Porter came to play cards. Hagan was not aware of the second exchange. She said she just left the kitchen, got the pill and gave it to Bowers.
“I didn’t think nothing of it,” Kelsey said. “But after those times Adam started hounding. He would start a general conversation, then ask for pills. It was always Adam asking.”
Rentschler asked Kelsey if she remembered Adam’s July 18 text message asking for goodies. She said she didn’t specifically remember the date or the wording.
“He wanted some pills,” she said, when asked what goodies meant. “What other kind of goodies would he want?”
Rentschler asked Kelsey if Hagan knew she gave Bowers the pills, and Kelsey said she told him after she gave Bowers pills the first time.
“He didn’t care much for me doing that,” she said and added that she wasn’t given any direction or orders by Hagan. He just told her she shouldn’t do it.
Kelsey also was questioned about the time she was visiting neighbor Lydia Hyden, who lives across the street to the south, and Porter and Bowers came to the her house.
Kelsey said Bowers went to the front door, which faces south, and Porter went to the west side door. She could not tell whether or not Hagan answered the front door. She could see Porter standing at the side door. He did not knock or attempt to enter the house.
The couple left and drove around the corner. Kelsey and Hyden ran into Hyden’s house and they could see the couple looking over the fence at Hyden’s house.
“They were looking for me. I didn’t want them bugging me,” she said of the retreat. “Enough is enough.”
She said she never told them to stay away, that Hagan took care of that.
She could not recall the conversations between herself and Porter on Aug. 12.
She said on Aug. 14 Hagan went to work and arrived home around 5 p.m. as usual. She spent the day at home. When Hagan got home he went into town and bought vodka. They both had a few drinks, and she added that she doesn’t drink every day but when she feels like drinking, she drinks, and reminded Rentschler that she was of age.
She said sometimes Hagan would “get mouthy” with her when he drank or dance around the house and turn up the music, but nothing different or crazy.
Around 8:30 p.m. she was walking the dog in the back yard and Porter came over and had Elijah with him. The boy took over the dog-walking and moved away from them. She and Porter stood “carrying on a normal conversation.”
Porter’s back was to the back of the house.
Kelsey, facing the back of the house, said she saw Hagan come out the door with a gun at his side in his right hand and said to Porter, “Adam, he’s got a gun.”
Rentschler asked Kelsey why she said that. She said she wanted Adam to be aware of it.
She described the .44 as his most powerful gun and that he’d had it quite a few years.
Rentschler said during an videotaped interview at the sheriff’s department Kelsey said Hagan had the gun in his left hand. She thought about it and stuck with the right-hand version.
Rentschler asked Kelsey how far Hagan was from them and stepped forward until she said the distance, about 10 feet, was right. At that time, Kelsey said, Porter charged Hagan and knocked him to the ground. She said the men scuffled around on the ground a little bit – a minute or two.
Rentschler asked if Hagan kept the gun.
Kelsey said she didn’t know.
Rentschler asked how she could not know that her boyfriend was on the ground with a gun. She said Hagan was on top of Porter and getting up. She couldn’t recall Porter’s position. She said a shot was fired.
“Two times you told the police there were two shots, now there’s only one,” Rentschler said.
Rentschler asked her if she knew how important it was to recall everything and she said, “Yes.”
“Adam is dead,” Rentschler said.
“I know,” Kelsey said. “I’m being as truthful as I can be.”
“You told the police three times that David was on top of Adam,” Rentschler said.
“Why would I lie?” Kelsey said.
“Your boyfriend is on trial for murder,” Rentschler said.
“I know,” Kelsey said. “I went to see if Adam was alright. I realized he wasn’t. I ran in the house to tell David to call 911 and he was already calling.”
She said Linda Bowers had come into the back yard.
Rentschler asked what happened to Elijah, and Kelsey said he’d run to his mother.
“Did you ask, ‘Who is going to pay the bills?’” Kelsey said she paid her own bills and was saying, “Call 911.”
When asked where Porter was shot, she thought it was the side of the head. Rentschler corrected her, saying it was at the base of the skull and the bullet came out the top of the head.
Rentschler asked Kelsey if Hagan ever abused her and Kelsey said he’d never laid a hand on her.
Rentschler said Kelsey talked to Stacey Herr, the next-door neighbor, the next morning and said: “David snapped and wouldn’t let me answer the phone.” “The first shot was fired before Adam charged him.” “David was so calm. I’ve never seen him like that.” “David grabbed Adam, the shot missed. He grabbed him again and shot him.”
Rentschler said when her daughter, Michelle, and her wife, Danielle, visited one weekend David said “If Adam ever comes back, I’m going to shoot him.”
“You went to Linda’s house recently and told her, ‘David said, he’d shoot Adam if he ever came over again.’”
Kelsey called her neighbors liars and wondered why people would lie like that.
“They lie to look good, they tailor the facts to meet what they want,” the prosecuting attorney said.
Kelsey was asked to identify the person who shot Adam Porter, and she pointed to Hagan at the defense table and described the green polo shirt Hagan wore.
Heuer ended the day’s testimony around 4:40 p.m. saying the witness had been questioned an hour and he expected the defense attorney to question her at least that long when the trial starts at 8:30 a.m. today.[[In-content Ad]]
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