Wednesday: 3:15 p.m.:
An extended court hearing continued Wednesday afternoon in Dearborn Heights to determine if homeowner Theodore Wafer will stand trial in the Nov. 2 shotgun death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his front porch.
Wafer says he acted in self-defense after early morning noise sounded as though someone was trying to break into his West Outer Drive home.
Renisha McBride, 19, was shot about a mile from where she crashed her car Nov. 2
Oralandar Brand-Williams of The Detroit News reports from 20th District Court on the session that began at 9 a.m.
A woman who said she helped McBride immediately after McBride crashed her car testified Wednesday morning the 19-year-old Detroiter appeared to be “confused and hurt” and that McBride walked away holding her head. The single-car accident occurred about a mile away from Wafer’s home on the Dearborn Heights-Detroit border.
Carmen Beasley . . . testified McBride was so confused and disoriented she couldn’t recall family phone numbers.
McBride refused to stay and walked from the scene, saying she “had to get home.” Three hours later, McBride was fatally shot while standing on the front porch of a home about a mile away from the crash scene. . . .
Dr. Kilak Kesha, who performed the autopsy on McBride, said she was shot from about three feet away. . . . An autopsy report showed McBride’s blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit and she had traces of marijuana in her system. . . .
McBride’s family believes she was seeking help
The case has attracted national attention, as Brand-Williams notes:.
McBride was African-American and Wafer is white. Some local civil rights activists say they believe the young woman was racially profiled and had she been white, the outcome might have been different.
Assistant Wayne County prosecutors handling the case are Danielle Hagaman-Clark and Mark Hindelang.
Wafer’s defense attorneys are Mack and Cheryl Carpenter of Bloomfield Hills, a father-daughter team.
Wednesday, 6:20 a.m.:
The Dearborn Heights homeowner accused of murder in the shotgun death of Detroit teen Renisha McBridge is back in court this morning for a hearing on whether his case proceeds to trial.
Theodore Wafer (AP photo)
Gina Damron has a preview in the Free Press:
Theodore Wafer told a dispatcher he shot someone banging on his front door in the early morning hours of Nov. 2. McBride, 19, who hours earlier had crashed her car into a parked vehicle in Detroit, was shot in the face.
Wafer’s preliminary hearing will be held at 20th District Court in Dearborn Heights. He is facing charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter/death by weapon aimed with intent but without malice, and felony firearm use. . . .
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said during a news conference last month that evidence suggests Wafer opened the front door before he fired a shotgun through the closed and locked screen door. She said there was no evidence of forced entry on Wafer’s home.
According to police, Wafer said his shotgun discharged accidentally.
