FLAGTAFF, Ariz. – The prosecution and defense rested their cases Friday afternoon in the Steven Jones murder trial.
Jones is charged with murder and six counts of aggravated assault after shooting four fellow Northern Arizona University students -- killing one -- in October of 2015.
Jones’s attorney, Joshua Davidson, worked to repair the damage done Thursday when the prosecution pointed out inconsistencies in his client’s stories to the police the night of the shooting and in his testimony.
The defense took jurors back to the night of the shooting, when Jones said he feared he could die.
“He, like, launched at me, so I assumed he was either going to tackle me and they would start beating on me and try to get my gun or, you know, maybe strangle me or something because his arms were outward,” Jones testified.
Jones admitted what he told police wasn’t completely accurate. During its cross examination, the prosecution tore Jones apart on the stand because his stories didn’t match. The defense argued the reasons were no sleep or food that night and the emotions of having just shot four people. Jones testified he finished his eight hours of questioning from police without any legal representation.
“I told him 'This isn’t going to be accurate -- I’m exhausted,'” Jones said when asked to go over the night’s events again the morning of Oct. 9, 2015.
Friday, the seven men and seven women on the jury got their chance to question Jones. They zeroed in on his experience with guns.
Jones’s training with firearms began at the young age of 8, so the men and women who will decide his fate wondered why he didn’t aim for the leg.
“You’re never really trained to do that,” explained Jones. “I couldn’t have. It was really dark and they were moving really, really fast and I was shaking and I didn’t have a perfect grip and I couldn’t even really see my sights.”
Jones told the jury about having his glasses punched off his face, saying he could just make out blurry silhouettes of his friends, surrounded.
Jones said he didn’t think about shooting until he felt it was absolutely necessary.
“There was an immediate threat to my life, I thought, and I had to stop it and that’s what I was trained to do,” Jones told jurors from the stand.
The defendant told the jury the last shots he fired were a warning as someone else tried to take his gun.
“I felt like I was the only one who was going to get me out from under that pile. I felt like no one was going to come and help me and I couldn’t overpower all those guys,” Jones said.
Tuesday, jurors are scheduled to instructions and closing arguments. The two alternates will be dismissed and the remaining 12 jurors will begin deliberations.