In the first day of testimony in the first-degree trial of Henry Ryder, 59, Naples, Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas and deputy prosecutor Sara Seaborg presented testimony from county law enforcement officers who were present after the August 12, 2002 shooting death of his neighbor, Frederick Cooper, 44, over an ongoing dispute over a property line.
Ryder and his attorney, Tim Gresback, Moscow, contend the shooting was in self-defense.
In her opening statement, Seaborg gave a brief overview of the property dispute, which had lasted about two years at the time of the shooting, and described how a county surveyor, Steve Moyer, resolved that dispute in Cooper’s favor the day before the shooting. At the time the shooting occurred, Cooper was erecting a fence across a private access road that Ryder allegedly preferred using over an existing alternate route.
When testimony resumes at 8 a.m. Thursday, the prosecution plans to present testimony from state crime scene investigators, Dr. George Lindholm, who conducted the autopsy on Cooper, and on a ballistics expert who will describe one of the key elements of the case; how Cooper’s pistol came to rest several feet both from the point he was shot and where he finally died, slumped against the disputed fence after crawling approximately 33 feet after he was hit in the abdomen by a round from Ryder’s .44 caliber pistol.