Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas and deputy prosecutor Sara Seaborg rested their first degree murder case against Henry Ryder, 59, Naples, July 31, having presented strong forensic evidence refuting the assertion of self defense, but the highlight of the case thus far came when defense attorney Tim Gresback called the defendant to the stand.
Earlier, pathologist Dr. George Lindholm and ballistics expert Lucian Haag provided evidence that Frederick Cooper, 44, couldn’t have been holding the .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol at the time he was shot shortly after 8 p.m. August 12, 2002. Lindholm, who conducted the autopsy on Cooper, noted that Coopers hands and been properly bagged at the outdoor crime scene to protect any evidence, and found only traces of blood on Cooper’s hands. The sole cause of death, he ruled, was internal damage caused by the .44 caliber bullet admittedly fired by Ryder.
Lucian Haag proved that it would have been physically impossible for Cooper to have been holding his pistol based on blood found on the right side grip of the pistol; precisely the area Cooper would have been holding the weapon. A sharp line where the blood on the pistol stops, he said, indicates something held against the pistol that staunched the spread of blood. While left unsaid, the clear implication was that the weapon was most likely still tucked in Cooper’s pants. In addition, Haag showed that the blood on the weapon had been swiped, most likely, he said, as the weapon was withdrawn and brushed against the blood on Cooper’s shirt.
Based on the evidence, Haag stated someone besides Cooper had to have manipulated the weapon in order to account for both the stains and the location of the pistol when it was recovered; about 22 feet from Cooper’s body. Based on crime scene photos of the weapon, Haag concluded that the weapon could not have been thrown because the soft ground and pine needles the pistol rested on had not been disturbed. Left unanswered was exactly how the weapon got there.
After hearing from three defense witnesses, Gresback shocked the courtroom when he called Henry Ryder to the stand to ask him but two questions; what was the happiest day of your life, “the day I married Christine,” and what was the worst day of your life, “the day I shot Fred Cooper in self defense.”
Those questions opened the door for Douglas, who was able to bring in testimony that had been expected from Ryder’s son and grandson, who on Monday failed to honor an agreement to pick up subpoenas waiting for them at the Sheriffs Office and refused to appear. The two had been visiting the day the shooting occurred.
Douglas entered into evidence a photo of Ryder and his grandson, smiling in the middle of the road, which Ryder testified was taken “about a minute” after he shot Cooper and before he called 911. Douglas was also able to establish that Ryder went to his son’s pickup to retrieve his .44 caliber revolver before going over to “talk” to Cooper, who was building a fence along his property line to close an access road preferred by Ryder, though Ryder was working to have another road built.
Ryder testified that he walked to where Cooper was digging and said, “Fred, are you going to block me in?”
At that point, he said, Cooper told him, “This is my road, I’ll do whatever I (expletive deleted) want,” and pulled his pistol.
“That’s when I shot him,” Ryder testified. Prodded by Douglas, he maintained that there was no argument, no loud voices. After he pulled the trigger, he said, he turned and walked away. He denied seeing Cooper fall, though he said he knew Cooper was dead.
“I gut shot him,” he said. After the shooting, Cooper crawled 33 feet along his fence before succumbing to his wound.
After posing for the picture, Ryder said he went to the house and called 911, and never returned to the scene of the shooting. He refused to tell a certified nurses aide where Cooper’s body was, he said, to protect the crime scene.
The day before, one of the first officers to arrive at the scene testified that Ryder was cooperative and led him directly to Cooper’s body.
The defense will call additional witnesses at 8 a.m. Friday, and the closing arguments are expected before noon.