Mediaboss Marketing

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) Day five of the trial of the two men accused in the January 2019 death of Shreveport Police Officer Chatri Payne got underway late Friday with detailed testimony from a crime scene investigator about the guns that were and were not used in the fatal shooting.

Trevion Anderson, 29, and 41-year-old Glenn Frierson are charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in the Jan. 9, 2019, shooting death of the 22-year-old police officer.

On Monday, a third co-defendant, 24-year-old Lawrence Pierre, pleadedguilty to second-degree murder in the case and was immediately sentenced to mandatory life in prison without possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, so the original indictment against the three was altered to reflect only Anderson and Frierson.

On Wednesday, the prosecution told the jury of six men and six women that Anderson was Paynes live-in boyfriend and father of her 2-year-old child and was angry when Payne told him she was moving from the house the two shared at 1633 Midway.

The prosecution claims Anderson recruited his two original co-defendants to help kill Payne, while defense attorneys for both Anderson and Frierson claim their clients are innocent.

Late Friday morning, the prosecution called Shreveport Crime Scene Investigator Cpl. Robert Cerami to the stand and asked to qualify him as an expert witness.

Cerami, who has extensive training in crime scene investigation said he has investigated more than 700 shootings. Through investigating the ejection pattern of shell casings, Cerami has learned to determine where the shooter may have been, as well as whether he or she was standing, kneeling, or on the ground when the firearm was discharged.

Although the defense objected, as Cerami was the primary crime scene investigator in the Payne case, District Judge John Mosely overruled the objection, and Ceramis testimony was entered into the record as an expert.

Caddo Assistant District Attorney Treneisha Hill began by asking the officer to describe the scene from when he first arrived, peppering his testimony with photos taken outside and inside the home Anderson and Payne shared.

While police said Anderson claimed he was inside the house, heard gunshots, grabbed his Glock 22 40 caliber handgun, went outside and shot at an intruder, Cerami said the bullet casings found from that particular gun were actually shot into the ground.

Although two Glocks were found at the crime scene Andersons and Paynes service weapon, also a Glock 22 neither was the weapon used to kill Payne.

Cerami indicated that the investigation pointed to the shots, which came from two different Glocks, one of which was not located for a few days, all came from the northeast or left side of the house (the front door and small porch on the left; the driveway where Payne was shot is on the right side of the house).

Hill skillfully led Cerami through a description of where each piece of evidence found all the shell casings from Andersons gun and the kill shot from the then-unknown Glock as well as a cellphone, found hidden between the mattress and box springs of the bed Anderson and Payne shared.

It was on this cellphone that detectives later found text messages that led them to believe that Anderson had accomplices. A few days later, a tip led detectives to Pierre, who they ran down at Caddo Parish Juvenile Court where he worked in the Clerks office.

Police took Pierre to the Shreveport Police Department for an interview, then took him back to work. He later led them to the murder weapon, which was found hidden behind an air cooler and hot water heater at an apartment in the 8100 block of Pines Road.

Cerami, who completed his testimony for the prosecution, will not be cross-examined by defense attorneys until Monday, as the prosecution asked to call two witnesses out of order late Friday afternoon.

One of those witnesses was former SPD Homicide Detective Kenneth Thompson who investigated Paynes death and received a tip at a local barbershop identifying Pierre as a suspect. The other was a former co-worker at Caddo Juvenile Court, who told police Pierre had a second telephone.

Testimony will resume at 10:30 a.m. Monday.

More here:
Slain SPD officer trial: Riveting testimony from CSI officer - KTALnews.com