TENSING

Trial openings: 'It was murder' vs. trying to 'save his own life'

Kevin Grasha, and Sharon Coolidge
Cincinnati
Ray Tensing, charged with the murder of Sam DuBose, returns to the courtroom following a break in jury selection. The presiding judge is  Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan. The former University of Cincinnati police officer is charged with murder in the shooting death of Sam DuBose.  His attorney Stew Mathews has said Tensing fired a single shot because he feared for his life.

Key developments:

  • Prosecutor and defense attorney's statements on killing diverge during traffic stop
  • The jury's trip to Mount Auburn was delayed by a man threatening to film their visit
  • Judge rejects defense's request for new venue

Both sides in the trial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer charged with murder told jurors what they believe happened the evening of July 19, 2015 during a traffic stop.

They described a campus police department worried so much about crime they sent university officers into neighborhoods surrounding the campus.

Then they honed in on the moments when Sam DuBose tried to drive away from a traffic stop for failing to have a front license plate.

That’s where their stories diverge.

During opening statements Tuesday in Ray Tensing’s murder trial, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said body camera video of the traffic stop shows Tensing reaching for his gun as DuBose restarts the car.

“What Tensing did next was not legitimate. It was murder,” Deters said. “It was totally contrary to the training he had received. It was totally contrary to rules and regulations of the University of Cincinnati Police Department. It was totally contrary to laws in this country concerning a justified shooting. And it was totally contrary to the oath he had taken as a police officer.”

Tensing’s attorney, Stew Mathews, however, said his client was trying “to save his own life” as DuBose sped away, accelerating.

He said Tensing acted instinctively.

“What he did was draw his weapon and fired to stop the threat and try to save his own life,” Mathews said.

Deters also expanded on comments made during jury selection: That jurors would hear Tensing’s recorded statements to investigators that he “purposely” killed DuBose.

“You will hear from Tensing’s own mouth that he intentionally shot Mr. DuBose in the head,” Deters said.

Tensing, 26, faces charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. A jury of six men and six women was selected Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Tensing was mostly expressionless, sometimes taking notes. The courtroom, filled with media and relatives of both Tensing and DuBose, was quiet. DuBose's family was visibly upset as they left immediately following Mathews' opening statements.

Testimony is expected to begin Wednesday morning.

The July 2015 traffic stop happened around 6:30 p.m. in Mount Auburn as Tensing patrolled off campus in an area Mathews said has been called “a no-fly zone.” It was the fourth traffic stop Tensing was involved in that day.

Tuesday's summations of what happened are the most detailed yet of how the shooting unfolded.

Mathews said Tensing noticed that the car DuBose was driving – a 1998 Honda Accord – didn’t have a front license plate. Tensing entered the rear plate in his patrol car’s computer, and it showed the registered owner’s license was suspended. The owner was DuBose’s fiancée DaShonda Reid.

Tensing turned on his overhead lights, but DuBose didn’t pull over. Tensing then activated his siren briefly. DuBose continued to drive nearly 500 feet, turned on Rice Street and pulled to the curb, placing the car in park.

Tensing walked up to the driver’s side window, and over the next minute and a half, asked a series of questions. He also repeatedly asked for DuBose’s driver’s license, but DuBose – whose license had been revoked – never directly answered or provided a license.

From 200-plus to 12: Jury seated for Tensing trial

Tensing eventually asked DuBose to take off his seat belt. Tensing opened the door, but DuBose pulled it shut with his left hand.

At this point in the incident, Mathews version of what happened is at odds with what the prosecution says.

Mathews said DuBose, using his right hand, “jams the keys back into the ignition,” put the car into drive and “mashes the accelerator.”

Mathews acknowledged Tensing made a "tactical error" – he reached inside the car with his left arm apparently intending to turn off the engine. He said DuBose used his left forearm to “pin” Tensing’s arm against the door.

He said Tensing then grabbed DuBose’s seatbelt with his left hand – which is seen in the body-cam video – to avoid being thrown to the ground, under the car. With his right hand, he pulled out his .40-caliber Sig Sauer pistol and shot DuBose once in the head “to save his own life.”

Deters said that analysis is wrong.

The moment DuBose reached for the ignition, Deters said, Tensing “was already going for his gun.”

“You will witness how Tensing was pulling his gun,” Deters told jurors, referring to the bodycam video, “moving it toward the head of Sam DuBose, prior to the car even moving an inch.”

When the car slowly began to move, Deters said, the gun was already pointed at DuBose’s head.

Less than a second later, he said, the car had moved maybe a foot when Tensing shot DuBose.

Deters said Tensing’s version of what happened – which he gave in an interview with Cincinnati police detectives, two days after the shooting, -- is “unsupported by any other witness or any other evidence.”

Among Tensing’s false claims, according to Deters:

- His arm got tangled in the steering wheel.

- His feet were “dragging along the blacktop.”

- He believed he was going to get pulled under the car.

- He was “hanging on for dear life” when he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at DuBose’s head.

All were false statements, Deters said. The shooting, he said, “was totally unwarranted, was completely intentional and was truly unjustified.”

DuBose daughter questions effectiveness of protests

How Tuesday unfolded

Jurors were ready to go at 9 a.m. for a planned view of the Mount Auburn shooting scene, but were delayed for more than a hour. A man who lived nearby and said he was part of Black Lives Matter had threatened to video-record jurors.

The visit to a 400-foot section of Rice Street between Thill and Valencia streets lasted 10 minutes. None of the jurors got out of either of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office vans that drove them there, as Cincinnati police officers and sheriff's deputies stood watch along the street. The windows of the vans had a dark tint.

Representatives of Black Lives Matter: Cincinnati asked the man who threatened to film jurors to back off.

"He's somebody we know," said Brian Taylor, a steering committee member of the group. "He bought a hoodie. That's the thing. People are pissed. They do things. But we already took care of it."

Also Tuesday, Shanahan denied a request by Tensing’s attorney to move the trial to another county. Mathews had filed a motion in August 2015, weeks after Tensing was indicted, asking for a change of venue. Shanahan had promised to revisit the issue if there were difficulties with jury selection. A jury was selected Monday after less than four hours.

The Enquirer's Chris Graves and Mark Curnutte contributed.

Watch the opening statements

 Video from the courtroom earlier this morning

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