It may have happened a little sooner than her lawyers liked, but Leslie Sharp took the stand Thursday to testify in her murder trial in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court.
Sharp, 21, gave her side of the events that led her to shoot and kill Christopher Cole, then 20, on Nov. 10, 2008, when several witnesses for the defense were either unable or unwilling to testify Thursday afternoon. One witness showed up, with some prodding from law enforcement, after Sharp took the stand and another will testify today. In the meantime, Sharp fielded questions regarding the night she shot Cole.
Along the way she had to parry intense questions from Assistant District Attorney Rhonda Hayes-Ellis under cross examination, including an allegation she killed Cole because she wanted a romantic relationship with Cole”s girlfriend and her years-long friend Alissandra “Alize” Inzunza.
“You didn”t want Alize and Chris together, did you? This is about Alize, isn”t it? You had feelings for Alize!” Hayes-Ellis barked at Sharp.
An immediate objection from defense attorney Jack Brown led to the jury being dismissed from the courtroom by Judge Lee Howard. Hayes-Ellis contended her line of questioning was intended to establish motive, but Howard reminded her “motive is not necessary in a murder trial.”
Howard overruled Brown”s objection and stated he would permit the question, but warned Hayes-Ellis that, if the basis for the question came from statements provided by eye witnesses on the night of the killing, those statements would have to be admitted as evidence.
“I will let you get into that,” Howard told Hayes-Ellis, “But you”re stuck with what that entails.”
Hayes-Ellis eventually withdrew the question and the jury was shown back into the courtroom and told to disregard the line of questioning.
Although the bizarre exchange was stricken from the record, Hayes-Ellis fired plenty of critical questions at Sharp during her time on the stand.
Following the testimony of a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Cole”s body, which included pictures of the bullet wounds, Hayes-Ellis pressed Sharp to explain how Cole was shot three times in the back if he had been facing her throughout the entirety of their exchange, as Sharp testified.
Sharp couldn”t explain the three entrance wounds in Cole”s back except to speculate she may have continued shooting him once he fell on his face.
“The only way you could shoot him in the back is if he was walking away,” said Hayes-Ellis. “Either you shot him while he had his back to you or you shot him three times while he was on the ground.”
The pathologist testified she could not be certain of the angle at which each bullet entered Cole”s body.
Sharp”s testimony differed from that of the three eyewitnesses who were with her when she shot Cole. Inzunza, who was Cole”s girlfriend; Kayla Huffman, with whom Cole had attempted to strike up a romantic relationship; and Nicole Transchina, a friend of Sharp”s and Inzunza”s; were each in the car when the group confronted Cole on Kelly Road in Oktibbeha County and each claimed Cole was walking away from the car with his back turned when Sharp opened fire.
Sharp testified that on the night of Cole”s death she was at Transchina”s house when Inzunza and Huffman arrived around 6 p.m. and told them the story of Cole”s attempted two-timing. They intended to ride out to the house of one of Cole”s friends because they believed Cole would be there and Huffman and Inzunza would have the chance to confront him.
Sharp claimed neither she nor Transchina wanted to accompany the women but were talked into going. Sharp, who had been a member of the Explorers Academy, which teaches young people about law enforcement training, including firearms training, had been given a Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic by her father, Rick Sharp, an Oktibbeha County Sheriff”s deputy, just a week prior for protection. She had also received years of firearms experience through her father.
She retrieved the 9 mm from her vehicle before leaving Transchina”s house with the other women. Sharp stated she kept the weapon on her at all times for protection, but during a videotaped statement she gave to sheriff”s deputies on the night of the shooting, which was played for the jury, she claimed she took the weapon because she knew or suspected Cole had a gun and knew the situation would be volatile.
As the car full of women, with Sharp in the back driver side seat of Huffman”s four-door sedan, arrived on Kelly Road, they drove past Joseph Turnipseed”s house where Cole was spotted standing out front. As the women drove to the end of the dead-end road to turn around, Cole got into his truck to leave.
Cole stopped his truck briefly in front of Turnipseed”s house to allow the women to catch up, only to spin gravel onto the front of their car with his back tires. He then proceeded to the stop sign at the end of the road and stopped again. This time, Sharp said Cole got out of his vehicle and Inzunza got out to speak to him. Sharp said she witnessed Cole shoving Inzunza while screaming and cursing at her. Cole then walked to the car, which was directly behind his truck with its headlights on, and began cursing Huffman, who was driving.
Sharp said Cole was irate and pulled a gun out of his waistband and fired a shot to his right, down the road. He attempted to keep firing but his gun malfunctioned, and Sharp said Cole began backing up, still facing the car, examining his gun.
At that point, Sharp said she was in fear for her life and thought Cole might reload his gun and continue shooting. It was then she exited the vehicle with her gun drawn and pointed it at Cole.
When Cole, who was near the bed of his truck at this point, saw Sharp”s gun, she said he raised his gun and pointed it at her and began walking towards her while pulling the trigger. She testified the gun was clicking as it misfired repeatedly, but she “had no idea if the next click was going to fire” so she began firing.
Sharp fired 10 shots and struck Cole seven times.
On cross examination Hayes-Ellis asked why Sharp had not given a warning before firing or fired once and then waited. Sharp replied that she had no time to give an initial warning because Cole immediately aimed his weapon at her, and that she”d been trained to fire “until the threat was eliminated.”
“You were shooting to kill him,” insisted Hayes-Ellis.
“No ma”am. To either bring him down or the weapon down,” Sharp replied.
Hayes-Ellis would also accuse Sharp of manipulating the scene and changing her story, using her pre-existing knowledge of law enforcement, to appear as if she had shot Cole out of self-defense. Hayes-Ellis seized on several statements Sharp made during her initial statement to sheriff”s deputies that she exited the vehicle and “just started shooting.”
In the video-taped statement, which was played for the jury, Sharp did say she “just started shooting” several times, but when pressed for details by the investigator elaborated that Cole had pointed his gun at her and began pulling the trigger.
Turnipseed and his live-in girlfriend at the time of the shooting, Courtney Armstead, also testified Thursday.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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