Following a day spent absorbing forensic and first-responder testimony, a Caddo Parish District Court Jury in Judge John D. Mosely Jr.’s courtroom found Steven Killingsworth guilty as charged of attempted second-degree murder.
The four-woman, eight-man jury spent under 10 minutes deliberating, rendering its unanimous verdict just after 3:45 p.m. as Killingsworth, 50 and serving as his own attorney, silently heard the verdict before asking the jury to be polled.
He was remanded to parish custody, and charged to return at 9:30 a.m. October 3, 2018, for sentencing. With enhanced sentencing sought for the use of a weapon in his attack, he faces a prison sentence of at least 15 years, and up to 65 years, without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.
Victim Miriam Tamica Harley, who testified Wednesday, sat in the gallery as the verdict was read. With her were family and friends, including her mother and two sons, who testified, along with her, about the May 22, 2016 shotgun attack in Cedar Grove that cost her her left arm and left her scarred for life. Harley suffered five shotgun wounds and silently watched as the gun that caused her scars, as well as the empty shotgun shell casings found by police, were shown to jurors and the defendant.
The lengthiest testimony Thursday was from Shreveport Police Cpl. John Madjerick, whose description of the gathering of forensic evidence — including the 12-gauge Mossberg/Maverick Model 88 shotgun used in the attack, spent shotgun shell casings, discarded EMS supplies, clothing and numerous blood pools and drippings that provided a tapestry of the assault on Harley — was accompanied by almost 100 photographs and pieces of meticulously coded physical evidence.
Those offering testimony Thursday also included Shreveport Fire Department Captain Damian Stringer, who as a medic treated both Harley and Killingsworth at the scene; Katie Alexander, a neighborhood witness who observed a portion of the shooting and its aftermath; North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Firearms Analyst Michael Stelly, who matched shell casings collected at the scene to the weapon used; and former Shreveport Police homicide detective Joseph Brown, the on-call detective on scene.
Questions were posed by Assistant District Attorneys Pamela Moser and Ron Christopher Stamps, with Stamps delivering the closing argument for the state. Defendant Killingsworth offered occasional objections, but refrained from cross-examining witnesses and waived delivering a closing defense argument.
Proceedings began Monday with jury selection, with presentation of expert, eyewitness and victim testimony beginning Wednesday afternoon.
Killingsworth was assisted by Michelle Andrepont of the Caddo Parish Public Defenders Office.