COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Defense attorneys say no physical evidence links a former Fort Carson soldier to the slaying of a fellow Iraq war veteran, pointing to blood found on the victim’s pants that they say belongs to another defendant.
Louis Bressler, 24, is charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 1, 2007, death of Spc. Kevin Shields, 24.
The defense theory is that co-defendant Bruce Bastien Jr. bled on Shields’ pants while he was standing over Shields shooting him. Prosecutors say the blood got on Shields’ pants earlier that night.
Jurors Friday began deliberating the case after prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered their closing arguments, during which prosecutor Jack Roth held up the murder weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, and walked over to Bressler, who was reclining in his seat at the defendants’ table.
“It has everything to do with this young man right here and what this young man did with this gun,” Roth said in a booming voice, countering defense attorney Ed Farry’s attempt to shift the blame.
Prosecutors say Bressler killed Shields because Shields knew too much about robberies that Bressler, Bastien, and another Iraq veteran, Kenneth Eastridge, planned to commit, and also because Bressler lost a fight to Shields earlier that night. All four had been drinking heavily.
Earlier Friday, Farry presented an expert witness who walked the jury through their theory that Bastien shot Shields from behind, then fired more bullets as Shields lay on the sidewalk in a residential neighborhood. Defense attorneys say Bastien and co-defendant Eastridge both then conspired to frame Bressler.
Forensic analysis expert John Koziol testified that the only way Bastien’s blood ended up on Shields was by Bastien bleeding on him as he shot him.
During cross examination by Roth, Koziol said he did not know that Bastien had cut his hand inside his car when he reached into a bag containing knives, masks and flashlights that Eastridge, Bressler, and Bastien planned to use in robberies. Roth said the evidence shows that Bastien’s blood got on Shields’ pants while he was sitting in the front seat with Bastien, who was fumbling around for a way to stop the bleeding.
Prosecution witness and forensic expert Jeff Saviano also disputed Koziol’s sequence of which shots hit Shields first, key to support the defense’s theory that Bastien was the shooter. Saviano said evidence such as blood splatter, and the location of a bullet that hit a fence and another bullet found buried in the ground near Shields’ head doesn’t support Koziol’s theory.
Key to both versions of the shooting is a wound to Shields’ thigh that went clear through. Jurors noticed that detail and sent a note to El Paso County District Judge Theresa Cisneros asking Koziol if there was a mark on the concrete below the exit wound, which would bolster the defense’s claim that Bastien shot Shields while standing over him.
Koziol answered that there was no mark on the concrete.
Prosecutors say the first shots fired by Bressler hit the fence and Shields’ thigh, and as he was reacting, Shields got shot in the cheek, then the back of his neck as he fell back. A fifth shot lodged in the ground.
During closing statements Farry told jurors that investigators and prosecutors were too quick to reach a conclusion about Bressler and relied too heavily on Eastridge and Mark Fox, a man who testified that Bressler confessed to him while they were cell mates.
“There’s no evidence that says Mr. Bressler did any of this,” Farry said. “The evidence shows it was a cover-up between Eastridge and Bastien.”
Eastridge pleaded guilty to accessory to murder in Shields’ death and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Shields’ mother and grandparents from the Rockford, Ill., area and Shields’ wife from Colorado Springs were in the front row of the courtroom each day of Bressler’s 10-day trial.
“I’m anxious, but I’m OK,” said Shields’ mother, Debra Shields. She declined further comment.
Bressler is also accused of being the triggerman in the August 2007 shooting death of Robert James. His first-degree murder case is scheduled to begin Dec. 1.
Bastien is serving 60 years in prison as part of a plea agreement that required him to testify against Bressler in both slayings. Bastien pleaded guilty to accessory to murder in Shields’ death and conspiracy to commit murder in James’ death.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to refile first-degree murder charges against Bastien after he backed out of his plea agreement Wednesday and refused to testify in Shields’ death.
Eastridge, Bastien and Bressler are three of at least five soldiers who were deployed to Iraq with the 4th Brigade Combat Team accused in slayings in the past 15 months. A sixth faces attempted murder charges.
Army commanders said they have formed a task force to identify any common factors in the slayings allegedly committed by the soldiers.
