Shooting trial now in hands of jury

A jury began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of shooting a work-release inmate as he returned to Thurston County Jail on May 14, 2007.

Jerome Pender, 24, is charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Marcus Reed.

During closing arguments in Pender's trial Wednesday, Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jack Jones told the jury to heed the evidence against Pender, including the account of an eyewitness who picked Pender's face out of a photo montage as the person she saw fleeing to a gray sedan after the shooting.

The witness, a woman who went outside on her porch at an apartment complex near the jail after hearing gun- shots, "picked out the photo of Jerome Pender as the young man she had seen running on May 14, 2007," Jones said in court.

Several hours after the shooting, Pender was pulled over on Interstate 5 in Pierce County driving a car with the same description and license plate number as one seen fleeing the scene after Reed was shot, Jones said.

An Army surgeon who was driving in the area the date of the shooting testified at trial that after hearing gunshots, he saw a man who looked similar to Pender carrying an object hidden in a dark-colored hoodie running to a gray sedan.

The man then sped away, the surgeon testified.

The surgeon, Dr. Tate Viehwig, jotted down the vehicle's license plate number, and it matched the number of the vehicle stopped on I-5 in Pierce County after the shooting.

Girlfriend

At the time of the shooting, Pender was dating a woman named Ashley Babbs who assaulted Reed in 2005 after he ended a relationship with her.

After the assault, Babbs threatened to have people hurt Reed unless he stopped cooperating with authorities, court papers state, but Reed continued to work with authorities.

The car Pender was driving belonged to Babbs.

Pender's attorney, Charles Lane, told the jury that the witness on her porch could have misidentified Pender. Lane added that Reed initially identified the person who shot him as a white man. Pender is black.

Lane also said the fact that the car Pender was driving was spotted at the scene of Reed's shooting does not implicate his client. He suggested Pender could be covering for the person who committed the shooting.

Lane said the evidence shows Pender was in Tacoma at 5:45 p.m. on the day of the shooting, which occurred about 6:50 p.m.

Lane said it would be difficult to drive to the Thurston County Jail in such a short period from Tacoma.

Lane also criticized a jail inmate's testimony that Pender had admitted to him that he attempted to kill Pender for Babbs as a statement by "a professional con man."

Lane urged the jury not to convict his client, adding, "the picture of the puzzle in this case has too many missing pieces."

The jury will continue deliberations in Pender's trial this morning.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.