Weapon used by ex-Balch Springs officer in deadly shooting shown during trial

A fired Balch Springs police officer's rifle was on display in court on Wednesday during his murder trial.

It was the rifle Roy Oliver fired five times into a car, striking and killing Jordan Edwards in April 2017. The state began wrapping up its case against Oliver on Wednesday and there was also compelling cross-examination by the defense.

Oliver fired five rounds in less than a second towards the car Edwards was passenger in. One of the bullets went through the window, striking Edwards in the right rear of his head.

“There was marked devastation of the right hemisphere of the brain. just completely disrupted,” said Dr. Stephen Lenfest, Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Pictures displayed showed where four of five bullets struck the car. The fifth hit the rear of the Impala after striking the pavement. Crime scene pictures of the vehicle showed no alcohol containers in the car. No one in the car fired or had a weapon

Trace evidence experts from the Dallas County Crime Lab explained gunshot residue on the back of Edwards’ left hand came when Roy Oliver went to car and checked the boy for a pulse.

Defense attorney Miles Brissette cross examined the lead sheriff’s department detective, Juan Carranza, on what he didn’t do didn’t do in his investigation.

Brissette also asked if he believed the actions taken that night by Oliver and another officer were appropriate. The two ran to the area where gunshots were heard, pulled out their weapons and tried to stop the vehicle.

And whether the actions of Balch Springs Officers Tyler Gross and Roy Oliver running to the area where gunshots were heard pulling weapons and trying to stop an evading vehicle were appropriate

“All that you just mentioned I think is appropriate. But when he decided to fire those rounds into that vehicle, no,” Carranza said.

John Read, an attorney not involved in the case, said the goal is to get the jury to look at the events from the officer’s perspective. Read won an acquittal in 1997 for Blake Hubbard, a fired Grand Prairie Officer charged with murder while on duty. He shot and killed a mentally ill man who had a knife.

“They got to look at it from the stand point of the police officer and what he saw at the time of the event in question. It’s a reasonable man standard.”

The state has not rested yet. Prosecutors still want to get in the incident where Oliver allegedly pulled a gun on Monique Arredondo, her sister and toddler niece following a minor car accident. The defense team has raised stern objections

Judge Brandon Birmingham will decide if jurors can hear that in a ruling expected on Thursday.