Attorney: Sergeant fired at perceived threat

LIMA - A police sergeant fired his automatic rifle from the bottom of a staircase at a shadowed figure in a doorway who had been peaking out.

That figure turned out to be Tarika Wilson, a 26-year-old woman holding her baby. Sgt. Joe Chavalia perceived her as "a threat" and fired moments after other officers fired on two Pit Bulls downstairs, according to testimony Tuesday during the second day of Chavalia's trial.

The entire scenario happened in seconds during a Special Weapons and Tactics team drug raid at 218 E. Third St. on Jan. 4. Wilson was standing in a bedroom with the light on while the rest of the house remained dark.

"His explanation will be as he saw movement from that doorway he aimed his weapon and fired," Special Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh said.

Wilson was unarmed and holding her 1-year-old son, Sincere, who was shot in the shoulder and the hand amputating one finger. Wilson was shot in the neck and chest. She died at the scene, Strausbaugh said.

"He shot and killed an unarmed mother and wounded her baby," Strausbaugh said.

But Chavalia's lead attorney, Bill Kluge, said there was much more to the case while telling the jury Chavalia followed procedure and acted out of concern for his own life.

Chavalia had no way of knowing who fired the other shots he heard as he saw the person upstairs not following his commands to get down on the floor.

"He fires thinking he's taking fire from the woman upstairs," Kluge said. "He did absolutely nothing wrong."

Kluge said Chavalia didn't want to fire his weapon and may have waited too long. He promised expert testimony, including from a Columbus Police Department SWAT officer who will say Chavalia did exactly what he was trained to do.

Kluge called Wilson's death a tragedy but said it's an equal tragedy Chavalia was charged with crimes. Chavalia is charged with negligent homicide and negligent assault, both misdemeanors.

"You know who caused the death of Tarika Wilson? Anthony Terry. But it isn't Anthony Terry sitting here. It is one of the finest police officers Lima has," Kluge said. Terry was the subject of the raid based on a drug investigation and was Wilson's boyfriend.

Sgt. Ron Holman, a member of the SWAT team who followed Chavalia upstairs, said he was immediately behind Chavalia when the initial shots were fired. He thought the shots came from the downstairs but was not sure.

Chavalia fired immediately after the first shots, he said.

The two men went upstairs. Holman was the first in the room where Wilson's body lie slumped over on the floor. He then discovered a baby in her arms and attempted first aid on the infant after realizing he couldn't help Wilson, he said.

On cross-examination, Kluge asked Holman about Chavalia firing his weapon.

"If I thought my life was in immediate danger I would have taken the same action as Sgt. Chavalia," he said.

A crime scene agent showed more than 100 pieces of evidence to jurors, mostly pictures of the house and crime scene, but Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation Agent Keith Williamson also showed Chavalia's rifle, which was equipped with a scope and flashlight.

He showed a wooden rail that went around part of the stairs on the second floor. There were three bullet holes through it.

Wilson's body was in numerous photos, which brought tears to several of her family members in the courtroom.

Chavalia fired three shots from about five feet from Wilson who stood in a bedroom that was behind the stairs for anyone walking up the stairs. Four other shots downstairs were fired at dogs, Williamson said.

Kluge questioned Williamson on trajectory lines he created using string to show the path of bullets. Kluge asked at what height the bullets would have passed through the doorway in which Wilson reportedly stood. Williamson said 20 to 28 inches above the floor, well below Wilson's total height of 5 feet tall.

During opening statements, Kluge compared state agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to law school professors who teach law but have little or no experience practicing it.

"BCII agents who investigate the case are, for the most part, like law professors," he said. "They are not tactical police officers."

Kluge continued attacking BCII agents saying they do not understand police procedure in real-life incidents. He tied that to Chavalia's seeing a figure in the doorway as a threat.

"The BCII version of how you deal with a threat is based on hunter safety rules," he said.

Other parts of the case were explained such as why police raided the house instead of arresting Terry outside. The house provided a chance to contain Terry, who police considered dangerous, compared to outside where more people potentially could be exposed to danger. Police knew children may be inside based on toys outside the house, officers said.

The SWAT team was used to secure the home and make it safe for investigators to look for drugs. A no-knock, nighttime search warrant, the most dangerous to execute, was used because of Terry's history, police Investigator Tim Goedde said.

Two SWAT officers who testified said they kept their weapons on semiautomatic mode instead of automatic as Chavalia had his weapon. In the semiautomatic mode the gun will only fire once when the trigger is pulled unlike automatic, which can fire all 30 bullets in a clip by holding the trigger.

The trial will resume today at 9 a.m. in Allen County Common Pleas Court before visiting Judge Richard Knepper.