Trial Begins For Former Balch Springs Officer Accused In Teen Murder

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The jury was called in and the murder trial of former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver began this morning.

Oliver shot and killed Jordan Edwards in 2017. The teenager was in a car that was driving away from a party when prosecutors say the former police officer opened fire on the vehicle.

At the start of the trial prosecutor Mike Snipes described Oliver as an angry, out of control, trigger happy cop who murdered an innocent kid. The first assistant district attorney told jurors that in just one second Oliver fired five shots at the car full of teenagers and one hit 15-year-old Edwards in the back of the head.

Prosecutors finished opening statements around 10:00 a.m. The defense chose to not give an opening statements and testimony in the trial began.

The woman who raised Jordan, his stepmother Charmaine Edwards, was the first witness to take the stand. She was questioned by Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson.

After DA Johnson, the defense was given time to question Charmaine Edwards but attorney Jim Lane only offered sympathy for the loss of her son and did no cross examination.

Earlier this week attorney's for Oliver went before Judge Brandon Birmingham with a number of motions; including requesting a continence in the case and asking that the Dallas County District Attorney's Office be recused from prosecuting the case. Both requests were denied.

Oliver was fired by the Balch Springs Police Department just days after the deadly shooting. He had said that he was in fear for his life because the car Edwards was in was moving toward him "in an aggressive manner." Video footage that showed the vehicle was actually driving away from Oliver when he fired his rifle disproved those claims.

After the hearing earlier this week lawyers for the former police officer said their client fired at the vehicle in an effort to protect his partner and that Oliver, 38, believed the car was being used as a weapon. They also said their client didn't know that there were kids in the car.

Oliver's then partner, Officer Tyler Gross, was the second person to take the stand in the trial Thursday. When asked about the moments before the shooting he testified that there was no time that evening when he feared for his life and therefor did not fire any shots at the car Edwards was in.

Gross said that after the shooting Oliver said to him "he was trying to hit you" -- making a reference to the driver of the car carrying Edwards.

After Officer Gross left the stand jurors were shown Oliver's body cam footage from the night of the shooting.

According to court filings from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, Oliver "flipped off" the vehicle that held Edwards' body following the shooting.

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• Murder