1st witness speaks in trial of former, suspended Aurora police officers in Elijah McClain death
"Stop, stop," were the first words spoken by Aurora police as 23-year-old Elijah McClain approached. Crucial to this case are the body-worn camera videos of the officers.
The first witness called by the prosecution in the trial of Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Rodema was Lt. DJ Tisdale, who heads electronic records for the department. A prosecutor asked, "looking at the video here, can you tell if something happens to the body-worn camera?" The lieutenant answered, "at that point in time, it appears that the camera may have come dislodged from the officer's uniform."
However, plenty was recorded, and portions of the videos were played in the courtroom.
Defense attorneys tried to impress upon jurors that the cameras did not capture everything in the incident. Among those present to see the struggle played out on the screen was Shaneen McClain, Elijah's mother.
The second witness was David Notowitz, labeled as an expert. His company enhanced the police body camera audio and video at the request of the attorney general. The defense challenged his impartiality.
"In this situation, where you work with the attorneys from the Colorado Attorney General's Office to create these exhibits, did you alter them?" The witness answered, "you said exhibits that I altered, and I disagree with that." Notowitz testified that he did not change one pixel of video.
The witnesses laid the groundwork for prosecutors to play the videos for the jury. They will work Friday, but have Monday off.