Defense Questions Miles' Friend In Civil Re-Trial Of 3 City Officers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The civil re-trial for three Pittsburgh Police officers accused of using excessive force against a former CAPA student resumed Tuesday.
A former classmate of Jordan Miles, who was called by the defense to testify about what he told investigators about a Mountain Dew bottle at issue in the trial, said he could not remember his Grand Jury testimony or what he told the FBI.
The court appointed an attorney for Ryan Allen, for Fifth Amendment reasons, after Miles' testimony.
Miles testified Allen told him he gave two different stories about whether he carried a soda bottle that police mistook for a gun.
Miles testified Allen told him he did that so he would not be a party to the case and that he was tired of the FBI questioning him.
On the stand this morning, defense attorney James Wymard questioned Allen.
Wymard: Did (Miles) tell you what he had on his person?
Allen: I don't recall that conversation.
Wymard: Did you tell the FBI he told you he had a Mountain Dew bottle the men mistook for a gun?
Allen: I don't remember what we discussed.
Wymard: You don't remember or you don't want to remember?
Allen: I don't remember.
Wymard: When you were questioned by the FBI, did you lie to them?
Allen: No.
Wymard: Did you tell Jordan Miles that you lied to the FBI?
Allen: No.
Monica Wooding, a neighbor of Jordan Miles, testified that a bullet clip was found on her property the morning after Miles' arrest. The defense fought to introduce that testimony in this second trial.
However, when asked by the plaintiff's attorney, Joel Sansone, to look at two clips and identify the one she saw, she chose a clip similar the the kind carried by defendant officer David Sisak.
Wooding also testified police never asked her to look at Miles as a light was shone on his face, and determine whether he had permission to be on her property.
The defendants say they did ask her to identify Miles.
An FBI agent originally called by the defense to show that Ryan Allen changed his story about the pop bottle took the stand but was not permitted to testify about Allen's statement because Judge David Cercone ruled that would be hearsay.
All agent Sonia Bush was permitted to testify about was a statement Jordan Miles gave her indicating the men who confronted him asked where he was going, and that he told them he was headed to his grandmother's house.
On the stand at the end of the day: defendant officer Richard Ewing, who is testifying as a defense witness. He had previously been called to the stand by the plaintiffs.
The jury could get the case by the end of the week.
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