Under cross-examination, DeShawn Campbell appeared to waver on several statements he made earlier in his trial for allegedly shooting a San Jose police officer more than seven years ago.
Campbell, 29, is charged with shooting Officer Jeffrey Fontana on Oct. 28, 2001, during a traffic stop in the city's Almaden Valley neighborhood. In his testimony Wednesday and today, he said a friend, Rodney McNary, fired the gun Campbell borrowed from his father for protection after a fight broke out at a party.
Prosecutors say Campbell shot the officer to avoid going to jail for two outstanding warrants for his arrest.
The bulk of prosecutor Lane Liroff's questions addressed specific points in previous testimony, both Campbell's and that of other witnesses. By returning to these details, he seemed to deflate some of Campbell's statements about the events of that night and the days he spent in hiding before being apprehended by police Nov. 7.
As he began his cross-examination, Liroff returned to an emotional letter Campbell wrote to his family while he was in hiding after the shooting.
The letter included statements like "I know that I did some off da -1/8sic-3/8 hook s---t and there is no going back to fix it."
In the letter, Campbell made multiple references to being in trouble. Campbell said previously that he did not immediately turn himself in out of fear of retaliation from police officers, McNary, or members of the gang McNary allegedly belonged to.
The letter, Liroff pointed out, was only for family, not to be seen by any of the groups Campbell said he feared would hurt him.
"In this letter you wanted them to know you were innocent," he said. "Why didn't you just say you didn't kill the cop?"
Campbell said he did not know.
"I don't know how to write that good," he said. "I don't know why I didn't say it."
In the wake of an audio-visual glitch, Liroff used a pen and notepad mounted on an easel to challenge details surrounding the shooting itself. According to Campbell's earlier testimony, he pulled into a cul-de-sac in his father's Hyundai and McNary came running up to meet him. When Fontana pulled his car up behind the two men, McNary allegedly asked for the gun, then shot the officer as he approached.
Liroff revisited this account in great detail, asking Campbell how McNary could have seen he had a gun in his car, if it was down on the floor between his legs and McNary was standing next to the driver's side window.
"I grabbed it and pulled it up and he asked for it," Campbell said.
"You said you didn't tell him, he saw it," Liroff said of the weapon. Campbell acknowledged he had not made this statement previously.
Next he asked Campbell to sketch Fontana's location in proximity to a diagram of the two men and the car. The location Campbell specified did not match photographs and evidence from the crime scene.
"It's not going to work, is it?" Liroff asked him.
Campbell said, "As I sit here now, that is the memory that I have."
In his remarks Wednesday and this morning, Campbell told the courtroom he was afraid of being labeled a "snitch" if he told police McNary shot Fontana. He said he also feared police officers would hurt him in retaliation for the death of one of their own.
Liroff noted that Campbell is a 12-time convicted felon whose prior offenses include battery charges against officers when questioned about shoplifting at an electronics store, and once for a 2000 traffic stop when an officer found five containers of marijuana on Campbell. In the electronics store incident, Liroff said Campbell resisted arrest and became forceful with officers.
"There was three officers, they were big guys," he said. "Why didn't you just submit?"
Campbell replied, "I thought I could run away."
Liroff spent the remainder of his three-hour session pointing out how Campbell's recollection of events differs from phone records and witness testimony. In many instances Campbell replied, "I don't remember" to these queries.
Earlier in the afternoon, defense attorney Edward Sousa spent the final moments of his examination questioning Campbell openly for the first time about his fear of McNary's alleged association with the 7 Trees Crips gang.
Judge Diane Northway had previously ruled that this information would prejudice the jury.
"The defense's motives and thought process are important to explaining his otherwise inexplicable behavior, she said. "I find the probative value outweighs any prejudice and I'll allow it."
Sousa said "fear of Rodney and his gang are central to the case" and one of Campbell's main reason for not going to the police after the shooting. Sousa's parents were among the many onlookers gathered in the courtroom to observe the trial.
Cross-examination will continue April 27.

Campbell Cracks Under Cross
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