Drizzt
Member
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
May 22, 2003 Thursday
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 2B
LENGTH: 487 words
HEADLINE: GRAND RAPIDS, MINN.: Glock's safety questioned in trial
BYLINE: BY JOHN MYERS; Duluth News Tribune
BODY:
One by one, the 11 women and three men of the jury in the Brett Lessard trial stepped forward Wednesday afternoon, grasped the .40-caliber Glock pistol and pulled the trigger. With each metallic click of the firing pin falling on an empty chamber, Lessard shuddered in his courtroom seat.
The gun was unloaded, and the jurors were firing into a safety device. The theatrics by prosecutors in the Itasca County courtroom were intended to prove a point: This gun required a hefty pull on the trigger to fire. An accidental bump wouldn't do it.
Lessard is charged with second degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of 20-year-old Angie Aho.
He faces between four and 12 years in prison if convicted.
The gun was held in the courtroom by Nat Pearlson, a forensic scientist, ballistics expert and death scene investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Pearlson testified that the Glock Model 27 that the jury handled -- and which Lessard held on the night of April 17, 2002, when it fired, killing Aho -- incorporates three separate safety devices to prevent accidental discharge. Only when considerable pressure is put on the center of the trigger will the safety devices drop.
But in his cross-examination of Pearlson, defense attorney Joe Friedberg was able to introduce information from a 1994 Washington Post newspaper article that highlighted extensive reports of Glock handguns unintentionally discharging. Friedberg contended that the article, along with some police department memos on the Glock, exposed a pattern of problems with Glock's firing at the wrong time -- including cases of a Washington D.C., policeman shooting his partner; a police officer's 2-year-old daughter shooting herself in the head; and a case of a federal officer in training shooting himself.
Unlike many firearms, the Glock has no exterior safety device that must be moved to fire the gun, Pearlson conceded. All three safety devices can be deactivated simply by pulling the trigger.
"You mean to tell me that a 2-year-old child could depress this trigger?'' Friedberg asked Pearlson.
"It appears that happened,'' Pearlson answered.
Lessard, 25, the son of former state Sen. Bob Lessard, contends that he was simply complying with Aho's request that night to pose for a dramatic photograph that Aho could use for her college photography class.
On an audiotape of Lessard's interview with officers hours after the shooting, a distraught Lessard said he was half asleep when Aho and a friend, Heidi Eckholm, came to his house. He said the gun somehow went off as he raised it so Aho could take a photograph looking directly down the barrel.
The prosecution rested Wednesday afternoon after spending two days trying to show jurors that Lessard was a well-trained gun expert who knew better than to point a loaded gun at anyone, but did it anyhow.
May 22, 2003 Thursday
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 2B
LENGTH: 487 words
HEADLINE: GRAND RAPIDS, MINN.: Glock's safety questioned in trial
BYLINE: BY JOHN MYERS; Duluth News Tribune
BODY:
One by one, the 11 women and three men of the jury in the Brett Lessard trial stepped forward Wednesday afternoon, grasped the .40-caliber Glock pistol and pulled the trigger. With each metallic click of the firing pin falling on an empty chamber, Lessard shuddered in his courtroom seat.
The gun was unloaded, and the jurors were firing into a safety device. The theatrics by prosecutors in the Itasca County courtroom were intended to prove a point: This gun required a hefty pull on the trigger to fire. An accidental bump wouldn't do it.
Lessard is charged with second degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of 20-year-old Angie Aho.
He faces between four and 12 years in prison if convicted.
The gun was held in the courtroom by Nat Pearlson, a forensic scientist, ballistics expert and death scene investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Pearlson testified that the Glock Model 27 that the jury handled -- and which Lessard held on the night of April 17, 2002, when it fired, killing Aho -- incorporates three separate safety devices to prevent accidental discharge. Only when considerable pressure is put on the center of the trigger will the safety devices drop.
But in his cross-examination of Pearlson, defense attorney Joe Friedberg was able to introduce information from a 1994 Washington Post newspaper article that highlighted extensive reports of Glock handguns unintentionally discharging. Friedberg contended that the article, along with some police department memos on the Glock, exposed a pattern of problems with Glock's firing at the wrong time -- including cases of a Washington D.C., policeman shooting his partner; a police officer's 2-year-old daughter shooting herself in the head; and a case of a federal officer in training shooting himself.
Unlike many firearms, the Glock has no exterior safety device that must be moved to fire the gun, Pearlson conceded. All three safety devices can be deactivated simply by pulling the trigger.
"You mean to tell me that a 2-year-old child could depress this trigger?'' Friedberg asked Pearlson.
"It appears that happened,'' Pearlson answered.
Lessard, 25, the son of former state Sen. Bob Lessard, contends that he was simply complying with Aho's request that night to pose for a dramatic photograph that Aho could use for her college photography class.
On an audiotape of Lessard's interview with officers hours after the shooting, a distraught Lessard said he was half asleep when Aho and a friend, Heidi Eckholm, came to his house. He said the gun somehow went off as he raised it so Aho could take a photograph looking directly down the barrel.
The prosecution rested Wednesday afternoon after spending two days trying to show jurors that Lessard was a well-trained gun expert who knew better than to point a loaded gun at anyone, but did it anyhow.