Testimony ends in trial of man charged with murdering Iowa trooper

Jurors will hear closing arguments Monday within the case of a person on trial within the killing of an Iowa state trooper who led an arrest crew into his Grundy Middle residence.

Michael Lang is charged with first-degree homicide within the April 9, 2021, capturing demise of patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, 51, in addition to tried homicide and assault. Lang’s protection attorneys rested their case Thursday with out presenting proof.

Lang, 42, allegedly killed Lang amid a standoff that started after he assaulted a police officer, then barricaded himself inside his residence. Troopers following the capturing breached the home with an armored car, drawing an change of gunfire that left Lang wounded and underneath arrest.

Beforehand:Officers testify in trial that Michael Lang taunted them after Iowa state trooper capturing

Lang instructed Decide Joel Dalrymple he was exercising his proper to not testify. Earlier than testimony within the trial started, Dalrymple had barred from the protection from arguing the capturing was justified as an act of self-defense, and Lang legal professional Aaron Hawbaker stated the ruling led to Lang’s resolution to not testify.

After testimony ended Thursday, Hawbaker moved for a judgment of acquittal, saying there was not substantial proof that Lang acted with premeditation or malice aforethought in capturing Lang, or that he meant to kill any of the troopers within the armored automobile her fired at.

He additionally stated prosecutors had failed to point out that previous to the standoff, Lang meant to trigger “critical harm” when he assaulted and choked Grundy Middle police Officer Cody Niehaus following a vehicular pursuit.

Dalrymple, nevertheless, dominated there was adequate proof to current all three expenses to the jury, though he stated the cost for assaulting Niehaus was a “nearer name.” For the opposite two expenses, he stated, the jury can conclude from Lang’s use of a shotgun that he meant to kill or trigger the demise of these he fired at.

Beforehand:Officer testifies man charged with later killing Iowa state trooper goaded him to shoot

The jury heard three days of testimony that included descriptions from officers on the arrest crew that Smith, a 27-year veteran of the patrol, led into the home, describing the capturing and its aftermath. Two crew members stated that as they sheltered within the residence’s basement, Lang appeared to taunt them, saying he had taken it straightforward on Smith by capturing him within the chest, and that he would shoot them within the face “come sunup.”

The trooper who piloted the armored automobile stated a shot Lang fired would have injured him had it penetrated the car’s windshield.

Troopers additionally testified that Lang had a number of alternatives to give up earlier than Smith’s demise.

Professional, physician, describe gun proof, post-mortem findings

Thursday’s witnesses have been Michael Tate, a state firearm technician who examined the shotgun recovered from Lang’s residence, and Dr. Dennis Klein, who performed Smith’s post-mortem.

Tate instructed jurors that scratches and gear marks on 4 spent shotgun shells discovered on the scene match these made by Lang’s shotgun on test-fired rounds, and that the steel particles recovered from the windshield of an armored car and Smith’s physique have been in step with 12-guage shotgun slugs.

Klein, who shared pictures of Smith’s intensive accidents, testified that Smith was shot as soon as within the higher left chest, at such an angle that the slug handed underneath Smith’s protecting vest and crossed via his physique, damaging his aorta and proper lung earlier than fragments got here to relaxation in Smith’s proper shoulder muscle mass.

Extra:Small Iowa city gathers to honor the return of a fallen hero, State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith

That wound prompted Smith’s demise, Klein stated, however a second shotgun wound to the again of Smith’s left thigh additionally might need proved deadly. Along with huge muscle and tissue injury, it broken Smith’s femoral artery, he stated.

Dalrymple agreed to take Friday off on the request of prosecutors in an effort to permit Smith’s colleagues and members of his household to journey to Washington, D.C., for a Nationwide Police Week memorial service honoring him and different officers who died in 2021.

Smith was solely the second Iowa trooper to die of a gunshot wound within the line of obligation.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He will be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.