By Gillian Flaccus
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN BERNARDINO – An attorney representing a former sheriff's deputy accused of shooting an Iraq war veteran after a high-speed chase said the victim ignored repeated orders to stay on the ground and keep his hands down.

During his opening statement, defense attorney Michael Schwartz told jurors Tuesday that Senior Airman Elio Carrion didn't listen to 15 different orders from former sheriff's deputy Ivory Webb.

Carrion instead briefly sat up against the car's open door and reached toward Webb's weapon with his hands, the lawyer said.

Schwartz said that just before the shooting, Carrion's hand moved toward his jacket – something deputies are trained to believe means a suspect is going for a weapon.

“He felt this was it. He wasn't going to make it home tonight, and he had less than two or three seconds to make a decision, by himself,” Schwartz said. “The nightmare that has been this case for my client began this night, on January 29th, 2006.”

Webb, 46, has pleaded not guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm, both felonies. He is free on bail.

Prosecutors have a different take on what happened during the shooting that was captured on amateur video and broadcast nationwide.

Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope said during his opening statements that Webb told Chino police that Carrion “'started to come at me.'”

Later, however, Webb told authorities he believed Carrion was reaching for a gun in his jacket pocket. Carrion was later found to be unarmed.

“It will be up to you to decide whether Mr. Webb should have shot him,” Cope said. “He was not under threat, he knew he was not under threat, and he shouldn't have fired.”

Carrion, a passenger in the car, was shot three times in the incident. He was hospitalized for several days.

On the grainy, 40-second video clip, Carrion can be heard swearing at Webb before the deputy tells him, “Get up! Get up!” Webb then shoots Carrion in the chest, left leg and left shoulder as Carrion appeared to be trying to obey the order.

“He begins to get up but he doesn't quite make it all the way,” said Cope, who played the tape for jurors. “You'll see Mr. Webb moving down, stepping over him, and then you'll see the shots, you'll hear the shots, the flash from the muzzle.”

Cope noted that after the shooting, Carrion can be heard telling Webb, “'We didn't mean you no harm!'”

Webb responded, “'I'm not (expletive) playing,'” and told Carrion several times to shut up in a profanity-laced tirade.

Carrion was home on a 30-day leave from Iraq and was due to return to his base in three days when the shooting occurred. He had been partying with friends and family members at his parents' house in the hours before the shooting, Cope said.

Schwartz said Carrion's blood-alcohol level was later found to be .16, twice the legal limit.

He urged jurors not to judge his client after seeing the amateur video just once.

Schwartz played freeze frames of the video as he walked the jury through Webb's state of mind during the confrontation. He said there were no street lights within 50 feet of the site, stressing how dark it was.

During a preliminary hearing, Schwartz played an FBI-enhanced copy of the videotape frame by frame to show Carrion's hand going toward his jacket, a movement that is almost imperceptible when the footage is seen at real speed.

Carrion is currently working desk duty at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., and still has problems walking long distances and can't run or fire a weapon, his attorney said.

Carrion also has filed a civil claim against San Bernardino County. [MORE]