Investigator: Suspect said he was target, denied firing

Michael Juan Smith told a Columbia police investigator that he was shot at during the early morning hours of Oct. 13, 2013, the officer testified Thursday.

That contradicts testimony Wednesday by another police officer that Smith said he didn’t mean to shoot that night, when USC student Martha Childress was struck by a bullet.

Also Thursday, doctors testified Childress, who is paralyzed, faces lifelong physical challenges.

Smith, 22, is accused of firing the bullet that paralyzed Childress. He is charged with attempted murder and five state weapons charges.

If convicted, Smith could face 51 years in state prison. He already has been sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison on a weapons charge related to the shooting.

In the early hours after the shooting, Columbia Police Department investigator Emmitt Gilliam testified Thursday that he questioned Smith about what had happened. Gilliam said Smith told him that he had been with his girlfriend and friends in Five Points when they were confronted by a man. The man lifted up his shirt, pulled out a gun and shot at Smith twice, Gilliam said he was told.

The man dropped the gun, and Smith said he picked it up, Gilliam recalled.

Gilliam added Smith told him: “I didn’t shoot.”

Smith said he was facing the Five Points fountain, with his back to a nearby Exxon station, when he was shot at, Gilliam said.

Gilliam said he questioned Smith on how Childress, who was standing by the fountain, could be hit by a bullet if that were the case.

Smith said the person who shot at him was about three feet away, Gilliam said. Gilliam said he asked how Smith avoided being hit at that close range and the defendant said he ducked.

On Wednesday, Columbia police officer Theodore MacLaughlin testified that he chased Smith after the shooting and handcuffed him. “Without prompting, Smith said, ‘I didn’t mean to shoot,’ ” MacLaughlin testified.

Gilliam said he read Smith his legal rights, then questioned him while he was in the back of a patrol car. Gilliam said he did not record Smith’s interview because he thought the vehicle’s camcorder was recording. After the fact, it was discovered the camcorder did not record the questioning, Gilliam said.

SLED Lt. Jennifer Nates testified gunshot residue was found on the front and back of Smith’s hands. Nates said she verified 15 residue particles on Smith’s hands.

Three residue particles also were on the back of the right hand of Ryan Ellison, a Smith acquaintance who also was in Five Points that night, Nates said. The presence of the residue means a person could have fired a weapon, been near a weapon when it was fired or touched something with gunshot residue on it, Nates said.

Trauma surgeon Dr. Robert Smith, who was the on-call surgeon at Palmetto Health Richland on the night of the shooting, also testified Thursday.

Smith testified the bullet that struck Childress remains lodged in her spine. As a result, the bullet cannot be matched with the pistol that police recovered when Smith was arrested. But the bullet appears to be a .40-caliber or 9mm round, Smith said.

Dr. Anna Elmers, who treated Childress at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center rehabilitation facility, told the jury that Childress faces lifelong challenges as a result of the shooting. For example, Childress will have to empty her bladder manually every four to six hours for the rest of her life, Elmers said. That means Childress, now a University of South Carolina sophomore, will have to set an alarm at night and wake up.

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Investigator: Suspect said he was target, denied firing."