Trial resumed Tuesday in Christian Circuit Court for Julius Catlett, Jr., the man accused of shooting Shaun Smith to death on the morning of September 4th, 2016 at a block party on Younglove Street.
Devonte Cousar was friends with Smith and had been hanging out with him and others at the Princess Theatre and then at the party. They were leaving the party in Smith’s car when an altercation began between Smith and Austin Teague, but Cousar testified it remained civilized and Teague did not appear to have a weapon.
He says Smith was standing near his car when gunshots rang out and Smith was hit from behind.
Cousar testified he saw Catlett at the party earlier in the evening, but his focus was on helping Smith when he saw him fall forward to the street.
He acknowledged to defense attorney Jared Smith that he didn’t bring up Catlett as the potential shooter to police until two days after the incident.
Cousar denies that social media posts identifying Catlett as the killer influenced his perspective on the events.
Coursar says he was not in a normal state of mind in the hours after the shooting and it took time to process the events.
There will be a break from the trial Wednesday, it will resume Thursday and should conclude on Friday.