Shotgun Blast 'Like Fire' Killed TX Deputy

Hemphill County, TX - 8/1/2002

Testimony: Britton shot, killed deputy

Amarillo Globe
By GREG CUNNINGHAM

Prosecutors continued to build their case against Christopher Chad Britton as the Canadian man's capital murder trial moved into the second day with dramatic testimony from witnesses to the shooting death of Hemphill County Deputy Jim Bruce Graham.

A string of witnesses testified that Britton visited several people on Red Deer Street in Canadian the morning of June 17, 2001, and was leaving the area when Graham pulled up beside him. Several people on the stand said they had alerted authorities that Britton - who had warrants out for his arrest - was in the area, which brought Graham to the fatal meeting on Red Deer Street to make an arrest.

Kathy Sirmans told the jury how the two men struggled briefly on the street in front of her house and how she saw Britton, still seated in his vehicle, fire the fatal shotgun blast, which she said looked "like fire" exploding out of the barrel.

"I saw Chad reach for a gun out of the seat and then, boom, he fired at point-blank range," Sirmans said.

"Something came out of Jim Graham's head, then he kind of twisted around and just collapsed."

The shotgun blast instantly killed Graham, leaving bystanders with little to do but alert authorities.

The courtroom was in stunned silence when prosecutors played a tape of the 911 call. Jurors and courtroom observers leaned forward, straining to hear the faint sounds as Sirmans called dispatcher Luz Arriaga.

Little was audible on the tape except Sirmans frantically screaming "Oh my God" over and over, then at the end, "It was Bruce Graham."

Britton showed little reaction during the tape or the preceding testimony, keeping his eyes straight ahead and sitting motionless for most of the day.

Britton's attorneys stuck to their plan of demonstrating on cross examination that Britton was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the shooting.

Attorneys Warren Clark and Mark Buzzard repeatedly questioned witnesses about Britton's demeanor prior to Graham's death.

"The thing that was different about Chad that day was his eyes," said Britton's friend, James "Tiger" Henson. "It sounds silly, but he had cold eyes. You can look in a guy's eyes and see."

The defense had its best success in demonstrating their client's mental deterioration with Britton's grandfather, Dondle Fuller, who gave nearly two hours of emotional testimony about how the man he raised as his son had changed so drastically that he feared for his safety.

Fuller told the jury that the day Graham was killed, he left Canadian for Perryton, because he wasn't sure what his grandson would do to him, repeatedly saying, "Chad was not in his right mind."

Clark cut to the central issue for the defense in questioning Fuller.

"Do you believe that during this time frame, before and leading up to this shooting, that Christopher Chad Britton knew the difference between right and wrong?" Clark said.

"I don't believe he did at the time," Fuller said after a prosecution objection to the question was overruled.

Prosecutors countered the claim that Britton was deteriorating mentally in the weeks leading up to the shooting. Prosecutors questioned witnesses about violent incidents in Britton's past, trying to demonstrate a history of violence beginning long before Graham's
death.

Testimony will continue in the trial today at 9 a.m. in Potter County's visiting courtroom, where the trial was moved due to publicity in Hemphill County.

Ken (NY) Chairman,
Department Of Redundancy Department

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