UPDATE: The jury has returned a verdict in the murder trial of Quintel Estelle. He has been found guilty on two counts of murder both with firearm specifications. To have the victim's family present, sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 5.
Your News Now at Five: The defense provided some testimony to the jury from eyewitnesses including Estelle himself. Estelle says he did grab his stepson, preventing him from leaving and the two fell. That's what led to a call to Donald Smith to come pick up his son.
Estelle confirms he was punched, and because he was scared, he went inside got the gun to scare Smith off with. Estelle admits to shooting Smith, but says all other testimonies were lies and tells a different story. His version contradicts the testimony given by the coroner and how Smith was shot.
"When I came out, he was at his car, like they say," Estelle said. "He had ducked like to reach down for a gun. I don't know what this man got. He came to my property, so you know what I'm saying. So, I don't know, he had just struck me, he just assaulted me, so I didn't know. I was afraid and fired the first shot. And then after the first shot he like came around, around the door. So I assumed he still had his gun. So, I fired the second shot. That's how I hit him in his side. And then he had fell and the cell phone dropped. I thought that was the gun. That's why I ran around and seen that there was no gun."
"She tells us, the one that goes in under his left flank, severs Donald's spinal cord," said Rebecca King-Newman, an Assistant Allen County Prosecutor. "Rendering him paralyzed. He is not a threat anymore. He's down. And then she tells us there's a defensive wound. He puts his hand up, in whatever order they're in., but he puts his hand up in a defensive manner."
The coroner testified one bullet paralyzed Smith. Another bullet went through his left hand, into his chest and straight down, consistent with someone being shot while the shooter is in a higher position.
