Prosecutors painted a picture of revenge during the first day of the trial of Tony Turner, a Lawrence man accused of attempting to kill another man after a fight last July.
"I really didn't think he was going to do anything, and then shots rang out," said Royce Garner, the man shot by Turner. "I was looking right down the barrel."
Turner is charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in the July 16 incident, in which Turner stands accused of lying in wait for Garner at a Lawrence apartment.
But Charles Branson, Turner's attorney, characterized the shooting as an act of defense, saying Turner only shot Garner after he saw him near Carmen Turner Garner's girlfriend and Turner's sister armed with two sharp kitchen knives.
"Tony thought his sister was in danger, and yes, he fired shots," Branson told the jury. "But there was no intent by anyone to commit a murder here. In a moment of confusion and anger, Mr. Garner got shot."
During testimony, Garner said that he and his brother and a friend were at Los Amigos, a club in North Lawrence, the night of the shooting. Turner also was there. According to Garner, Turner and he made short remarks to each other, and then Garner's brother hit Turner in the jaw, breaking it.
They left the scene, and later Garner went to his girlfriend's apartment, he said. When he walked inside, he saw Turner's friends who were with him earlier at the club. He backed up into the kitchen, arming himself with two knives, as the group of men approached him, he said.
A few seconds later, Garner said, Turner came from the living room into the kitchen, said something and then fired about five shots.
Garner was shot four times once in the hip, once in the thigh and twice in his calf. His lip was apparently grazed by a bullet. He walked with the aid of a cane during Wednesday's court proceedings.
The trial continues today.
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