Witnesses testify about Cedarwood shooting death

On the first day of testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Lawrence resident Dustin D. Walker, the victim’s family recounted the violent morning, and the defense challenged law enforcement on why witnesses’ or Walker’s co-defendant’s hands were not swabbed for gunshot residue.

Walker, 30, is charged in the March 2014 shooting death of Patrick Roberts, 39, of Lawrence. On Tuesday, Roberts’ son, Michael Neis-Roberts, 17, told the jury that he woke up to “loud knocking” on the door to the Cedarwood Apartments duplex he shared with his father, his uncle, Wayne Roberts, and his grandmother, Marilyn Howard.

As the knocking became louder, Neis-Roberts said he stood up on his futon in the duplex’s living room, and two men entered the residence. One of the men then pointed a gun at him, Neis-Roberts said, then stood in the doorway of his father’s bedroom. Next, Neis-Roberts said, he heard the man ask his father, “Where is it?” and a gunshot went off.

When prosecutors asked Neis-Roberts to identify the man with the gun, he pointed at Walker.

The uncle, Wayne Roberts, recalled hearing a loud bang “like a heavy object hitting the floor,” and coming out of his bedroom into the living room, where he said he saw a man standing in his brother’s doorway and holding a gun in the air.

Neis-Roberts and Wayne Roberts said Wayne Roberts rushed to the man, identified as Walker, and struggled with him. Pulling Walker onto the ground, Wayne Roberts said he wrestled a gun away from him, and Howard called police. The two men then ran from the apartment, the witnesses said, joining a third, unidentified man outside.

Minutes later, the witnesses said, police arrived and took Patrick Roberts away by ambulance. He was soon pronounced dead at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and police questioned the three witnesses.

At the prodding of Walker’s attorney, Sarah Swain, Wayne Roberts admitted to asking police for immunity before speaking with investigators. Swain asked if that was because he was involved in the shooting, but Wayne Roberts said it was because he did not want to get in trouble with police for knowing about his brother’s marijuana business. Wayne Roberts said investigators did not check for gunshot residue on his hands.

Lawrence police arrested Walker and co-defendant Archie Robinson less than two hours after the shooting about a half-mile from the crime scene, according to law enforcement. Lawrence Police Detective Lance Flachsbarth noted that the amount of time taken to make arrests in the shooting was “a rare circumstance where both Walker and Robinson were taken into custody about an hour and 10 minutes after the shooting.”

Flachsbarth said he interviewed Walker’s co-defendant Archie Robinson after his arrest and noticed blood spatters on Robinson’s clothing. Flachsbarth showed jurors blood-stained khaki pants, gray socks and two white T-shirts and said he collected the clothing from Robinson at the time of his arrest.

On Swain’s inquiry, Flachsbarth said he did not swab Robinson’s hands for gunshot residue to check if his hands had been in contact with an iron weapon. Flachsbarth said the police department no longer uses residue tests and that the last one he’d done was about five to seven years ago.

“Once that powder lands on somebody it dissipates very quickly,” Flachsbarth said. “Really no place around here still does (gunshot residue tests.)”

No one has testified on whether Walker’s hands were swabbed.

The trial will resume Wednesday morning and is expected to last through Friday.