Dustin D. Walker in Douglas County District Court during his first trial in the death of Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts.

Although Dustin Walker has not testified during the course of his third trial in the 2014 shooting death of 39-year-old Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts, on Thursday jurors heard him speak.

While questioning Lawrence Police Detective Jamie Lawson, prosecuting attorneys showed jurors a video of his interview with Walker after Walker’s arrest on March 8, 2014, the day Roberts was killed.

Prosecutors are accusing Walker of breaking into Roberts’ duplex earlier that morning with another man, Archie Robinson, to steal money and marijuana. During the incident, police say, Walker shot Roberts once in the abdomen, killing him.

Walker, 31, faces a single charge of felony murder, which is a killing committed during the commission of a felony.

Dustin D. Walker in Douglas County District Court during his first trial in the death of Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts.

Patrick Roberts

During her opening statement on Tuesday, Prosecutor Amy McGowan told jurors the evidence shows Walker forcibly entered Roberts’ home with an intention to steal from him. The state’s evidence, she said, will prove Walker committed an aggravated burglary, which is the underlying felony to the felony murder.

Defense Attorney Blake Glover told the jury during his opening statement that the evidence paints a different picture.

Rather than breaking into Roberts’ home, Glover said, Walker and Robinson went there to buy marijuana. The incident was a ‘drug deal gone bad’ rather than an aggravated burglary, he said.

During a February 2015 trial — where Walker faced charges of aggravated burglary and felony murder — the jury found Walker guilty of aggravated burglary, but not of felony murder.

Another jury failed to reach a decision on a felony murder charge when walker was tried a second time in December 2015.

Robinson was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated burglary in the case and last April was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 20 years.

Lawson, the detective, told jurors on Thursday that Walker was cooperative during his interview but not very specific about the events on the morning of Roberts’ death.

Walker admitted to knowing Roberts, Lawson said. He also said he slept on Roberts’ couch the night of the incident, falling asleep around 1:30 a.m.

Earlier in the week Roberts’ mother, Marilyn Howard, who lived with Roberts, told jurors there was no couch in their duplex.

Lawson said Walker told him he was awakened when someone “burst” through the duplex’s front door.

“I was asleep, there was like a struggle,” he said in the video. “The first thing I thought was just to run.”

“When you wake up to a struggle you don’t see nothing,” he said later.

Walker and Robinson were arrested in the area shortly after the incident was reported around 3:10 a.m. Both had blood on their clothes, police have testified, and neither appeared to be in possession of stolen drugs or money.

Testimony from several different forensic scientists with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation indicated that a hat with Walker’s DNA was recovered at the scene and the blood on his and Robinson’s clothes did, in fact, come from Patrick Roberts.

Jurors heard further testimony from Ashley Noble, who has children with Robinson and knows Walker.

Noble told jurors that she, Robinson, his brother Rodney Robinson and Walker had all been partying at the now-closed nightclub Club Magic, 804 W. 24th St., the night of March 7, 2014.

During Noble’s testimony, attorneys showed the jury a photo of Walker from that evening, indicating he had been wearing a hat similar to the one found at the scene with his DNA inside.

Lawrence Police Detective M.T. Brown told jurors that security footage from a Presto gas station, 2330 Iowa St., showed Robinson, his girlfriend at the time Amanda Wood, and his brother Rodney Robinson arrived at the store minutes before Roberts’ death. The store is 927 feet “as the crow flies” from Roberts’ duplex, Brown said.

A third and unidentifiable man wearing a dark ball cap also appeared in the footage, Brown said.

Inside the gas station Rodney Robinson bought a pair of Swisher Sweets cigars, which police have testified are often used to smoke marijuana.

A jacket similar to the one Rodney Robinson was wearing in security footage and containing cigars was recovered by police after Roberts’ death.

KBI firearms specialist Zachary Carr also told jurors that the bullet and cartridge casings found at the scene were fired from the Ruger 9mm pistol also recovered.

Earlier testimony showed that pistol was purchased a month before the incident by Walker’s then-girlfriend. She reported the weapon missing after she was contacted by police in connection with Roberts’ death.

When asked by defense attorney Glover to clarify information, Carr said his investigations could not determine who fired the weapon or the circumstances surrounding the firing.

Walker’s trial is scheduled to continue at 9:45 a.m. Friday. He remains an inmate at the Douglas County Jail in lieu of $1 million cash or surety bond.