TRIAL CONTIINUES FOR FORMER COP ACCUSED IN WRONGFUL DEATH OF INNOCENT MAN

LEBANON -- Jurors heard more testimony Thursday at the trial of a
former Lebanon police lieutenant who led a drug raid on the wrong
residence that resulted in the shooting death of a man who was inside
with his wife.

Lorine Adams testified during the first day of the trial Wednesday
that she was at her kitchen table paying bills when two police
officers crashed through her front door, threw her into a bedroom and
cornered her husband, John, who had been in his den easy chair
watching the 10 o'clock news.

Five hours later, she learned her husband had been shot and killed by
police, apparently mistaken for a drug dealer who lived next door.

"When I looked up and saw they were police officers, I knew they were
in the wrong place and I tried to tell them that," Adams tearfully
testified at the trial of Steve Nokes.

Nokes, who headed the Lebanon Police Department's narcotics division,
is charged with reckless homicide, perjury and tampering with or
fabricating evidence in connection with Adams' death Oct. 4. Each
count is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

Adams was shot and killed, officers said, after he fired a sawed-off
shotgun at them. Police were supposed to raid the home next door.
Although the search warrant had the right address, it contained a
description of the Adams' doublewide trailer.

"The door flew open and two policemen came in and grabbed me," the
widow testified. "That's when I hollered to my husband, 'Get the gun.
It's a home invasion."'

She said there was then a lot of yelling and screaming, but she
couldn't make out what the officers were saying. She was taken to her
bedroom, thrown on the bed and handcuffed, she said.

Then she heard three shots.

"I knew something was wrong because it got quiet as a mouse. I kept
asking them to let me go where he was," she said.

The officers, however, held her in the bedroom for about 20 minutes,
she said, ignoring her pleas to see her husband even after she noticed
an ambulance outside.

When she was finally released, she said police told her that her
husband had been hurt. She didn't see her husband again until hospital
doctors in Nashville pronounced him dead.

"They brought him back and lost him, brought him back and lost him
again. They couldn't save him," she said, breaking into sobs and
bowing her head. Criminal Court Judge John Wootten handed her some
tissues and briefly stopped the testimony so Mrs. Adams could gain her
composure.

Officers Kyle Shedron and Greg Day, who fired the deadly shots, later
testified against Nokes. They do not face criminal charges.

Shedron said he and Day followed other officers into the home as part
of the raid. He said as he made his way down a dark hallway, he saw
Adams holding a shotgun.

"One of us yelled to drop it," Shedron said. "But there was a flash of
light, and I felt debris. I got stuff in my eyes, blinked and began to
return fire."

The officers were not hit, but Adams was struck at least three times.
He crawled into a bedroom and before collapsing asked the officers why
they shot him, Day testified.

Shedron said he and Officer Tommy Maggort had driven by the Adams's
house before the raid to determine if the suspects were home. He
testified that he spotted a green car in a driveway between the two
homes that matched a description of the suspect's car.

He said upon their return to the police station he overheard Maggort
tell Nokes that "we might have a problem.

"There was some discussion of finding someone to rewrite a warrant,"
he said. "But Lt. Nokes advised to go ahead and get ready to go."

Nokes was attentive during the testimony, but showed no
emotion.

During opening statements, Nokes' attorney, Jack Mitchell, told jurors
that Nokes led the raid, but he did not carry the sole responsibility
of what happened.

"No doubt mistakes were made and we agree that Lt. Nokes made some of
the mistakes," Mitchell said. But Nokes "was a leader of a team.
Everybody on the team had a responsibility that he entrusted to them
and they failed."

Prosecutor Bobby Hibbitt told jurors that even though Nokes didn't
enter the house or fire a shot, it was Nokes' fault that officers
entered the wrong house. He said Nokes lied on the affidavit to get a
search warrant for the raid.

The shooting also caused tensions in this small town 40 miles east of
Nashville, partly because Adams was black and the officers are white.

The police department fired Nokes. Maggort was put on unpaid
administrative leave, while Shedron and Day were temporarily placed on
paid administrative leave.

Former Lebanon Police Chief Billy Weeks and Mayor Don Fox have
publicly said that there was no defense for what happened. The
department and city settled a civil lawsuit with Mrs. Adams in
December. The terms were kept confidential.