OFFICER SAYS HE FOUGHT FOR HIS LIFE

Mattingly Testifies In Murder Trial

Former police Detective McKenzie Mattingly told a Jefferson County jury
yesterday that he was in a struggle for his life with a drug dealer who was
reaching for a gun when Mattingly shot him.

A sometimes emotional Mattingly testified for nearly two hours before a
packed, silent courtroom, saying he had no choice but to fatally shoot
19-year-old Michael Newby on Jan. 3.

"I felt like if I didn't stop him, he was going to kill me," Mattingly said
on the seventh day of his murder trial. "The only way to stop him was to
shoot."

But under questioning from prosecutor Scott Davis, Mattingly acknowledged
that he never saw a gun on Newby. He also said he never told other officers
at the scene that he thought Newby was armed.

"I didn't," he said. "I should have."

Mattingly was the last of three witnesses called by the defense yesterday.
Prosecutors rested their case after taking the jury to the scene of the
shooting at 46th and Market streets and calling an internal affairs officer.

After hearing closing arguments this morning, a 12-person jury will decide
whether to convict Mattingly. The jury could convict him of murder and
wanton endangerment or the lesser charges of first-or second-degree
manslaughter or reckless homicide.

The trial so far Prosecutors told a Jefferson County jury that former
Louisville Metro Police Detective McKenzie Mattingly made several "fatal"
mistakes that led him to shoot fleeing teenager Michael Newby in the back.

Defense lawyers argued that Mattingly was in a "fight for his life" with an
"aggressive, armed drug dealer."

Greg Hill, the owner of the western Louisville liquor and food store where
the shooting took place, testified that he saw Newby running away from
Mattingly when he was shot.

Four officers in Mattingly's platoon testified that Newby continued to
struggle and reach toward his waist after Mattingly shot at him. After
Newby was handcuffed, officers discovered the teen had been shot and had a
gun in his waistband.

Two twin brothers riding with Mattingly's platoon the night of the shooting
said that Mattingly was shaken after shooting Newby and that he told
another officer he thought Newby had shot him.

Mattingly's partner, Detective Matthew Thomerson, testified that he thought
"very seriously" about shooting at Newby after the teenager maneuvered
between vehicles, away from him and Mattingly. But Thomerson testified that
"at no point did I see a weapon or see him (Newby) make an aggressive
movement other than when he was down on the ground and probably already
been shot."

A state medical examiner, Barbara Weakley-Jones, testified it was possible
that Newby was turning when he was shot - even though the bullets were all
in his back.

Yesterday's highlights

Mattingly testified that he was in a "struggle for my life" as Newby turned
toward the detective and was reaching for a gun, and that he had no choice
but to shoot Newby.

But Mattingly acknowledged that he never saw a gun on Newby and never told
other officers he suspected the teen was carrying a weapon.

The jury was taken to the scene of the shooting, outside a liquor store and
small grocery near 46th and Market streets.

The former Louisville Metro Police Department detective, who was fired
after the shooting, faces one year to life in prison if convicted.

In their opening statements to the jury Thursday, prosecutors said
Mattingly made fatal mistakes during an undercover drug deal that led him
to shoot Newby in the back as the 19-year-old was running away.

But Mattingly told the jury yesterday that he was caught up in a drug deal
that quickly escalated out of his control, with Newby and three men robbing
him and appearing to flee.

Hoping to point responding officers in the right direction, Mattingly
stepped out of his vehicle at 46th and Market streets and was shocked to
find Newby bending over and picking up a $20 bill, he testified.

Mattingly said that he had suspected Newby had a gun because the teen had
lifted his shirt during the drug deal as if to indicate he was armed.

As Newby approached, Mattingly said he told the teen repeatedly he was a
police officer.

"Very quickly, he got this look in his eyes; he didn't care," Mattingly
said. "He was going to hurt me."

Mattingly said he pulled his weapon and held it at his side, with his
finger away from the trigger to avoid an accidental shooting, again telling
Newby he was an officer.

Newby grabbed the gun and the two men struggled over the weapon, with Newby
pulling the gun upward, toward the detective, Mattingly testified.

"I thought, 'This is bad,'" he said.

As they wrestled, Mattingly said, he was able to force the weapon downward.
But Newby managed to fire the weapon, Mattingly said, and the detective
believed he had been shot in the foot.

"I thought, 'He just shot me with my own gun,'" Mattingly said, his voice
choking.

After the shot, the two men soon broke apart, and Newby began moving away
between vehicles towards the liquor store, Mattingly said. But, he added,
"He was not running away."

Mattingly said Newby was slowly and clumsily moving away, reaching down to
his waist and repeatedly looking back toward him, bumping into the vehicle
he was passing.

When he rounded the vehicle, Newby turned, nearly fully facing him, and
began to pull up his shirt, Mattingly said.

"I believe he is going to get his gun out and shoot and kill me," Mattingly
testified.

"He was facing me just as I am facing you all," Mattingly told the jury
while looking straight at them, with his chest and head turned to the group.

Mattingly said he raised his weapon and fired, and Newby slumped to a
sitting position, his back resting against the liquor store wall.

A state medical examiner testified Monday that it is possible that Newby
was turning when he was shot - even though the bullets were all in his back.

It was only after the shooting, Mattingly said, that he noticed his
partner, Detective Matthew Thomerson, was nearby and yelling at Newby to
show his hands.

Other officers moved in, and Mattingly said he went into what he later
thought was shock.

"I felt like I was going to throw up," he said, adding that he saw an
officer talking to him but couldn't hear any words. "It was like I was
physically there, but I wasn't."

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Scott Davis, Mattingly acknowledged
that he normally didn't leave his vehicle during an undercover drug buy and
that he never used a code word that night which would have indicated to the
officers backing him up that he was in trouble.

"I didn't feel it (the code word) was necessary at that point," after the
men had just robbed him, Mattingly told Davis, explaining that, at that
time, he didn't yet feel he was in serious danger.

Mattingly confirmed that Newby and the three men with him were not the
suspected drug dealers that his platoon was trying to find that night, but
the detective said he decided to deal with them after his contact didn't
show up.

The men were aggressive, trying to get in the passenger side door of
Mattingly's truck and reaching in to try and grab his cell phone at one
point. As the deal unfolded, Mattingly said one of the men snatched his
money and Newby tried to get the cocaine that he had just handed to the
officer.

When Davis later asked Mattingly if he felt Newby was going for a gun, the
former detective replied: "If I hadn't believed he was going to kill me, I
would have done anything else."