The fate of an accused cop-killer is in the hands of an Athens, Ga., jury.
Jamie Hood is on trial for the March 2011 shooting death of Athens-Clarke County Police Officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian. He is also charged with shooting and wounding a second officer, Tony Howard.
In a legal wrinkle, Hood is representing himself during the trial and news reports indicate he has repeatedly clashed with witnesses. At one point, he even accused the trial judge of bias.
“I’m not here for Jamie Hood,” the Athens Banner-Herald quoted Hood as saying. “I’m here for righteousness.”
Hood has admitted to shooting Christian, but says he fired in self-defense and did not intend to kill the officer. Hood testified he shot after hearing the voice of his brother, who was killed years earlier by police, according to reports.
“I hated killing the man,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted Hood as saying of Christian. “I been telling (people) for years I didn’t mean to do it.”
Following the shootings of Howard and Christian, Hood took several people hostage. Authorities eventually went on television to assure Hood he wouldn’t be harmed if he surrendered, which he did four days after the shootings.
Hood and prosecutors gave their closing arguments on Saturday, and jurors will start deliberations this morning. If convicted, Hood could face the death penalty, a rarely sought after punishment in the liberal enclave of Athens.
Hood, according to WAGA-TV, told jurors he shouldn’t be allowed to walk.
“I’m not asking y’all to let me go. I’m not,” the television station quoted him as saying. “How could I? How could I? I can’t ask you to let me go — might set a bad example if y’all let me go. So more folks go kill a police — ‘Jamie got away with it; we can get away with it.’ Can’t do it.”
In his closing arguments, District Attorney Ken Mauldin indicated Hood acted with more malice and opened fire because he didn’t want to go to prison.
“He did it because he wanted to kill and his actions have shown that’s what he did,” WAGA-TV quoted Mauldin as saying during his closing arguments.
Among the 70 counts Hood is facing include charges stemming from the December 2010 murder of friend Kenneth Omari Wray. He has denied killing Wray.