PARAGOULD — Two months before Jerry Lard fatally shot a Trumann police officer during a traffic stop in April 2011, Lard warned others that he would do so if ever pulled over, a friend testified in Lard’s capital murder trial Monday.
When the friend, Brian Keith Elumbaugh of Trumann, was pulled over April 12, 2011, Lard - who was a passenger in the car - said, “Looks like tonight’s going to be the night,” Elumbaugh testified.
Lard then pointed his .25-caliber handgun out the back passenger side door and shot Trumann officer Jonathan Schmidt, 30, under the chin, according to earlier video testimony.
Prosecutors said Lard, 38, shot Schmidt twice more with his gun and then once with Schmidt’s .40-caliber service weapon as the officer lay on the ground, pleading for his life. Schmidt died that night in a Jonesboro hospital.
Lard also shot at Sgt. Corey Overstreet, who was assisting Schmidt during the traffic stop, police have said. Overstreet was not injured.
Both officers returned fire. Overstreet shot and injured Lard, police said.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, saying Lard acted with premeditation when he fatally shot Schmidt.
Lard’s defense attorneys said Lard suffers from mental deficiency and was unable to premeditate the shooting.
The case was moved to the Greene County Circuit Court from Harrisburg in Poinsett County upon defense attorneys’ request.
Elumbaugh testified Monday that he and Lard were friends and regularly smoked methamphetamine together. He said Lard often talked about his dislike for police officers.
“He said if he ever got pulled over, [I] needed to get out of the way because there’d be a war,” Elumbaugh said Lard told him in February 2011.
Lard carried a .25-caliber handgun that he called his “Pshooter,” Elumbaugh added. The “P” stood for police, he said.
Elumbaugh said he; his fiancee, April Swanner; and NikkiPierce were taking Lard home the night of April 12, 2011, when Schmidt stopped Elumbaugh. The officer ran a check on Elumbaugh’s vehicle license and found no insurance.
Elumbaugh pulled off of Pine Street in Trumann and stopped in the Cottonwood Manor Apartment lot.
Elumbaugh said he suspected Schmidt would arrest him because he had failed to appear in court for a hearing on a misdemeanor charge involving the city’s dog-leash law.
“I told April she better come up with some money because I was fixing to go to jail,” Elumbaugh said.
As Schmidt asked Elumbaugh to step out of his vehicle, he heard Lard say, “Looks like tonight’s going to be the night,” Elumbaugh testified.
Elumbaugh said he saw Schmidt walk around to the passenger side of his car to talk to Lard after the officer had asked a dispatcher to check Lard for any warrants.
The dispatcher replied over Schmidt’s radio, saying authorities wanted Lard on a rape warrant. Elumbaugh said he and the others in the car could hear the dispatcher over Schmidt’s radio.
“I saw a flash of light,” Elumbaugh said. “I didn’t know what was going on.
“I saw Jerry shoot at the policemen and follow them,” Elumbaugh said. “I tried to take cover.”
Swanner, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of Elumbaugh’s car, testified she heard Lard say, “Here we go,” just before shooting Schmidt.
“I said, ‘Don’t be stupid. I’ve got a 6-year-old son at home,’” she said.
Swanner, who cried during her testimony, said she ran to a nearby apartment and called police.
Elumbaugh’s and Swanner’s testimonies were bookended by Arkansas State Police investigators and state Crime Laboratory experts talking about evidence.
Sammy Williams, a Crime Lab forensic toxicologist, testified that urine and blood samples taken from Lard after the shooting tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine.
As court ended Monday, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kimberly Dale requested that a series of photographs taken of Schmidt in the Jonesboro hospital be admitted as evidence.
The pictures, taken by Deputy Craighead Coroner Milton Harbison, showed Schmidt’s injuries, including a closeup of what medical examiners say was the fatal shot in his head. Many photographs showed large quantities of blood on Schmidt’s wounds, his clothing, the hospital gurney and the floor.
Dale said that the photographs, while graphic, showed Lard’s intent to kill Schmidt.
Circuit Judge Brent Davis ruled when jurors weren’t present that the photographs may be “so graphic that it could cause undue nature in jurors.”
He would not allow the photographs as evidence, unless medical examiners’ photographs of the injuries - expected to be presented today in court - did not depict the injuries Schmidt suffered, he said.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/24/2012