THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180516
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The partner of a police officer who was killed while working undercover as a pizza deliveryman testified Wednesday that the dead officer didn't have his gun in his hand when he was shot.
Officer Todd Cioffi's testimony contradicted what attorneys for Nephus S. Stanley said they intend to show. Stanley, 18, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of officer Steven R. Rutherford on Jan. 11.
B. Thomas Reed, one of Stanley's attorneys, said in opening arguments Tuesday that Rutherford reached for his gun as Stanley tried to rob him and that Stanley reacted instinctively and in self-defense when he shot the police officer.
``We will prove without a doubt that Rutherford took his gun out of his holster,'' Reed told the jury, which was brought in from Charlottesville because of intense local publicity about the case.
But Cioffi - who began crying while testifying, forcing Circuit Judge J. Warren Stephens to interrupt the proceedings - said he never saw Rutherford reach for his gun and that the gun was not in Rutherford's hand after he was shot. Commonwealth's Attorney Howard Gwynn said Stanley was standing over Rutherford and shot the officer four times as he lay on the ground and began rolling to try and get away.
Stanley is the last of four teenage defendants to stand trial in the case. Antione Speed, Earl Coleman-Bey and Antonio Johnson have been convicted of either murder or robbery. Only Stanley was charged with capital murder, which could result in a death sentence.
Rutherford's murder resulted in a shake-up of the city Police Department. An investigation determined that the robbery sting operation was poorly planned and should never have occurred.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING TRIAL POLICE OFFICER by CNB