The jury, scheduled to begin deliberating this morning, will have to decide who is more credible: James, 20, charged with aggravated assault and related counts; or DeCoatsworth, a hero to some who once sat next to first lady Michelle Obama during a presidential speech; but a trigger-happy "liar" to others.
Although it's James who is being prosecuted, his defense attorney has attempted to put DeCoatsworth's credibility on trial.
The shooting occurred about 8:40 p.m. near Amber and Haggart streets. Police had been chasing Jose Colon, 35, owner of the motorcycle, who got off the vehicle and allowed James to get on. Moments later, DeCoatsworth shot James in the left thigh - shattering his femur - and fired a second bullet into the bike's gas tank.
Yesterday, a physician, Jonathan L. Arden, testifying as an expert witness for the defense and told the jury that the bullet that pierced James' thigh entered from the back and exited from the front.
"The shot had to come, essentially, from behind Mr. James, which is consistent with the motorcycle running away from the shooter," Arden said.
Defense attorney James A. Funt told the jury in his closing argument yesterday afternoon that DeCoatsworth told his supervisor "a flat-out lie" about how the shooting happened.
"We know from John James' body, we know from the motorcycle and you all know from the shell casings that Richard DeCoatsworth fired at John James as he was traveling away from him," Funt said. "And, yes, that means that Richard DeCoatsworth is a liar."
Assistant District Attorney Ed Jaramillo told the jury that James fled the scene after being shot and later lied to police at the hospital because he was guilty of trying to run down the officer.
"Take a look a this bike, stand in front of it," he said of the motorcycle, which had been brought to the courtroom.
"Picture this thing coming at you, on the sidewalk, at 65 miles an hour," he said, "and you're wondering, 'Am I going to get the hell out of its way before it' - as the officer said - 'takes my legs out and breaks both of them?' "
At the time of the incident, DeCoatsworth was being investigated for shooting Anthony Temple, 28, of Logan, in April 2009.
Temple lunged for DeCoatsworth's gun, which police said went off during the struggle, striking him in the back. A second officer fatally shot Temple during a second struggle.
