What Tepper did in front of his Elkhart Street home was not self-defense, Barry said, because he had not been trying to stave off death or serious bodily injury, and didn't retreat before firing.
"Frank Tepper murdered 21-year-old Billy Panas, and don't let anyone tell you Billy deserved it," Barry implored the jury of eight women and four men.
Tepper, 45, who had been a 16-year veteran of the Police Department, faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars if convicted of murder. He's been jailed without bail since Febuary 2010.
Defense attorney Fortunato Perri told the jury that Tepper had a "justification" for firing his gun that night: He was being attacked.
During the trial, Perri said, witnesses will testify that Tepper's lip was busted, that eight to 10 young men were converging on him, that Panas "reached for his waist" just before Tepper fired one fatal bullet into his chest.
The trouble began about 11 p.m. at Tepper's home, where more than 20 people had gathered for a baby shower for one of his daughters. A fight spilled onto the street, drawing the attention of Panas and a group of his friends, who were drinking beer in front of a catering hall at Thompson Street and Indiana Avenue.
Christopher Picklo, 20, and Valerie Gomez, 19, both among Panas' friends, testified that when they reached the scene of the fight, they saw another of their friends fighting with an older man.
While trying to break up the fight, both witnesses said, Panas became embroiled in a fight with the older man. Neither knew the man whom Panas was fighting, but prosecutor Barry said during his opening that it was Tepper's nephew.
During the fight, Picklo said, Tepper emerged from his house looking and acting drunk, holding a gun and never identifying himself as a police officer.
Picklo said Tepper pointed the gun at him, at Picklo's brother Anthony and finally at Panas before firing.
Gomez said she had not seen anyone attack Tepper. When Tepper emerged with the gun, she said: "He pointed it at everyone. He was waving it around. He told everyone to back the 'f' up," said Gomez, who wept at times.
Just before he shot Panas, she said, the victim put his hands in the air and said, " 'What, are you going to effing shoot me?' "
