Jury Hears Opening Statements, Testimony As Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Killing TPD Investigator

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Tuscaloosa County jury heard from multiple witnesses Monday in the opening day of trial proceedings in the capital murder case of Luther Bernard Watkins, Jr., the man accused of shooting and killing Tuscaloosa Police Department Investigator Dornell Cousette in September 2019.

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As Patch previously reported, jury selection lasted all of last week, with the media and public barred from observing the selection process. Media was also prohibited Monday from bringing into the courtroom any electronic recording devices like smart phones, laptops and smart watches.

The 15-person jury, which includes three alternates, consists of six White men, six White women, one Black man and two Black women.

District Attorney Hays Webb delivered the opening statement for the prosecution and set the scene by quoting what were allegedly the last words of the 13-year TPD veteran: "Don't you run ..."

"Within seconds of saying those words, [Cousette] was shot in the face," he said.

Defense attorneys for Watkins — who is facing the death penalty if convicted — argued that their client acted in self-defense when Cousette declined to follow appropriate protocols and escalated the situation at the house on 33rd Street.

Indeed, Watkins insists that Cousette was the aggressor. To that end, his attorneys point out that he attempted to serve the arrest warrant on Watkins without proper backup, pointed his 9mm handgun at Watkins upon immediately getting out of his vehicle and pursued him on foot into a house in a way that would have made him possibly susceptible to an ambush.

Cousette, while in his TPD uniform, was also not wearing his body camera at the time of the shooting, which makes it difficult for lawyers on both sides to provide a definitive account of what happened in the moments immediately prior to and during the shooting.

Birmingham defense attorney Scott Brower is one of Watkins' attorneys and said in his opening statement that the burden of proof is on the state to show that his client did not act in self-defense in the shooting that resulted in Cousette's death.

While Brower mentioned how both sides agree that Watkins fired the fatal shot that hit Cousette in the mouth and lodged in his brain, he urged the jury to consider "why did he do it?"

Brower and his team also provided a storyline that expectedly conflicts with that of the prosecution, one that begins with Cousette connecting with Tuscaloosa bail bondsman Edward Giles.

Giles was one of the witnesses called to the stand Monday and was the first person to call 911 to report that Cousette had been shot.

Brower contends that Cousette tried two different times to secure backup after Giles told him where they could find Watkins and quoted Cousette as telling the bail bondsman during a meeting in the Westlawn Middle School parking lot, "Fuck it, let's go" to pick up Watkins on the outstanding warrant.

When Giles and Cousette arrived at the residence where the shooting eventually took place, Brower says several people were playing cards at a table in the front yard.

Giles testified that Cousette exited his unmarked patrol vehicle with his handgun drawn, called Watkins out by name and told him not to run.

Brower argues that Cousette then pursued Watkins into the house and shot him in the back before Watkins grabbed a gun and was able to get off one round — the shot that killed Cousette — as the TPD investigator fired at roughly the same time, striking Watkins in the shoulder.

"No one will testify that they saw Luther with a gun," Brower told the jury.

After the exchange of gunfire, Giles testified he entered the house wielding a Taser after Watkins had stepped over a dying Cousette and ran from the house.

Witnesses Take The Stand

TPD employees Sonya Barger and Tiffany Morrison were the first two witnesses called to take the stand, with both women discussing their interactions with Cousette and the normal operations relating to scheduling and dispatch calls for backup.

Morrison, a TPD dispatcher, said she worked with Cousette for 13 years and was on the receiving end of one of his calls for backup on the day of his death, Sept. 16, 2019.

"It was an extremely busy night," she said. "Even all of our supervisors were on calls."

Tuscaloosa Police Department Lt. Bobby Windham grew up in Pickens County with Cousette and currently works in the narcotics task force.

He also took the stand to testify that he was asked by Cousette for backup before attempting to serve the arrest warrant on Watkins and advised his friend against doing so without additional officer support.

However, he was quick to point out that this was a request by a friend he had backed up numerous times and not a request for a supervisor by Cousette. Windham also mentioned how he was recovering from a knee injury and was unable to provide the backup that Cousette sought.

"I advised him that if [multiple] people were out there, there may be an altercation," he said on the stand. "I did not issue any order or tell him he wasn't allowed to do so."

Windham even went so far as to testify that he wasn't surprised that Cousette attempted to take in Watkins without backup, saying it was in his nature.

"He was going to go out and do his job," Windham said.

Bail bondsman Edward Giles was the next to take the stand and recounted his perspective of Cousette's final moments and the circumstances he witnessed immediately prior to his death.

Giles testified that the Friday before the shooting that occurred on the following Monday, he ran into Cousette at the Tuscaloosa County Jail, where the TPD investigator inquired about a bail jumper in an unrelated case.

Giles said when he showed Cousette photos of individuals he was trying to bring in to custody, Cousette showed particular interest in Watkins, telling the bail bondsman to let him know if he could pinpoint his whereabouts.

A tip over that fateful weekend helped Giles zero in on where Watkins was, he testified, and he visited the TPD headquarters to notify officers. This eventually saw him reconnected with Cousette.

Giles said that on Monday, Sept. 16, 2019, he met Cousette, driving a Ford Taurus, in the parking lot at Westlawn Middle School. He said he gave Cousette the approximate location where he believed Watkins to be and pulled out behind the Taurus as Cousette drove point through the area.

Giles then expressed his surprise when he saw Cousette stop in front of the house on 33rd Street.

"He went down and just stopped, I was surprised," Giles said. "He stopped, got out and there was a lot of people outside on the porch gambling and smoking."

He said Cousette and Watkins were approximately 12-15 feet apart when they first made contact.

"It happened so fast," Giles said. "He got out and was in his full TPD uniform. He then said 'Luther, don't run.'"

Giles went on to recall how Watkins immediately broke for the house and was pursued by Cousette.

Moments later, Giles heard a gunshot and then two more shots that rang out at approximately the same time. He entered the house to find Cousette leaning against a doorframe with what appeared to be a fatal wound to the mouth.

Jurors and those in the courtroom then heard the 911 call made by Giles as he reported an officer had been shot.

"Don't touch anything," he can be heard shouting multiple times, before declining to respond when the dispatcher asked him his name.

TPD Sgt. David Garrison was the first officer to respond to the scene and the court was shown his body camera footage as officers tried to stabilize Cousette and secure the house as a crime scene.

In the video, Garrison tells other first responders that Cousette has a pulse and he can be heard repeatedly saying "stay with me bud, stay with me bud."

It was during this response that officers show frustration trying to determine the full extent of Cousette's injuries, noting that he had been hit in the mouth, was bleeding profusely but there was no entry or exit wound that was readily visible.

Meanwhile, as officers worked to make sense of the scene unfolding before them, Watkins was fleeing on foot and seeking help for his two gunshot wounds.

Kenclomisha Hughes took the stand Monday and testified that Watkins showed up at her house and it was determined that taking him to the hospital was the best course of action. She said she had no idea that he had just shot a police officer.

However, while doctors worked to save Cousette at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, Hughes drove Watkins to DCH's emergency room in Northport.

Hughes said she knew Watkins from the neighborhood and testified she was familiar with the house where the fatal shooting occurred.

Hughes then said she was sitting in her Chevrolet Tahoe in front of her mother's house on 18th Street when Watkins showed up needing medical help. She said she offered Watkins a white bedsheet and then drove him across the river to Northport.

Security video from the parking lot of the DCH in Northport showed the Tahoe letting out Watkins in the parking lot, before he can be seen walking to the emergency room. Prosecutors insist Watkins discarded shell casings from his fanny pack as he walked through the parking lot.

"I was scared because he said he got shot," Hughes said, before admitting to prosecutors that she was afraid of getting wrapped up in a criminal investigation. "I was just scared. I really wasn't thinking."

It was a short time later that crime scene investigators discovered the handgun Watkins used in the shooting in a detached truck toolbox behind Hughes' house.

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Deputy David Hanks was the last witness to take the stand Monday and discussed processing the crime scene and discovering key pieces of evidence for the prosecution.

Perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence mentioned during Hanks' testimony was the handgun used by Cousette. Hanks then explained how a "stovepipe" malfunction occurred with Cousette's handgun — an anomaly that happens when a spent shell casing fails to eject completely from the chamber, becoming caught by the closing slide and sticking vertically out of the ejection slot.

Prosecutors argue that such a malfunction of his handgun supports the notion that Cousette's grip loosened when he was shot roughly a second or two before firing the shot that hit Watkins in the shoulder.

Hanks will take the stand again Tuesday morning for cross-examination by the defense when the trial resumes in Circuit Court Judge Brad Almond's courtroom.

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