Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer murder: Medical examiner testifies in Shomari Legghette trial
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The prosecution has rested at the trial of a man accused of murdering Chicago Police Commander Paul Bauer. Shomari Legghette is expected to take the stand in his own defense on Thursday.
Shortly after resting their case, prosecutors left court Wednesday afternoon with carts full of evidence they have presented to the jury so far. It includes numerous eyewitnesses and video cameras from several locations that identify Shomari Legghette from the time officers first tried to stop him on Lower Wacker Drive to the front of the State of Illinois building where Commander Paul Bauer tried to take him into custody before they tumbled down a stairway and Bauer was shot six times.
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The Cook County Medical Examiner described those gunshot wounds to the jury in the head, chest, leg and forearm.
Earlier, witness Maurice Henderson said he saw the two men on the sidewalk and then he said, "I heard gunshots at the bottom of the stairwell and I saw an officer lying on the ground."
Legghette and his attorney will now have the chance to tell his side of the story. Legghette is expected to take the stand in his own defense and reiterate some of what he told the ABC-7 I-Team in a letter in 2018: that he fired his gun in self-defense after Commander Bauer put him in a headlock and he was unaware Bauer was a police officer. Legghette has also suggested there was friendly fire, and that Bauer was shot by other officers.
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Prosecutors have tried to negate those arguments. Numerous witnesses said they heard no other shots and the medical examiner testified the shots were not fired at close range while Legghette was in a headlock.
Witnesses also have said that Bauer was in uniform and holding handcuffs.
