Porch Shooting
One of the jurors who rendered a guilty verdict in Theodore Wafer’s murder trial has come forward to say that “no one” believed he killed Renisha McBride in self-defense.
“I’m surprised the jurors didn’t think he was honest,” said Wafer’s attorney, Cheryl Carpenter.
Well, according to the juror, who spoke with the Detroit Free Press, the jury convicted Wafer of second-degree murder, manslaughter and using a firearm in a felony because of critical inconsistencies in his testimony.
On the stand, the 55-year-old claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot the McBride to death on his porch, but told police in an earlier interview that the shooting was an accident.”
“That hurt him big time,” said the juror, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity.
Wafer’s conflicting statements ultimately helped the jury reach its verdict on the second day of deliberations.
“It’s a tough case,” the juror said. The jury doesn’t believe Wafer is a “bad guy,” the juror said, but “what he did is wrong.”
Wafer had other options.That’s the conclusion the juror reached. The juror said Wafer’s home was well-built and secure, and he could have turned on the porch light or looked out a window.
Instead, Wafer, who testified he couldn’t find his cell phone and had no land line, opened his front door and fired his 12-gauge shotgun through a locked screen door, striking McBride in the face as she stood on the porch of his home on West Outer Drive at about 4:30 a.m. Nov. 2.
“I was not going to cower,” Wafer told jurors about his decision to open the door. “I didn’t want to be a victim in my own house.”
Prosecutors argued Wafer wanted a confrontation and went to the door to scare away neighborhood kids with his gun because he was angry.
Early in deliberations, the jury — made up of seven men and five women — voted anonymously. All reached the same conclusion: Wafer was guilty, the juror told the Detroit Free Press.
Wafer will be sentenced Sept. 3 and faces up to life in prison. He is expected to appeal the sentence. In the meantime, McBride’s family has filed a$10 million wrongful-death lawsuit against Wafer.