Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kate Schaefer offered closing arguments on Thursday morning, beginning with a cell-phone video showing the fatal shooting in the 300 block of South 15th Street on Aug. 1, 2015.
Schaefer pointed out that the video showed the defendant chasing a running man, shooting seven times. But Schaefer says you can also here the gun click as he tried to fire another shot.
“He would have kept shooting,” Schaefer told the panel. “That is the opposite of self-defense. That is murder.”
Schaefer said Coats was “the initial aggressor, the continuing aggressor, the only aggressor, and he fired seven shots.”
Defense attorney Kenton Hall argued that Coats believed Ginn had a gun wrapped inside a t-shirt stuffed into his pants, and was reaching for the weapon when Coats fired the first shot. Hall said Coats was afraid of Ginn, who had a reputation for violence, aggression and gun play.
“You drop yours and I’ll drop mine,” Coats can be heard shouting in the video. Hall repeated that refrain, noting that Coats said it six or seven times. “That shows Charlie believed Jason was armed, and Jason never denied it. He acted like he was armed,” Hall said.
A family member told the jury that Ginn was bluffing, and that he didn’t have a gun. Schaefer pointed out that numerous witnesses said Ginn had no gun.
“Every witness said that Jason was walking away,” she said. “He never had a gun, never pulled a gun. He didn’t have a gun.”
“Shots to the back are not self defense.”
A photograph from the video showed Coats on top of a vehicle firing what Schaefer said was the fatal shot, as the victim was lying face down on the pavement.
Coats then left town, but surrendered to authorities in Columbia, Mo., five days later. Hall argued that Coats decided he didn’t want to run because he knew he was justified. “He ran because he was afraid, he had priors, but he’s not on trial for that,” Coats said.
Hall argued that the trajectory of the fatal shot showed that Ginn was standing when he was shot in the head, and then fell to the pavement after he was killed.
Schaefer said Coats knew he wanted Ginn to die, and after deliberation, upon reflection, he chased him down and fired seven shots.
“That’s not self-defense, ladies and gentlemen, that’s cold-blooded murder,” Schaefer said.
The panel began deliberations at about 10:45 a.m. Thursday, and within a couple of hours returned its verdict: guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Circuit Judge Patrick Robb ordered a sentence assessment report and scheduled sentencing July 24 at 2 p.m. Coats remains in custody in the Buchanan County Jail, where he’s been held without bail since his arrest.