Defendant faces unrelated charge for jail break
By The Associated Press
ELDORADO — A Smackover man has been acquitted of shooting at a police officer after the jury heard testimony from the officer that he could not be certain if the accused fired at him.
The jury took about 30 minutes Thursday to find Marcus Hicks, 32, not guilty of attempted capital murder in a traffic stop made by Officer Adam Sawyer.
Police had accused Hicks of refusing to put down a gun and of shooting at Sawyer during the April 9, 2006, stop.
The police officer “was an honorable gentleman, but the facts didn’t support beyond a reasonable doubt that (my client) attempted to murder him,” said Rickey Hicks, Hicks’ lawyer and a distant relative. “I know Marcus. He has been in trouble practically since the day he was born. But when I heard about this case, I knew he wasn’t capable of hurting anyone because he isn’t a violent person.”
During the trial, Sawyer testified he couldn’t remember for certain if Marcus Hicks shot at him, but there was a shot fired at him from a distance. Mariah Fairley, a passenger in Marcus Hicks’ car, testified that she crouched in the back when the shooting started and she never saw Hicks fire a gun.
Police say investigators found about seven spent rounds fired from the officer’s gun and several of those slugs lodged in a nearby home, but never found another handgun. Sawyer shot Marcus Hicks four times in the back.
Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Rogers offered Hicks’ blood-soaked shirt as evidence during the trial.
“When he saw a gun, (Sawyer) responded as he was trained,” Rogers said during closing arguments. “This is very simple. Do you believe the officer?”
Police ultimately arrested Marcus Hicks a month after the shooting in Cincinnati. Though now free, he still faces another charge from when police say he and two other prisoners broke out of the Union County jail in December.