By Doug Guthrie
The Detroit News
Detroit — A man convicted of killing a Taylor police officer was defiant when sentenced Monday to life without chance of parole.
Tyress Mathews, 37, took exception to being characterized during his trial as a coward for ambushing Cpl. Matthew Edwards and shooting him in the head at point-blank range early on the morning of July 23, 2010.
A jury earlier this month found Mathews guilty of first-degree murder.
“We had a courtroom full of heroes: the citizens who testified about what they saw, the Taylor police officers who responded professionally and the deceased. They protected and served. Mr. Mathews destroys and takes. He is a cowardly, cold killer,” Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Stevens said after Judge Ulysses Boykin sent Mathews to prison for the rest of his life.
Mathews made a militant, wide-ranging statement in court that included claims that he was not guilty.
Mathews’ lawyer, Todd Perkins, had claimed during the trial that the officers shot first, and that police may have planted the murder weapon. The semi-automatic handgun turned out to be a Detroit Police Department service weapon, reported stolen from a Southfield gym in 2008.
But eyewitnesses, including residents of the apartment complex, said Mathews fired first. One said Mathews caught Edwards by surprise, pulling a handgun from a duffel bag. Edwards’ gun was still holstered when Mathews stood over him firing more shots.
Edwards and his partner, Cpl. Gregory Piche, responded to a breaking-and-entering call shortly before 6 a.m. and found Mathews in the parking lot of an apartment complex, a beer in one hand and the bag slung over his shoulders like a backpack.
Mathews told the officers he had argued with his wife and wanted his car keys so he could leave. Piche testified he turned to walk to the apartment to get the keys when Mathews shot Edwards.
“Corporal Edwards thought he had peaceably handled the situation. He trusted humanity for a split second and that’s all it took,” Stevens said. “His children should know he was and is and always will be a hero.”
Copyright 2011 The Detroit News