Opinion ID: 844257
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Attempted Murders of Phillip Courtney and Howard Long

Text: On January 18, 1993, in the early evening, Beverly Losee heard someone knocking on the door of her apartment on Canyon Crest Drive. Lacking a peephole, Losee asked who it was. The person responded, It's Eddie. Not knowing an Eddie, Losee peeked through the curtains. She saw a man dressed all in black. After continuing to demand admittance for 20 minutes, the man walked away in the direction of the Hidden Springs apartment complex. About an hour later, as Alison Schulz and Phillip Courtney started to enter their Hidden Springs apartment, Ms. Schulz was grabbed from behind by a man holding a gun. He was dressed in black martial arts clothing and wore a black ski mask. Courtney rushed the man. As they struggled for possession of the gun, the man stabbed Courtney in the back. A neighbor, Howard Long, heard the commotion, got his own pistol and ordered the assailant to freeze. The man shot at Long and then ran away. Both of his lungs punctured, Courtney was hospitalized for two weeks. At trial, Ms. Losee identified defendant as the man who knocked on her door that night. A criminalist testified that a bullet removed from Mr. Long's doorframe was fired by the pistol found in defendant's garage. According to Courtney, his assailant was a light-skinned Black man, similar in coloration, height, and weight to defendant. [15] Defendant rested without presenting any evidence.