Opinion ID: 2227991
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Keith's Testimony

Text: Keith testified that, on the night of April 9, 1995, he and Sargent had originally planned to go out together in Doppler's car. The two men left Sargent's hotel in Woodbury sometime after midnight with the intent to go to a bar in Saint Paul. When driving to the bar, Keith received a page from Doppler, so he and Sargent stopped at ACME, which is located next door to the bar they were headed for. When the two men arrived at ACME, they found Doppler and Berry playing a Nintendo video game. Doppler said he wanted his car back, but Keith, who had already put gas in the car, wanted to go out to do something. After discussing the use of the car, Keith and Sargent decided that it was too late for them to go out according to their original plans, so the four men decided to drive up north to a casino. On the drive up north, Sargent used a knife to cut lines of methamphetamine for the men to snort. At some point, Doppler and Sargent began to argue over Doppler's choice of music. The argument became heated, but Keith testified that he did not think anything would come of the argument. Soon thereafter, Sargent directed Berry to turn the car off the highway onto a public access road to Little Blackhoof Lake so they could urinate. The stereo was still being played loudly when they exited the car. Keith went to the front passenger side and stepped approximately 20 feet into the woods in order to urinate. Keith, who testified to having a hearing problem and acknowledged that he had trouble hearing questions from the attorneys at trial, then testified that he heard Doppler and Sargent, who were approximately 33 feet away, start to scream at each other. He then heard a loud slap and a voice he thought was Sargent's say, I'm going to kill you. Keith testified that he started running toward the public access road where Doppler and Sargent were arguing. As Keith arrived at the road, he heard Doppler yell, Get away. This yelling was followed by a gunshot which flashed into the air. Doppler yelled at Sargent to get    away from him, and then there was another shot. Keith said he ran toward Sargent, who was still standing. He then saw rapid shooting. When he arrived at the scene, Keith discovered Doppler on his knees a few feet from Sargent's body, crying and screaming. Keith testified that he threw Doppler into the back seat of the car, got in the front seat and, with Berry driving, he, Doppler, and Berry started to back down the public access road. As they were backing out, Keith told Berry they had better stop. When Berry stopped the car, Keith got out, went to Sargent's body, checked for a pulse and, finding none, reached in Sargent's back pocket and took Sargent's driver's license and identification. At that same time, Keith testified that he noticed a large buck knife laying on the ground next to Sargent's body. He picked up the knife, returned to the car, got in, and rode in the front passenger seat with the knife, blade open, in his right hand. He later disposed of the knife, which has never been recovered.