Opinion ID: 1855277
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: hansen's testimony

Text: Hansen testified on his own behalf as to the events surrounding the drive-by shooting. He stated that he owned the Impala in question and that on the evening of July 16, 1995, he picked up Hammett, Dennis, and Murry to go drive around and see some girls. He stated that he did not plan on shooting anyone at that time. Hansen testified that when he bought the shotgun used in the drive-by shooting, it had regular shotgun BB shells with it and that during the two nights prior to the shooting, the shotgun had been used to blast. During one of these incidents, Dennis fired the shotgun as they were leaving a party, and Hansen admitted that there were people standing nearby when Dennis fired. On the other occasion, Hammett fired the shotgun at a house. Hansen admitted that on the day of the shooting, he bought deer slugs for the shotgun. He explained that his reason for doing so was that with slugs, which contain only one large piece of metal with a hollow tip, you are less likely to hit someone than you would be firing regular shotgun shells which contain BB's. He loaded the shotgun to capacity with the deer slugs and placed it under the front seat of his car. Hansen testified that as they were driving north on 40th Street, Murry pointed out that a group of people standing by a streetlight, which consisted of Savin and others, looked like Trey-Eights. Hansen admitted that right after Murry pointed out what he thought were Trey-Eights, Hansen said it was his turn to blast. Hansen then decided to pull the car over and switch places with Dennis so that Hansen was then sitting in the front passenger seat and Dennis was driving. Hansen testified that it was his intent at that time to scare the shit out of the group that Murry had pointed out. Hansen then took the shotgun out from under the front seat and placed it on his lap. Hansen testified that everyone in the car then decided we wasn't gonna do it. However, without explaining the apparent inconsistency, Hansen testified that as Dennis was about to make a left turn away from the group, Hansen quickly swung the shotgun out the window with one hand and deliberately fired it up in the air. It was this shot that hit Savin just above the left eyebrow, killing him. On cross-examination, Hansen admitted that he was in fact pointing the shotgun toward the group of people near 40th and Franklin Streets, although he denied pointing it at anyone in particular. He claimed that he did not know that anyone had been shot until he got to the police station. After the shooting, Hansen and the other occupants of the car went immediately to Dennis' house and hid the shotgun in an abandoned car in the backyard.