By Emanuella Grinberg, Court TV
(Court TV) — The best friend of a woman hit by a sniper's bullet in 2003 described for jurors Friday how she helplessly watched the victim succumb to her wound.
Jurors seemed absorbed by Mary Cox's emotional testimony about the only fatality during Charles McCoy Jr.'s four-month shooting spree in the Columbus area.
Cox said she was driving on I-270 when she heard a "pop" and saw 62-year-old Gail Knisley slump over in the seat next to her.
McCoy, 29, showed no emotion during the testimony, particularly when Franklin County prosecutors played the 911 call Cox made from the side of the highway as her friend was dying.
"Somebody just shot my girlfriend," Cox told the 911 operator. "What can I do? What can I do?"
"You're doing great," the operator told Cox as she waited for EMT personnel on I-270.
"No, I'm not. I'm not taking care of her," Cox said, between sobs. "It was such a beautiful day."
Knisley's husband Ronny, son Brent and daughter-in-law Missy dabbed at tears as they sat in the front row of the courtroom.
Dressed in a green suit jacket, Cox appeared fragile as she described the morning of Nov. 25, 2003, when she drove Knisley, her best friend since high school, to a 10:30 a.m. doctor's appointment.
As they chatted in the car, Cox said she missed the exit and had just turned around when both women heard a loud noise that sounded like "a balloon popping."
Knisley said, "Oh, what was that?" and her head dropped to the side, according to Cox.
"I made the wrong turn. If I hadn't made the wrong turn, this wouldn't have happened," Cox cried to the 911 operator.
Cox also produced the leather jacket she wore the day of the shooting to show jurors a bullet graze in the right sleeve that narrowly missed her.
"The bullet should have just gone over our knees, but it hit a mechanism which made it ricochet toward Gail," she testified.
McCoy faces the death penalty for Knisley's death, along with other charges on his 24-count indictment stemming from 12 shootings.
Defense lawyers have admitted to McCoy's involvement in the shootings.
They pleaded an insanity defense on behalf of their client, who allegedly suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and whose impassive behavior in court they attribute to the medication he has been taking in jail.
They also attribute the medication to his weight gain, which prevents him from wearing civilian clothes to his trial even though he was granted permission to do so by the court.
Defense attorney Michael Miller appeared sympathetic to the witness and only cross-examined her on the location of the shooting.
"This was no big surprise," he later said outside court. "We don't dispute any of the facts of the case."
Two police witnesses from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department also testified about Knisley's murder, from which investigators gathered ballistic evidence that enabled them to recognize a pattern with previous, unresolved shootings.
Deputy Sheriff David Comley attended Knisley's autopsy and also examined the bullet trajectory from Cox's white Pontiac Grand Am.
Using photographs, he testified that the bullet traveled through the driver's side door at an upward angle, passing at an angle through the car and lodging itself into Knisley's left lung.
His analysis implied the gunman was driving in the opposite direction with his arm hanging out the window when he fired the shot at Knisley's car.
Testimony is set to resume Monday. The trial is being aired live on Court TV.
:MAD
(Court TV) — The best friend of a woman hit by a sniper's bullet in 2003 described for jurors Friday how she helplessly watched the victim succumb to her wound.
Jurors seemed absorbed by Mary Cox's emotional testimony about the only fatality during Charles McCoy Jr.'s four-month shooting spree in the Columbus area.
Cox said she was driving on I-270 when she heard a "pop" and saw 62-year-old Gail Knisley slump over in the seat next to her.
McCoy, 29, showed no emotion during the testimony, particularly when Franklin County prosecutors played the 911 call Cox made from the side of the highway as her friend was dying.
"Somebody just shot my girlfriend," Cox told the 911 operator. "What can I do? What can I do?"
"You're doing great," the operator told Cox as she waited for EMT personnel on I-270.
"No, I'm not. I'm not taking care of her," Cox said, between sobs. "It was such a beautiful day."
Knisley's husband Ronny, son Brent and daughter-in-law Missy dabbed at tears as they sat in the front row of the courtroom.
Dressed in a green suit jacket, Cox appeared fragile as she described the morning of Nov. 25, 2003, when she drove Knisley, her best friend since high school, to a 10:30 a.m. doctor's appointment.
As they chatted in the car, Cox said she missed the exit and had just turned around when both women heard a loud noise that sounded like "a balloon popping."
Knisley said, "Oh, what was that?" and her head dropped to the side, according to Cox.
"I made the wrong turn. If I hadn't made the wrong turn, this wouldn't have happened," Cox cried to the 911 operator.
Cox also produced the leather jacket she wore the day of the shooting to show jurors a bullet graze in the right sleeve that narrowly missed her.
"The bullet should have just gone over our knees, but it hit a mechanism which made it ricochet toward Gail," she testified.
McCoy faces the death penalty for Knisley's death, along with other charges on his 24-count indictment stemming from 12 shootings.
Defense lawyers have admitted to McCoy's involvement in the shootings.
They pleaded an insanity defense on behalf of their client, who allegedly suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and whose impassive behavior in court they attribute to the medication he has been taking in jail.
They also attribute the medication to his weight gain, which prevents him from wearing civilian clothes to his trial even though he was granted permission to do so by the court.
Defense attorney Michael Miller appeared sympathetic to the witness and only cross-examined her on the location of the shooting.
"This was no big surprise," he later said outside court. "We don't dispute any of the facts of the case."
Two police witnesses from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department also testified about Knisley's murder, from which investigators gathered ballistic evidence that enabled them to recognize a pattern with previous, unresolved shootings.
Deputy Sheriff David Comley attended Knisley's autopsy and also examined the bullet trajectory from Cox's white Pontiac Grand Am.
Using photographs, he testified that the bullet traveled through the driver's side door at an upward angle, passing at an angle through the car and lodging itself into Knisley's left lung.
His analysis implied the gunman was driving in the opposite direction with his arm hanging out the window when he fired the shot at Knisley's car.
Testimony is set to resume Monday. The trial is being aired live on Court TV.
:MAD
