Arguments begin for parking lot shooting trial

PALMER — Lawyers arguing for and against Clay Hein in Palmer Superior Court Monday agree the 20-year-old fired more than a dozen shots at a Chevrolet Malibu as it drove from the Trunk Road park and ride lot last year.

What they don’t agree on is what his actions add up to.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Walsh said that by the end of the trial, jurors will agree Hein is guilty of assault and attempted murder. Josh Fannon, representing Hein, said they will find he is innocent as the day he was born.

What Hein did in a number of circumstances would be considered crimes, Fannon said. But in this case, Hein was worried the Malibu’s driver was going to kill his friend and he was trying to get the car to stop.

The case springs from an incident last April 29 when Hein and a friend, Cord Lewis, went to the parking lot to meet two other men, Scott Payne and Josh Bussell.

Lewis and Hein were planning to collect money from Payne and Bussell, both attorneys agree.

Fannon and Walsh also agree that, upon arrival, Lewis exited the Chevrolet Blazer he arrived in, walked over to the Malibu, punched Payne and started beating Bussell.

In Walsh’s telling of the story, Hein also came out of the car, armed with a Glock 9mm pistol outfitted with a laser sight. The laser was visible tracking around the Malibu’s interior, Walsh said. Bussell put the car in reverse and drove out of the lot. On the way, Walsh said six slugs hit the car.

Fannon, in his telling, said that far from threatening Payne and Bussell, Hein was trying to stop the fisticuffs.

When the Malibu reversed, Lewis fell from the car. Hein, with only a moment to act, saw his friend on the ground with a car heading straight for him. In a matter of seconds, Hein fired off 13 rounds, not fully emptying the clip, Fannon said. Some of the shots appeared to be aimed directly at the Malibu’s tires. Also, all of the bullet holes in the Malibu show the bullets were moving through the car.

“Clay Hein was shooting this car to stop it,” Fannon said, adding murder was never the intention, not even in Lewis’ actions. “Cord started a fist fight. He didn’t start a fight to kill anybody.”

Hein and Lewis were roommates; Hein was often covering Lewis’ portion of the rent, Fannon said. He’d gone along with Lewis once before to get money from Payne and Bussell after they took some of Lewis’ money in a drug deal but produced no drugs.

Fannon emphasized Hein, unlike Lewis, never did drugs and rarely drank. In accompanying Lewis to the parking lot, he was just being helpful and trying to make sure Lewis didn’t do “anything stupid,” Fannon said.

Walsh, in his opening statements, urged the jury to simply look at the facts.

“We cannot let our feelings intrude on these decisions,” Walsh said.