WTHR |Reese trial: Jury hears inmate testimony

Reese trial: Jury hears inmate testimony

Kevin Rader/Eyewitness News

Porter County - A jail inmate took the stand in the trial of a man accused of shooting Indianapolis police officer Jason Fishburn.

The trial's most revealing witness in the courtroom didn't want to be to revealing outside of it. Leaving the courthouse with a blanket over his head. Inmate Gary Rees testified that he had a discussion with defendant Brian Reese in a Marion County holding cell last March.

Gary Rees, no relation to Brian Reese, testified the two struck up a conversation about their last names, which are spelled differently. Brian Reese told him he hadn't talked with anyone for eight months because he was in for attempted murder of a police officer.

Gary Rees testified, "He told me he was running from police with a gun above his shoulder pointing backwards and he hit an officer twice."

Rees testified that he told Reese, "You must be a good shot to do that."

The inmate then testified that Reese responded, "That's just what I'm telling them happened."

"He was running from police around the corner and stopped and waited for the officer to come and began shooting. He told me the first shot hit the chest and the second shot the officer in the head," Rees testified.

Then he added one more thing. Rees testified that Brian Reese used a derogatory expression to refer to Officer Fishburn, saying, "He's a (expletive) pig and I don't care."

"I think the jury will have a clear picture of who this defendant is. The disdain he holds for police officers and he was willing to do whatever it took to get away including attempting to kill one," said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.

"Anytime you have someone on the stand who says your client says something as disrespectful as (expletive) pig and adds other information of course it could be damaging unless they perceive him the same way I do, and hopefully you do, that he is a lying snitch. That is what he is. That is what he does for a living. He steals things and he lies to get benefit from it," said David Shircliff, defense attorney.

Brizzi admits there are no swans in the sewer, but in this case he says Gary Rees, a man serving time for auto theft, is telling the truth.

The jury will have the entire weekend to contemplate those comments and it could play into the prosecution's favor because this case is expected to go to the jury early next week.

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