Defense rests for accused Pizza X shooter

Jurors will not hear any evidence in defense of James Finney, 23, accused of killing Pizza X driver Adam Sarnecki, 22, in November 2011.

The defense rested Friday without presenting any evidence, sending the jury home for the weekend.

Before the jury came in to hear the defense’s case, Judge Marc Kellams asked Finney’s lawyers if he would be testifying, as public defenders had not made plans to call a single witness on his behalf.

Finney declined.

His attorney, Michael Spencer, asked Finney how he thought the trial was going.
“Could be better,” Finney said.

“Could be better, but facts are facts, right?” Spencer said.

Earlier in the week, jurors heard evidence about the nature of the shooting and how the investigation progressed in the hours and days after Sarnecki was killed.

They heard from first responders, who explained how Sarnecki was conscious when they first arrived, giving a description of the man who had shot him. They watched security camera footage from a nearby storage facility that showed two figures run off into the woods and only one return to the Pizza X location on South Walnut Street Pike.

They heard from a confidential informant, Crissinda Brault, 27, who met Finney at Occupy Bloomington in 2011, where he first showed her a .380 caliber handgun, the same kind used to kill Sarnecki. It was also the same kind of gun used in two other crimes — including shooting a 60-year-old woman in the thigh — that Finney is accused of.

Bloomington Police gave Brault hidden cameras and recording devices and had her meet with Finney. When they told her to set up a chance to buy the gun, Finney refused to hand it over.

“I can’t let you walk with that gun because there’s a body on it,” Brault remembers Finney saying.

Prosecutors also showed video of a police interview with Finney. At first, he denied the charges, but he changed his story, saying he acted out of fear.

“I ain’t a killer,” he said. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I had no intention of killing anyone, all right? I was just trying to get some money.”

“I feel like a piece of shit, you know?”

And yet, after the prosecution rested Thursday, Spencer told the jury he would not present any additional evidence. When the jury entered the courtroom, Kellams explained that since the prosecution had rested, it would now be the defense’s turn to present evidence.

“Thank you, your honor. At this time, the defense rests,” he told the jury.

Outside the presence of the jury, Spencer had made a motion to allow the jury to consider a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter — as opposed to murder — in its deliberation. Spencer argued that Finney was afraid and acted out of “sudden heat” when Sarnecki came upon Finney during an attempted robbery.

“James didn’t know what Sarnecki was going to do,” Spencer said. “They weren’t going to sit there and talk about IU football.”

Prosecutors pushed back, saying that Sarnecki’s wound in his lower back does not match the defense’s story that Finney was afraid or shot in self-defense.

Kellams ruled Friday morning that voluntary manslaughter could be considered under the condition of “sudden heat,” and that charge will be included in his final instructions to the jury.

The trial will resume with closing arguments at 9 a.m.

Follow reporter Charles Scudder on Twitter at @cscudder.