Published: May 14, 2009 10:34 pm      

Berry murder trial

Witnesses recall fatal shootings

“It was like ‘Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!’”

That was how 16-year-old Angela Canaday described the sounds she heard in the early morning hours of Dec. 2, 2006, when her neighbor and the neighbor’s boyfriend were gunned down as she peered out her living room window.

Canaday was one of four witnesses called by the prosecution Thursday during the opening day of Rodney Jason Berry’s trial on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of use of a firearm.

Berry, 27, of Minden, is accused of the shooting deaths of ex-girlfriend Martha Mills, 25, and her boyfriend, Zack Worthington, 31.

Canaday, who was 13 at the time the victims were killed outside of Mills’ Oakmont Green apartment in Bradley, told the court she was watching a movie when she heard Berry pull up outside Mills’ apartment shortly before 1 a.m.

“I saw him pull up ... and he was pacing back and forth in front of Martha’s apartment,” she recalled.

What Canaday said she witnessed when Mills and Worthington arrived about five minutes later is something she says she continues to “think about all the time.”

Canaday said Berry began shooting into Mills’ truck as soon as it pulled up.

The eight rounds which police say Berry fired into the truck with a 9mm Taurus handgun, struck Worthington.

Canaday said she saw Mills get out of the truck, “I guess to try to stop him.”

“He shot her after he shot into the truck,” she told the court. “After he shot Martha, he reached back into the truck (and shot again) to make sure the guy was dead.”

Berry, Canaday said, then got back into what she described as a “yellow Toyota with a white top” and fled the scene, leaving Mills lying on the ground beside the passenger door of her truck.

Sonia Norman, who worked as Oakmont Green’s residential manager and also testified to seeing a yellow Toyota speeding away, said she went to the scene after hearing “little pops” and hearing people “hollering.”

Norman said she initially did not know what had happened but was soon informed by another tenant that there had been a shooting.

Norman recalled for the court what she saw as she neared Mills’ truck.

“(She was) laying outside the passenger side of the vehicle,” she said, explaining a neighbor and a second person were attempting to help and had moved Mills onto her side. “I could see she had been shot and there was an excessive amount of blood.

“I could see the gentleman (Worthington) in the vehicle was slumped over,” she continued. “I went to reach to pull the door open, and one of the guys who lived there told me I didn’t want to.”

Raleigh County sheriff’s Detective J.E. Williams, the first officer on the scene, recounted what he saw on Dec. 2, 2006, using video footage to provide a physical overview of the road leading to the complex as well as the scene of the shootings.

Williams used the footage, which was not taken at the time of the shootings, to show where Mills’ truck was parked and describe the position of her body in relation to the truck.

When he arrived at the scene, Williams said, Mills, who appeared to have been shot in the face, was lying on her back beside the truck.

Neighbors were attempting CPR, but Williams said he told them to stop when he detected no pulse.

Worthington, who Williams said was slumped over inside the truck, which he said was “full of blood,” was placed in an ambulance because a paramedic said she believed she had felt a pulse.

The ambulance did not immediately leave the scene, however, a sign that Williams said “tells me he’s deceased.”

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Prosecutor Kristen Keller also called as a witness Raleigh County 911 deputy director Marty Agee, who played the 911 tapes from the morning of the shootings.

Several callers, many frantic, began reporting the shootings at 12:57 a.m.

Confusion as to the exact location of the shootings could be heard in several instances, and Agee explained the different areas of Oakmont Green and said the 911 center received conflicting reports as to the block where it occurred.

A few individuals called more than once, expressing concern that medical assistance had not yet arrived.

“We’ve waited forever,” one caller said. “No one has showed up.”

The 911 dispatcher could be heard explaining to the caller that ambulances could not enter the scene until it had been secured by police.

When questioned by defense attorney Gary Frasher, Agee explained the delay in the time of the initial report to the time police were notified was not as lengthy as the tape made it appear.

“(We had) 911 calls coming in back-to-back-to-back,” she said. “The tape would indicate that there is some delay, but the conversation was going on at the same time dispatch was being made to the officers in the field.”

Williams, who said he was the closest unit to the scene, told Frasher he arrived at the apartment complex within nine minutes of the time the call was dispatched.

The tape also contained conversations with Fayette County 911 operators who informed Raleigh County that Berry had contacted them, explaining he had shot two people and wanted officers to come to his Minden home so he could turn himself in.

Raleigh sheriff’s Deputy Greg Kade could be heard informing 911 that he had arrived at Berry’s residence and was taking custody from Fayette deputies.

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To close the day, jurors were taken outside to view Mills’ truck and were asked by Keller to pay special attention to the eight bullet holes in the windshield as well as the damage done to the dashboard, which was cut up and still contained several pieces of shattered glass.

Although Keller, in her opening statement, told the jury she would prove the killings were pre-meditated and that Berry laid in wait for his victims, Frasher said he would prove the contrary.

“It was not a pre-meditated plan,” Frasher said. “(It was) an instant response without deliberation.”

Frasher said Berry, who had an obsession with and regularly carried guns for which he had permits, had simply intended to visit Mills, who he said was his first and only girlfriend.

“(Berry) was obsessed with two things,” Frasher said. “Martha and guns.

“That mix came together on Dec. 2, 2006, when he pulled out a gun and shot two people.”

The trial will resume Tuesday.

— E-mail:

mjames@register-herald.com