'In the Jury Room': State v. Knight

D E N V E R, Aug. 24, 2004 -- This week's installment of ABC News' In the Jury Room focuses on a jury considering the case of Bryson Knight, a 20-year-old college student charged with first-degree murder and facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison. He admitted he fatally shot 22-year-old Lewis Carl Morris, but claimed he acted in self-defense.

"This should never have happened. There is no reason for this to have occurred, " prosecutor Mitch Morrissey said. "You have two young men here ... Who knows what they would be 20 years from now? One of them is dead, and one of them is facing the potential of a life sentence in the penitentiary."

The son of a prison guard, Knight grew up in Montbello, a rough neighborhood in Denver. After graduating high school, he got a job in a brewery. Two years later, he decided to go to college to study criminal justice.

Morris, nicknamed "Butter," had a series of convictions for gang activity in Oklahoma. According to his family, he had moved to Denver to turn his life around and was working as a glass cutter.

The two men's lives intersected on Feb. 2, 2002, when Knight, who was home from college, stopped at a local convenience store for a snack.

Knight was sitting in the driver's seat of his car when Morris approached him and, without warning, punched him in the face.

The prosecution believed Morris punched Knight because a friend of Knight's had insulted his girlfriend, Nadine Hughes.

Knight said the fight left him badly bruised and angry. The next day, he decided to challenge Morris to a one-on-one fight.

According to Knight, a friend informed him that Morris was a gang member and handed him a gun for protection. Knight said he had never held a gun before and was only planning to have a fistfight with Morris.

Knight claimed that when he was waiting outside Hughes' home, Morris, who was standing in the doorway, pointed a gun directly at him and fired.

Nancy Holton, Knight's court-appointed defense attorney, argued that it was another surprise attack from Morris.

"The guy did just what the guy does; he sucker-punched him again. He pulled a gun and shot at him," she said.

But the one bullet police recovered from Morris' gun was found lodged in a wall inside the house, investigators said. The prosecution believed that Morris fired the gun only after he was shot by Knight.

"So it's our belief that when he got hit, he had his gun in his right hand and he discharged the gun as the bullet impacted him, and he fell back, and as he was falling back, the gun fired into the wall," said Morrissey.

Holton visited the medical examiner's office to interview the coroner, in an attempt to counter the prosecution's argument. The coroner, she said, told her that the prosecution's theory was not definitive and "highly improbable."

According to the prosecution, even if Morris did fire the first shot, Knight was still guilty of murder. Under Colorado law, prosecutors said, Knight was the initial aggressor because he provoked Morris by showing up at his girlfriend's house with a gun.

Another problem for the defense: The morning after the shooting, Knight fled Colorado, driving to Oklahoma in a stolen car, police said. It would provide the prosecution an opportunity to further discredit the defense's claim that Knight was a clean-cut college student.

A Matter of Self-Defense?

Before the trial started, both the prosecution and the defense knew the final verdict would depend on the jury's understanding of self-defense.

"I just want them to understand the true meaning of self-defense and put themselves there and see what they'd be able to react to that similar situation, of a gun pointed at them not knowing if they was just to turn and run, that they probably would have got shot in the head or shot in the back," Knight told Holton, while preparing his testimony.

During opening statements, both the prosecution and defense focused on their theories about Knight's motive for shooting.

"This is a case about revenge," said Morrissey. "The defendant's act of revenge for a bloody lip and a bruised ego."

"Dead or alive, that was [Knight's] choice," countered Holton. "Either kill or be killed. A pure case of self-defense."

One of the state's key witnesses was Steve Bolling, a friend of Knight's who drove with him to Hughes' house the night of the shooting. Knight said Bolling encouraged him to fight and told him that Morris was a gang member. Bolling, Knight said, gave him a gun for protection.

The prosecution gave Bolling immunity in exchange for his testimony. Bolling testified that Knight asked him to call Hughes' house to arrange the fight.

When the two arrived, Bolling testified, he watched Knight walk up to the house and only heard what happened next.

"Boom, boom! I hear the shots. I run down the street," he testified.

During Holton's cross-examination, Bolling said he had not told Knight about Morris' gang ties and had not given him the gun.

Police Lt. John Priest was the prosecution's final witness. He investigated and reconstructed the crime scene.

Priest said he found evidence of only two bullets — the fatal shot fired by Knight and a bullet from Morris' Glock that shot into the wall. During cross-examination, Holton tried to establish the possibility that more than two shots were fired.

The number of shots was crucial to the defense because if the bullet found lodged in the house was the only one Morris fired, the jury might be skeptical of Knight's story that Morris fired directly at him.

During closing arguments, Morrissey told the jury that Knight was not the one acting in self-defense.

"Who has the right to self-defense here? … The victim does," he said.

Holton closed her case by saying Bryson had a choice on Feb. 2, 2002 — to live or to die.

After the closing arguments, Knight's fate rested with the jury.

"I'm all right," Knight said. "I see my life is in their hands."