Yesterday I accompanied News-Herald Staff Writer David Komer to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit for the first day of a murder trial.

I didn't work for The News-Herald when the murder occurred, but here's a short summary of the story:

Taylor Police Officer Matthew Edwards, 31, was killed at about 6 a.m. July 23 2010 after he was hit by six gunshots, including one to the back of his head. The shooting occurred at Coppertree Apartments, off North Line Road east of Telegraph Road, as Edwards and his partner were investigating a breaking-and-entering report. Tyress Mathews also suffered several gunshot wounds in the ensuing altercation. A witness said he saw Mathews’ pull a black gun out of the backpack and raise it sideways over Edwards’ head and shoot down. After Edwards’ fell, a witness and Edwards' partner said, Mathews fired five more shots into Edwards, who was on the ground.

Komer and I got to court and went through security (where for the fourth time I was asked if I'm an attorney instead of a journalist, a sign maybe?). Then we waited outside the courtroom for about an hour. There were people near us greeting each other in tears.

Since it was the first day of court it was the jury selection. They started to sort through the 62 jurors in the room. In case you're not aware, 62 jurors is A LOT. There wasn't even room for them all to sit down.

While Komer took notes to write a story, I did live tweets from my Twitter account. It was the first time I had done something like that and it went over really well! (I really do adore social media!) People were following me, using the same hash tag and retweeting my tweets. So many people were interested about what was going on in the courtroom. Then I realized, heck, I'd be pretty darn curious too if I wasn't there.

The defendant, Tyress Mathews, is charged with first-degree murder, punishable by life in prison without parole; murder of a peace officer, punishable by life in prison without parole; assault with intent to murder, punishable by life in prison or any term of years; being a felon in possession of a firearm, punishable by five years in prison; felony use of a firearm, a mandatory two-year sentence; and as a habitual offender-fourth offense, which is punishable by life in prison if the primary offense has a penalty of five years in prison or more.

 Mathews sat facing his attorney, Todd Perkins, and the gallery of jurors. He occasionally looked over at us and raised an eyebrow. It was creepy and eerie. To imagine what he did to a man, a police officer at that, is a scary thought alone.

He just sat there. Emotionless. No smiles; no frowns. He rubbed his eyes once, when the Judge read off his charges.

Then he sat there while each juror answered questions. He just looked at them.

Five jurors were excused before the lunch break at 12:30 p.m. Two were dismissed for work related reasons (not getting paid for more than a few days of jury duty). One was dismissed for college courses.

Then there were two women with quite the excuses. One woman said she's bipolar and has disliked the prosecutors in other trials so she shouldn't be there. Another woman said that she's uncomfortable deciding a man's innocence, when that didn't work she said that her "woman pains" become so unbearable that she can't sit still for more than an hour. The Judge dismissed her.

The media was told by the court clerk to not even look at the jurors. When I posted that on Twitter, every journalist I know was blown away. People really think we're the bad ones, but you'd be really upset if we weren't there to give you a play-by-play ... even if it's just what the jurors' excuses for dismissal were.

On that note, today the jury selection finished up and the trial began. Komer was there to report play-by-play. The trial will go on for at least two weeks. Follow our website, twitter and of course, me on here, for your updates on this trial and everything else Downriver related!

Catch ya later, Internet World!


"I am deeply interested in the progress and elevation of journalism, having spent my life in that profession, regarding it as a noble profession and one of unequaled importance for its influence upon the minds and morals of the people." - Joseph Pulitzer