Jury deliberating in Detroit-area porch-shooting trial

DETROIT, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A prosecutor said Wednesday a Detroit-area man who shot an unarmed woman sought a "confrontation," while a defense lawyer said the killing was self-defense.

The jurors who have to decide whether Theodore Wafer of Dearborn Heights is guilty of the murder of Renisha McBride began deliberations after listening to final arguments. Wafer could also be convicted of involuntary manslaughter or manslaughter.

The defense concedes that Wafer killed McBride, 19, with a shotgun after she banged on his door at 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 1. Prosecutors agree that McBride had been drinking and smoking marijuana when she got into a car crash a few hours before her death.

Cheryl Carpenter, Wafer's lawyer, said the knocking on his door woke him and he was unable to find his cell phone. She said the noise was "getting louder and louder and louder and louder until the floors started vibrating, the walls were shaking, the window was about to break, the screen door was already broken."

Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Patrick Muscat said Wafer was angry because his car had been spattered with paintballs in October. He said Wafer never stopped to determine that the person on his porch was an "unarmed, injured, disoriented 19-year-old."

"He wanted a confrontation," Muscat said.

Muscat also reminded jurors of the differences between Wafer's interview with police immediately after the shooting and his testimony during the trial.