CINCINNATI, May 16 (UPI) -- A jury in Cincinnati Thursday convicted Ricardo Woods of murder in the death of a man who was paralyzed when he used eye blinks to identify his attacker.
The victim, David Chandler, was 35 when he was shot in the head in October 2010. He died two weeks after being shot but was able to tell police by blinking his eyes Woods had shot him.
The defense argued the method of identifying Woods was unreliable, telling jurors who watched a video of Chandler identifying Woods the blinking was inconsistent and police who concluded Chandler was identifying Woods were overzealous, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Hamilton County prosecutors offered Woods a plea bargain before the trial began last month under which he would have been sentenced to five years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea, the newspaper said. Woods, 35, instead faces a minimum sentence of 18 years to life following his conviction, the report said.
Chandler was killed in a dispute over money owed in a drug deal, prosecutors said. He was shot in the face and was paralyzed from the neck down when a bullet severed his spine.
