Oct. 30, 2007

Testimony describes events leading to officer's slaying

Fort Worth: Court hears that suspect led police on chase, then to shootout

By DEBRA DENNIS, The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH - Two days before he shot a police officer, Stephen Lance Heard
was running from the police, a former Lake Worth officer testified Monday on
the first day of Mr. Heard's capital murder trial. Mr. Heard is accused of
killing Fort Worth Officer Hank Nava in November 2005.

Mike Luther, the former Lake Worth officer, testified that he was one of
several officers involved in a truck chase with Mr. Heard on Nov. 27, 2005,
at speeds that reached 100 mph. They wanted him in connection with the theft
of gas from a station.

When authorities stopped the vehicle, Mr. Heard had fled on foot. Police
arrested two women inside the truck and got information from them about the
suspect.

"They said that the subject who had run from the vehicle had a weapon," said
Officer Luther, who now works for the North Richland Hills Police
Department.

The next time authorities had contact with Mr. Heard was Nov. 29 when
Officer Nava and two other officers got involved in a shootout at a mobile
home in far Northwest Fort Worth that left Officer Nava mortally wounded.
Police went there because a suspected identity thief was visiting the home.

Prosecutors say Mr. Heard, 41, who had prior convictions for theft and
drug-related offenses, shot Officer Nava to make good on his vow never to
return to prison.

"I'm not going back to jail. That was this defendant's motto," Tarrant
County Assistant District Attorney Betty Arvin said during Monday's opening
statements. "He did everything in his power to make his wish come true - all
at the expense of Hank Nava."

Officer Nava, 39, died Dec. 1, 2005, two days after he was shot.

Defense attorney Mark Daniel called Officer Nava a fine public servant and
said that his death was a tragedy. But he said that the circumstances
surrounding his death did not amount to capital murder.

Mr. Heard, who was on parole for unlawful use of a car, did not know that
the three men who had come to the trailer that day were officers, Mr. Daniel
said.

A gunbattle ensued, Mr. Daniel said, with officers doing most of the
shooting.

"Thirty-four shots were fired - nine by Nava," Mr. Daniel said, adding that
Officer Nava's partners fired an additional 25 shots.

He said his client "acted consistently with what the law allows," though he
conceded Mr. Heard should not have had a weapon.

"There was no reason for him to know who was coming into that trailer," Mr.
Daniel said, adding that Mr. Heard "fired a blind, wild shot - meant to go
nowhere."

That shot, prosecutors said, struck Officer Nava.

Mr. Heard, Mr. Daniel said, fled the trailer home following the shooting.

"He was trembling and shaking like a frightened animal," Mr. Daniel said.

Mr. Heard's trial is being heard in the courtroom of Criminal District Court
Judge Elizabeth Berry under tight restrictions. Testimony is expected to
last about three weeks.

If Mr. Heard is convicted, prosecutors have said they will seek the death
penalty.

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Source : The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...ries/DN-heard_
30met.ART.State.Edition1.4234262.html