Closing arguments begin in trial for fatal shooting of Dayton detective
2 men charged, 1 with murder, in 2019 death of Det. Jorge DelRio.
Prosecutors argued Tuesday that the November 2019 shooting death of Dayton police detective Jorge DelRio was “premeditated, deliberate and planned” and not an act of self-defense.
Nathan Goddard and Cahke Cortner appeared in U.S. District Court in Dayton for the start to closing arguments by the government.
Goddard is charged with murder, attempting to distribute controlled substances, possession of a firearm and other counts. Cortner faces charges related to trafficking and the death of DelRio.
Nearly three weeks of evidence and testimony included the accounts of Drug Enforcement Administration task force officers and special agents who were on the scene with DelRio the night he was killed; a former acquaintance of Goddard who recalled Goddard transporting drugs to Dayton; and a man who claimed Goddard was his drug supplier, according to prosecutors.
In a recorded phone call between Goddard and another person, which prosecutors played on Tuesday, Goddard says he “wakes up every day, the same dude” following the death of DelRio.
DelRio died from gunshot wounds he sustained while executing a search warrant with a DEA task force on a house on Ruskin Road in Dayton. Goddard is charged with pulling the trigger.
Video of a police interview shown to jurors depicted Goddard telling police he heard knocking on the Ruskin Road house’s door and thought it could be police coming to the home. People who were in the basement, including Cortner, hid away in a back room while Goddard moved to a corner with a gun.
Attorneys argued that Goddard
positioned himself in the corner of the basement when police entered the home, where he “laid in wait” for someone to descend the stairs to the basement.
At Goddard’s vantage point, he could see DelRio, but the officer could not see him. But the triangle-shaped wall dividing the staircase from the rest of the basement would have allowed for Goddard to see DelRio’s police hat, badge and vest, prosecutors argue.
During their investigation of the Ruskin Road house, police found large storage containers of marijuana, as well as cocaine and fentanyl. Also located in the home’s basement were scales, a Magic Bullet blender that tested positive for drug residue, thousands of dollars in cash and a kilogram press.
Attorneys also argued that cellphone records, Google account and WiFi activity and more tie Cortner and Goddard to the Ruskin Road home and to each other.
Firearms sale documents show that Goddard, who could not legally own a gun due to a prior felony, worked with Cortner to obtain matching handguns through a straw buyer.
Cortner also equipped the weapons with laser scopes, as evidenced by photos and text messages he shared with Goddard. Goddard was listed under two contacts in Cortner’s phone: “Big DAWG” and “Big DOGG,” according to attorneys on Tuesday.
Closing arguments and rebuttal were scheduled to continue this week ahead of jurors reaching a verdict on the case.
Defense attorneys argued in their opening statements earlier this month that their clients were not aware DelRio was a police officer and mistook him for an intruder. Goddard fired rounds out of self-defense, while Cortner hid to avoid harm, they said.
A third man, Lionel Combs, accepted a plea agreement on charges related to the November 2019 incident.
Combs was the owner of the Ruskin Road home and the brother-in-law of Goddard, according to the plea agreement.