Prosecutors rest case in Sherman Park shooting trial
Expert witness to give defense testimony
Prosecutors rested their case Friday against Dominique Heaggan-Brown, the former Milwaukee police officer charged with reckless homicide in the fatal shooting of Sylville Smith in the Sherman Park neighborhood last summer.
Heaggan-Brown, 25, said he has elected not to testify, and the day’s proceedings ended early Friday afternoon. The defense will begin its case Monday with an expert witness.
Fourteen jurors are being sequestered during the slow-moving trial, meaning they will have an extended weekend together at an undisclosed hotel.
The expected crowds have not materialized in the gallery. At the peak, about 16 of Smith’s family and friends have been spectators, but often there were only three or four, plus several sheriff’s deputies, some reporters and interested courthouse staff.
Watching the trial has been difficult because Milwaukee Circuit Judge Jeffrey Conen has ordered no one may bring a cell phone into the courtroom, even if turned off, and that anyone who leaves may not re-enter until a break in the trial. Anyone entering must also pass through a metal detector in the hallway.
Reaction to Smith’s killing led to two days of violent unrest in parts of Sherman Park, which gained national attention.
Heaggan-Brown was fired in October, after he was charged in an unrelated sexual assault. Homicide charges, the first against a Milwaukee officer for an on-duty shooting in 60 years, were filed in December.