Homicide suspect’s wife testifies she feared neighbor
Prosecutors spent hours Tuesday afternoon grilling the wife of a San Antonio man who said he shot his neighbor because he feared for his family.
Jackie Mccracken followed her husband, Roger Lee-canada Mccracken, in testifying at his murder trial. Prosecutors have said his fatal shooting of Ronnie Riddle, 34, on Sept. 11, 2021, was unjustified.
Testimony established that a confrontation between Riddle and the Mccrackens turned to shouting after they and their children got home from an evening at Peter Piper Pizza.
Jackie Mccracken testified that Riddle’s behavior had changed in the prior weeks and that he had been “aggressive and angry.” She said Wendy Lewis, Riddle’s girlfriend, had told her about being abused by him.
The night the Mccrackens pulled up to their apartment building, Jackie Mccracken said, she saw Riddle outside, yelling. It made her nervous, “sick to my stomach,” and scared for her children, she said.
Roger Mccracken testified Monday that he shot twice at Riddle when he saw his neighbor reach behind him, where he was known to carry a gun in his waistband, and that he continued shooting as Riddle ran and got behind a pickup.
Riddle had threatened him over previous calls to police made by Mccracken and his wife because of violent sounds coming from Riddle’s nearby apartment, the defendant said. Mccracken said Riddle was “hovering over my daughter and my wife” and that he was unable to maneuver him out of the way.
Prosecutors have said Mccracken emptied almost every bullet in the ammunition clip of his Glock handgun at Riddle, whose own gun was found later in the parking lot.
Cross-examining Jackie Mccracken, prosecutor Andrea Vizcarra focused on a three- to four-second clip from a recorded statement in which the witness had said she was not afraid of Riddle in the moments before the shooting.
That prompted objections from defense attorney Joe Hoelscher, who said it wasn’t long enough to provide context. State District Judge Joel Perez allowed the defense to show more of the recording, which included a later moment when Jackie Mccracken said she became afraid of Riddle.
Perez has had to admonish the defense attorneys and the prosecutors for mutual sniping during the trial.
“A big part of the job is to stand stoic,” Perez told them again Tuesday outside the presence of the jury. “This is a murder trial. Sometimes the evidence can be very prejudicial. Just take it.”
The judge also ordered the lawyers speak to family members of both the accused and the victim because of reports that they were laughing or shaking their heads during testimony.
One of the defense attorneys, Daniel Mehler, told Perez that some of Riddle’s relatives had followed him to his car Monday night.
“Admonish your families on both sides and tell them I have contempt powers,” Perez told the lawyers.
If convicted, Mccracken faces up to life in prison.