CUSTER TRIAL: "There was blood everywhere" witnesses of shooting tell the court

The two men who witnessed the shooting of Adam McCormick in the early morning hours of Nov. 3 2012 testified about the events of that night as the state of Nebraska vs. Jason Custer continued into its third day.

Custer, 35 is charged with first degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Custer allegedly shot McCormick after a dispute over a debt of $150.

Syrus Leal, reportedly a good friend of McCormick, testified Wednesday about what led up to the shooting, as well as the shooting itself.

The timeline leading up to the shooting has been established. Custer came to Sidney from California in October 2012 to stay with Amber Davis and Billy Fields who were dating. Leal was friends with Davis at that time. Davis kicked Custer and Fields out of the house soon after Custer arrived, because she found that the two men and McCormick were doing drugs in her home and planned to ship drugs to her house in the mail. Shortly after this, a feud began in which McCormick claimed Custer and Fields owed him money for drugs never delivered.

“He (McCormick) had given Billy and Jason money so they could get drugs shipped here,” Leal said.

McCormick reportedly informed Leal that the drugs never arrived and he was never paid back. The three men threatened each other through phone calls and texts in the days before the shooting.

“Adam was pretty upset about it,” Leal said.

Leal repeatedly claimed on the stand that he did not get involved in the fight himself. Although Fields claimed that Leal fueled the conflict by telling Fields the debt was owed to Leal, Leal’s own testimony refuted this.

On the night of the shooting, Leal and McCormick went to Davis’s house for a party with mutual friends, but she soon kicked McCormick out.

“Amber started freaking out, that he couldn’t be there,” Leal said.

When he and McCormick left to return to Leal’s home, the others at the party followed. At this point Leal thought the conflict was resolved.

He told the court the night was fairly calm and everyone was having fun until Davis began screaming at McCormick. Leal then argued with Davis because he didn’t want any drama at his house. Leal claimed that McCormick’s demeanor was normal that night and he hadn’t seen him use any drugs.

“He was there to have fun and hang out with his friends,” Leal said.

Leal then described the shooting, from his perspective. He, McCormick and another friend, Josh Wright were standing outside Leal’s home with when a pickup they recognized as belonging to Fields pulled up.

Custer got out of the truck and yelled, “Adam.” McCormick turned around and said, “What?” Then Custer shot McCormick, Leal said.

Leal did not see the gun until the man shot his friend.

“Adam buckled over,” Leal said.

Then, Leal heard another shot.

“He was almost completely on the ground,” Leal said.

Custer walked back to the truck quickly. Leal followed him and jumped on the running board and punched Custer in the face before he drove away. When Leal turned, McCormick was hunched over holding onto the jeep in the driveway. Wright called 911.

“There was blood everywhere and I didn’t really know where he was hurt,” Leal said.

Leal pointed out Custer in the courtroom as the man who shot McCormick.

Although Davis testified earlier in the trial that she didn’t know that McCormick had been shot until she arrived at the police station for an interview many hours later, Leal claimed that he spoke to her on the phone at some point that night and informed her about the shooting.

The defense then questioned if Leal had taken McCormick’s side in the dispute between the three men.

“It wasn’t about choosing a side,” Leal answered.

He maintained he wasn’t involved, but was a little upset when Davis kicked McCormick out of her home earlier that night. He was not aware of all the texts and phone calls going on between the men on the night of the incident, he said. Leal also dismissed the claim that he ever told Austin Roberts to deny he’d allowed Fields to borrow his gun, which is believed to be the murder weapon.

Josh Wright’s version of events for that night, although sometimes differing from Leal’s, largely corroborated his story. Wright claimed that there was certainly some tension at the party at Leal’s but it ebbed and flowed throughout the night and mostly people had a good time.

Wright was largely removed from the feud between the three mean, but had heard the dispute concerned money. Shortly before Wright, McCormick and Leal walked out the door that night, the other two men told Wright that something was going to go down and it would be best if he left, he testified.

Wright’s account of the shooting was very similar to Leal’s story. Custer pulled up in Fields’ pickup and shot McCormick twice, he said. At first, he thought it was a paintball gun, he said but soon realized it was real. Leal punched Custer and Custer drove away.

Wright recognized the gun as a black 9 mm assault rifle because he owns one himself.

He did not see McCormick or Leal anywhere near Custer, although he was laying on the ground during the shooting.

Jaclyn Durk, who had a child with McCormick, then took the stand. She testified about the weeks leading up to the shooting. McCormick moved in with her to be near his child in the early fall of 2012. Durk knew something was going on while the feud between Fields, Custer and McCormick took place, but McCormick didn’t tell her about it until she confronted him. He then told her he’d given Custer and Fields money to have drugs mailed to Davis’s, but never got the goods. He was very upset and scared, she said.

“He was afraid of getting beat up and jumped because there was only one of him and two of them,” Durk said.

Durk confirmed that she and McCormick hadn’t spoken for much of her pregnancy and that they continued to have problems even after he moved in with her because of his drug addiction. She suspected he was using methamphetamine and she’d heard around town that his friends were using it too.

“He was supposed to be getting his life together,” Durk said.

Officer James Bush of the Sidney police followed her on the stand and testified that he found brass knuckles in McCormick’s clothing, taken from the hospital, and that drug pipes were discovered in the residence where the shooting took place. The investigation also turned up a light bulb used for methamphetamine ingestion.

Lieutenant Keith Andrew of the Sidney police testified that the gun believed to be the murder weapon was found near Foster’s Lumber, on July 22, 2013. Police had searched the area many times in the past, but the gun was well hidden under grass and other vegetation.

Andrew also spoke about law enforcement’s failure to recover the second shell casing from the area around where the shooting took place. Police only found one 9 mm shell casing on scene. A previous story referred to multiple casings while, actually only one was found.

Testimony continues on Thursday.