Thursday, May 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Former Metro Police Officer Ron Mortensen testified that he had protested fellow Officer Christopher Brady's decision to confront a group of reputed gang members, but he pursued his course until one was dead.
Wednesday's testimony was the first time Mortensen told his version of the Dec. 28 events that led to his arrest on murder charges. He took the opportunity, as expected, to point the finger of blame back at his one-time partner.
Brady already had named Mortensen as the gunman who killed 21-year-old Daniel Mendoza during a late-night incident in a neighborhood a few blocks east of the Strip.
The defendant's story, of course, contradicted Brady's version, and Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot continued to pick at those differences as his biting cross-examination resumed today.
Wednesday's testimony, however, also suggested the shooting incident may not have been an isolated occurrence by a Metro officer.
Mortensen said when he became upset by the gunfire, Brady told him, "Don't be a pussy, it's just going to come out as a (discharged weapon) call." He then added that it wasn't the first time a Metro officer was involved in such activity.
The defendant's testimony was confidently casual at many points, eager at others and always polite. Dressed in a gray sportcoat, black pants and button-down white shirt, Mortensen usually referred to his former friend and partner as "Mr. Brady."
Mortensen testified that when Brady tried to lure a gourp of young men to his truck as the incident began outside the apartment on McKellar Circle, he recalled telling the six-year Metro veteran, "Come on, Chris. Let's go. This is stupid."
Mortensen said a night of partying for his 31st birthday had taken its toll on him and he wasn't feeling well. He told the jury in District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski's courtroom that he had asked that Brady drive him home.
But he said Brady was determined to harass the men.
When they reached McKellar Circle, their reckless activity -- including racing and skidding Brady's truck through alleys and apartment complexes -- turned deadly serious.
Mortensen conceded, however, that until shots were fired he had been enjoying the antics of Brady, whom he described as "a character," and he didn't dispute testimony that he had been laughing during the confrontation with the men.
Mortensen testified that just after he suggested they leave, Brady yelled, "Look out!" and slid across the truck's seat to the passenger side, grabbing Mortensen's .380-caliber pistol as he did.
"He elbowed me in the chest, put his arm out the window and fired one shot," the defendant said. "He laughed and fired three more shots, pop, pop, pop."
Mortensen said Brady yelled, "Run, you better run" at the scattering men.
Mendoza, who was hit in the heart by one of the six bullets fired from Mortensen's semiautomatic pistol, made it only a short distance before collapsing.
Mortensen indicated that he grabbed Brady's shoulder to stop the shooting but Brady snarled at his friend to leave him alone and fired yet another shot.
That version of the incident is contradicted by early trial testimony from the surviving men, who testified that it was the bespectacled passenger who leaned from the truck and started shooting.
Mortensen said when he asked Brady why he opened fire, he referred to one man near the truck and said, "The son of a bitch had a gun and you just sat there."
"Dude, I didn't see anything," Mortensen said he replied, adding that he was in a panic because Brady had used Mortensen's pistol -- which had been sitting in the passenger seat -- in the shooting.
Brady, according to Mortensen, barked back: "Nobody comes up on me like that. I was just trying to scare him."
At that point, according to both men's versions, they did not yet know that anyone had been shot, much less killed.
Mortensen told the jury that when he continued to express his concern about the shooting and his belief that it would cost the pair their jobs, Brady "kept looking over at me and was making faces at me."
"He told me, 'Don't worry about it. It's no big deal, just chill out,'" the defendant said, recalling that Brady added, "I told you I was an evil man. I am evil."
Mortensen said after the shooting, he and Brady continued on to a bar frequented by officers from Metro's Southwest Area Command, where the birthday celebration continued. The defendant said he had several drinks and eventually got sick to his stomach.
A day later, they learned that Mendoza had died and talked on the telephone about turning themselves in to their Metro supervisor.
Mortensen quoted Brady as saying, "Dude, I was just screwing around. It was an accident," and suggesting that Mendoza died from a ricochet.
The defendant said that they decided to confess when they returned to work the following day -- 40 hours after the incident -- but when he arrived, Brady wasn't there.
He said that to avoid suspicion, he dressed in his uniform and attended the briefing session. It was then that he was called outside and arrested.
Four hours earlier, Brady had told his story to detectives and turned over the pistol, although he had said he was going to destroy it to prevent its use as evidence, according to Mortensen.
Until then, investigators conceded, there were few leads in the case.
In his cross-examination, Koot suggested Mortensen's claim that he intended to turn himself in was not believable because he had not told his wife of the incident and had dressed in his uniform for his shift.
Mortensen said he hadn't told his wife because he didn't want to upset her.
"Would she be less upset by a call from jail?" Koot asked.
It is expected that the defense case could be concluded today and, unless the prosecution calls several rebuttal witnesses, the jury could begin deliberations Friday following closing arguments.
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