Jurors hear testimony in fatal 2015 shooting case

Jurors heard testimony Wednesday that a bullet to the back killed 45-year-old William Poindexter in July 2015 in the East Central neighborhood.

The man accused of firing the shot is Edward Bushnell, 27, who claims he got into a fight with Poindexter while attempting to stop a domestic dispute.

The murder trial in Spokane Superior Court is expected to last into next week.

Prosecutors say Bushnell shot Poindexter twice in the back.

Bushnell told police after the shooting that he had been longboarding near Altamont Street and Fifth Avenue the morning of July 21, 2015, when he heard a woman screaming, according to records. He said that he then saw Poindexter assaulting a woman.

He said he tried to stop the assault and got into a fight with Poindexter. At one point, he said, he was hit hard in the face, court documents state.

As Poindexter and the woman walked away, Bushnell took a 9 mm Springfield Arms XD handgun from his backpack and shot Poindexter twice in the back, according to court documents. When asked by police what he was thinking, Bushnell allegedly said, “I couldn’t tell you. I guess protect myself and the girl.”

In the courtroom Wednesday, jurors heard from Spokane County Medical Examiner John Howard, who said Poindexter would have died from the first of the two shots to his upper back. The other shot only hastened the inevitable, he said.

“If this was the only wound he had, it would be fatal,” he said, referencing the gunshot wound on the left side of Poindexter’s back. “No one would survive this particular wound.”

Howard said the bullet from the left wound traveled through Poindexter’s spinal cord, then punctured his aorta, causing severe internal bleeding. The other shot punctured his right lung and exited the right side of his chest.

On Tuesday, prosecuting attorney Dale Nagy gave opening statements, and jurors heard testimony from Poindexter’s girlfriend, who had a no-contact order against Poindexter stemming from a March 2015 domestic violence charge. She attempted to have the restraining order dismissed several times, but it was still in effect at the time of the shooting.

Staff reporter Eli Francovich contributed to this report.