Verdict expected today in man’s shooting trial

Nobody has been found who can say they saw Steven Burr pull the trigger.

His own neighbor of several years described a much bigger man running from the scene of a front-porch ambush and jumping into a car that wasn’t Burr’s. The victim heard nothing more than his assailant’s voice. Very little, if any, direct evidence ties Burr to the crime.

But a jury is expected to decide today if Burr, 56, is guilty of attempted first-degree murder or first-degree assault in connection with the Oct. 7 shooting of his ex-wife’s fiance, 56-year-old Terry Herzog, who survived.

Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz acknowledged that he has a tough job convincing the jury that Burr shot Herzog while he and Sandra Burr were eating dinner about 7:30 p.m. in their home at 1206 N. F St. in Spokane. But the deputy prosecutor thinks he has enough to secure a conviction.

Assistant Public Defender Jeff Compton, however, had little trouble Wednesday pointing out what he saw as holes in the prosecution’s case against his client.

“This case in its essence is really about jumping to conclusions and then looking at the evidence and seeing only those facts that support hasty conclusions,” Compton said. “As we all know, hasty conclusions rarely get us to the truth.”

Steinmetz’s case largely is built on the testimony of Herzog, who said he heard a voice – which he later said sounded like Burr’s – just after he was shot.

There’s plenty of circumstantial evidence, too.

Investigators, for example, found Burr’s distinctive walking stick, which had been given to him more than a year earlier by a neighbor, leaning against a bush outside the home. They obtained a search warrant for a home on Wabash Avenue where Burr had been staying and discovered Burr’s letters that read in part: “I’m taking it to (Herzog) where he feels safe. I want to look into his eyes, face to face,” according to court records.

A neighbor discovered bullets near the scene similar in caliber and type to those used during the shooting. No fingerprints were found on the bullets. The same neighbor also found vomit about an arm’s length from the bullets. Laboratory tests showed the vomit came from someone other than Burr.

Sandra Burr testified that she first divorced Steven Burr in the mid-1990s. The couple remarried in 1999, but Sandra Burr filed for divorce again in May 2004.

“He was very controlling,” Sandra Burr said of her ex-husband, who suffers from heart and back problems. “He yelled and screamed. He was very emotionally and verbally abusive. I got to the point that I wouldn’t know what he would do next. I was very scared.”

On June 24, 2004, while Steven Burr was hospitalized, Sandra Burr changed the locks on the house where they both lived. Steven Burr was adamant that she sell the house and give half the money to him, she said.

“I just couldn’t handle him being there any longer,” Sandra Burr said. “I couldn’t handle the stress.”

After that divorce became final in November 2004, Sandra Burr started dating Terry Herzog, a friend of some 30 years.

Herzog testified that he moved into the F Street home that fall. Herzog said he hadn’t seen much of Steven Burr until about 10 months prior to the shooting, when Burr approached Herzog in the driveway of Sandra Burr’s home.

“He wanted to know if I was living there. I said, ‘No. I was just helping Sandy out with a few things.’ He just took off walking,” Herzog said. “It was just a casual talk.”

Later Herzog testified that on the night of the shooting, he and Sandra both heard a voice. Herzog said he turned toward the open door. The outer door, made of glass and wire screen, was closed.

“I heard a sound like, ‘Hey.’ I looked over to the door that was open, saw a barrel blast and felt the bullet go in my chest,” Herzog said.

The porch light was off, and he couldn’t see the shooter. But Herzog said he heard a male voice say, “Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it.”

The bullet hit Herzog in the sternum. The bullet veered right, lodging between his ribs and his pectoral muscle, where it remains.

“I kind of laid over like this and then five more shots went off. I’m trying to get Sandy down out of the line of fire because bullets were flying. Glass and everything were flying all over the room,” Herzog said.

Sandra Burr said she crawled over the glass and called 911. “I thought I was a goner. I thought I was dead,” Herzog said.

The next day he told detectives that the voice he heard was Burr’s.

“It sounded like Steve Burr to me. He’s got a pretty distinct voice,” Herzog said on the stand.

Steinmetz asked Herzog how well he knew Steven Burr. Herzog responded: “Hardly at all.”

Compton, the defense lawyer, quizzed Herzog repeatedly about that response.

“You are telling us that you recognize this voice even though you didn’t spend any appreciable amount of time talking with Steven Burr?” Herzog, answered: “That’s right.”