The Trial of My Nephew’s Killer Began Today

From the Detroit News:

Trial begins for Westland man accused in fatal shooting of Taylor officer

Doug Guthrie/ The Detroit News

Detroit— A jury of 12 is being selected Tuesday from a pool of 62 Wayne County residents to determine the fate of a Westland man accused of killing Taylor Police Cpl. Matthew Edwards.

Tyress Thearndos Mathews, 36, is charged with first-degree felony murder for the July 23, 2010, shooting death of the officer, dispatched shortly before 6 a.m. that morning to a breaking and entering complaint. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

The defendant, captured and held in the Wayne County Jail since shortly after Edwards’ slaying, was led by Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday into the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice courtroom of Circuit Judge Ulysses Boykin. His head is shaved, and he wore a blue suit and tie.

Witnesses have said Mathews was standing in the parking lot of the Coopertree apartment complex on Pine Street with a beer in his hand and a duffle slung like a backpack over his shoulders when Edwards and his partner, Taylor Police Cpl. Gregory Piche, pulled up in a patrol car.

Mathews is alleged to have told the officers he had a fight with his wife and wanted his keys so he could leave. When ordered to put down the bag, Mathews is alleged to have pulled a semi-automatic handgun from the bag and started firing. Edwards was struck by one bullet in the head, and Mathews is alleged to have stood over the officer firing five more shots.

Piche said he ran for cover, then returned fire and chased the gunman on foot. Piche has reported that he captured Mathews when the suspect ran out of ammunition.

“He looked up at me and said, ‘Just … kill me,'” Piche testified at a preliminary examination of the evidence against Mathews.

Besides the murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison without parole, Mathews also is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, punishable by up to five years in prison; use of a firearm in the commission of a felony crime, which carries a mandatory two-year sentence; and being a habitual fourth offender, which in this case also is punishable by up to life in prison.

dguthrie@detnews.com