Cutting trial: Security camera footage captures events leading up to fatal shooting

ELIZABETHTOWN | Opening remarks and testimony from four witnesses framed day three of the murder case being tried in Essex County Court. Cody Cutting, of Moriah, is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and menacing in connection with the April 22 shooting death of Derek Sprague, who was known locally as "Boomer." Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone is prosecuting the case in place of Essex County DA Kristy Sprague, the victim's sister. Both arguments point to a tragic ending of what otherwise was a quiet day. Cutting went to the Eagles Club in Moriah that Sunday afternoon last April and settled at the bar for beers and shots with a female friend, according to opening statements. Boomer Sprague and another member of the social club, Aaron "Rocket" Turr, had shots with them. Over the course of a few hours, arguments and interactions between the three men were chronicled in video footage taken from a vantage point above the bar. For the duration of court proceedings, Cutting is out on bail, a move requested Monday by defense attorney Kevin O'Brien, of Albany, to allow preparations for trial. VIDEO EXAMINED The security camera film has no audio. But parts of the conversation were recounted in witness testimony Wednesday by the man bartending that day, Phil Bourque, and three other club patrons, each of whom saw various aspects of what transpired. That video was reviewed in segments, played and replayed, throughout much of the afternoon on Wednesday, first by the DA, then by O'Brien in Cutting's defense. Carusone described how Sprague walked into Eagles Club around 6:30 p.m. and saw Cutting and Aaron "Rocket" Turr at the bar. Video confirmed the time frame and showed Sprague sharing photos of his children with Turr from a cell phone. The defendant bought Sprague a shot of Jack Fire whiskey, Carusone said. "Within less than an hour and 45 minutes, he was shot in the neck," the lawyer said of the rapid sequence of events. Carusone pointed a finger near one side of his own neck to indicate where the shot was fired upward at close range. "The bullet exited through his skull," Carusone said. FOUL LANGUAGE The prosecution's case put a foundation on Cutting's repeated use of foul language and what Carusone called a "steady stream" of swearing. Saying f**k repeatedly, the DA said, was an aggravation that drove other social club members from the bar, including two older women who had stopped in for an evening drink. Cutting bragged about it, Carusone said, telling the jury the defendant claimed he "ran those two ladies out of here." He continued: "And Boomer (Sprague) got mad. He was furious at what happened." In direct questioning on the witness stand, Bourque testified how Cutting refuted Sprague's admonition. "He said he could do what he wants. He didn't like these old bags," Bourque recalled. The argument continued, Carusone told the jury, until the bartender suggested Sprague and Cutting go into the back meeting-room area and work it out, which they did. "He (Cutting) hugs Boomer about 30 to 40 minutes before he's shot," Carusone said. Bourque did testify that Sprague and Cutting made a bet in the back room: "Whoever said the F word ... would have to buy a shot." ANOTHER ARGUMENT WITH TURR After they settled their argument, according to testimony from several witnesses on Wednesday, Boomer Sprague left the Eagles Club for a short time to drive an intoxicated patron home. When Sprague left, Carusone said, an argument began between Cutting and Turr even as they raised another shot of whiskey. Video footage from the social club has no audio and prosecution wouldn't divulge the nature of the disagreement between Cutting and Turr. Direct questions to the bartender omitted details from that sequence of events. But when Sprague returned, he saw the argument going on, Carusone said. "Boomer grabs Cody Cutting and puts him on the ground," the DA said. "And Turr asks 'Is this what you wanted?'" Carusone said, laying out his case. "Instead of leaving, he (Cutting) is talking to the bartender and points to the camera and says, 'I want copies of that.'" Turning and heading for the door, Carusone said, Cutting remarked: "Let's take it outside." GUNFIRE Carusone outlined for the jury what happened next, indicating witnesses will testify to facts in the days ahead: Sprague followed few seconds behind Cutting with Turr the third to leave the bar. Then Turr sees Cutting open his truck door, Carusone said. "He sees the defendant introduce a handgun to the situation ... Boomer Sprague is unarmed, Rocket is unarmed. "Cutting points the gun and he racks it, Carusone said, which ejected a live round onto the ground. The gun, a 0.45 caliber Springfield, automatically loads another round. And then, Carusone told the jury, Boomer Sprague spoke: "You're not going to f**king shoot me." The two men fought behind the truck, Carusone said, before Sprague was shot into his neck. "Boomer dropped instantly." After that, Carusone said, Cutting walked back to his truck, put the gun inside it, and left the scene. While fleeing, he placed a a 9-1-1 call to police. Prosecution said testimony will show Cutting admits he shot Sprague. "It was the defendant that fired the shot...I believe evidence will prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that he created an exceptionally dangerous situation. "He had the option to leave safely. ... It was a choice ... how the killing occurred and the words he said afterward." SELF DEFENSE Defense, however, presented a different view of the same events, pointing to physical threats made by Sprague and Turr as Cutting sat at the bar. "It's not as simple as the government would have you think. "Yes, Cody did kill Boomer Sprague," O'Brien said. "But there is more." Yes, O'Brien said, Cutting was swearing. "Maybe he was doing it to annoy people, but that is not what this case is about." Sprague, the defense attorney said, felt like he ran the Eagles Club. "Mr. Sprague had fought someone from out-of-town there the week before," the lawyer told the jury. O'Brien pointed out how the argument between Cutting and Sprague was settled and only reignited when Sprague returned to find Turr yelling in Cutting's face. "Mr. Sprague sees Cody and Mr. Turr going at it... and comes over and physically assaults Cody." Security video shows, O'Brien said, how Sprague took the back of Cutting's hood and pulled him off of the bar chair onto his back on the floor. The video was played several times by O'Brien in cross-examination with Bourque on the witness stand. Defense asked repeatedly if Cutting physically threatened either Sprague or Turr. "Has he done anything even remotely physical?" O'Brien challenged. The bartender said Cutting had not. O'Brien ran the videotape in one and two-minute increments, asking the bartender why he didn't intervene when Sprague or Turr got physical. "Right at the time Mr. Sprague got back, but you asked Cody to leave?" the defense asked Bourque. Bourque said Cody Cutting wouldn't shut up. Then O'Brien asked Bourque if he told police how Sprague pulled Cutting's bar stool backward and thrown him to the floor. When Bourque said he didn't recall the statement made to police, O'Brien gave him a copy of it. "In fact you told police you didn't know who pulled Cody to the ground," O'Brien said. "Do you know why Cody followed Sprague outside?" O'Brien asked. "No," Bourque said. 'HE IS TRYING TO LEAVE' Even as he prepared to make his client's case clear to the jury, O'Brien said Cutting was threatened by Sprague and Turr. "All he was doing was sitting in his bar stool, drinking beer, doing shots, running his mouth." After he was pulled backward flat on the floor, "Boomer is on top of him, hands on his throat," O'Brien said of physical violence. "He (Cutting) is defenseless." Eventually, Sprague and Turr pull Cutting to his feet, O'Brien told the jury. But they continue to yell in his face, pounding their fists on the bar. Cutting gathers his things, pays Bourque, and shakes his hand. "He's not even yelling," O'Brien told the jury. "And that is very, very clear from the evidence you're going to see... he is trying to leave ... and immediately on his heels is Mr. Sprague. He doesn't think things are going to get better for him outside the bar," O'Brien said. Sprague was concerned about losing access to a social club that is very important to him, O'Brien charged. "He was leaving to go to the other bar where the president of the Eagles Club is. "They were bullying Cody ... They both end up following him outside. Cody knows his only chance is to have some sort of weapon ... and he grabs the only thing he hopes will make Mr. Sprague back off," O'Brien said. "He racks (the gun) to indicate 'hey, you've got to back off,'" O'Brien said. "Then Mr. Sprague snaps and goes at Cody," the defense attorney said. Sprague swings at Cody and tells Cody 'you're f**king not leaving." "Cody had no choice. How do we know that? Cody puts his gun back into the truck; he calls 9-1-1 immediately; he tells 9-1-1 (dispatcher) that something terrible happened; he is hiding because he is scared; he says 'Rocket, Boomer, they were gonna kill me;' you can hear the fear in his voice," O'Brien said of the 9-1-1 tapes to be played at trial. "And he asks for an ambulance because Cody doesn't know what happened (to Boomer)." O'Brien emphasized to jurors that Cutting was defending himself. "He didn't commit manslaughter. "He was falling backward, and that's how he pulled the trigger," O'Brien said of the gun's discharge. O'Brien likewise indicated to bullet's entry with his finger — the gun raised upward as Cutting fell back. Evidence in the case includes 41 exhibits. Two were entered in court on Wednesday. Testimony in the Cutting case resumes Thursday morning at 9:15. The jury of 12 plus two alternates is made up of 10 men and four women.

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Cutting trial: Security camera footage captures events leading up to fatal shooting

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