Shooting trial gets started with a debate over the role of racism

By Lary Oakes
Star Tribune

RED LAKE FALLS, MINN. - The prosecutor apologized up front, telling jurors in a trial that got underway Monday that they'd be hearing the "n-word" a lot in the next few weeks.

James Waltz's use of the word, as described by witnesses, will help show that he was motivated by racial hatred when he shot and wounded Ricky Davis outside a bar in International Falls, Minn., in November 2004, Koochiching County Attorney Jennifer Hasbargen said in her opening statement.

She said testimony will show that Waltz, 67, who is white, shot Ricky Davis, 30, who is black, that night because, "to quote the defendant, Mr. Davis is a [racial slur] and he [Waltz] was going to kill himself one, one day."

But in detailing Waltz's defense strategy publicly for the first time, attorney Bruce Biggins accused Davis himself of causing the shooting.

Biggins asserted in his opening statement that Waltz shot Davis accidentally after pulling out what he thought was an unloaded semiautomatic pistol.

"This is about a bully who was trying to be a tough guy and take a gun away from a drunk old man," Biggins said.

Waltz, a retired welder and fishing guide, is charged with attempted murder, assault and terroristic threats in connection with the shooting, which Davis survived. The trial was moved from International Falls to Red Lake Falls because of concerns about pretrial publicity and because previous prospective jurors saw Waltz in handcuffs.

Hasbargen said Waltz turned violent after a night in which he grew agitated because he didn't like the presence of Davis and several other black men in the Viking Lounge, which Waltz frequented. He's accused of following Davis into the parking lot, shooting him in the stomach and then pointing his gun at several of Davis' friends, who also are black.

Under state law, if the jury concludes that Waltz is guilty and that he selected Davis as his victim because of race, District Judge Charles LeDuc could depart from state guidelines and increase a sentence for attempted first-degree murder from more than 16 years to 20 years.

Biggins asked the jury to resist becoming "inflamed" by the racial epithets, some of which he admits Waltz used.

"The fact that Mr. Waltz may have used [the n-word] under pressure in an alley or after he was arrested does not mean this case is racially motivated," Biggins said. "This is a bar fight, and this is a bunch of drunk people ... and sometimes people are crude."

LeDuc told jurors the trial could last as long as a month.