Brittany Sater lost blood faster than doctors and nurses at Bloomington Hospital could put it back in her. Her hands had to be restrained to stop her from pulling out the tube in her throat so she could tell her mother about the man who shot her.
The prosecution presented a timeline leading up to Sater’s death in its opening statement. It was the first day of the trial against Johnny T. Moore, the man the state claims ordered Sater’s murder. Moore, whom the prosecution portrays as a scorned heroin and meth dealer who became resentful after Sater refused to buy from him, is being charged with felony murder, robbery and burglary.
The state told the jury a story about Moore, a woman named Billie Jean Edison, identified only as B.J., and Dennis Webb, who allegely shot Sater with an SKS assault rifle.
The defense tried to discredit Edison’s character by citing her shifting story of the night.
“This case is about blame shifting. The government’s key and critical witness will weave a story to save his own skin,” said Glen Koch, Moore’s defense lawyer.
Four witnesses were called for the prosecution.
Bloomington Police Department Officer Benjamin Burns was the first to respond after Sater’s neighbors called 911. The prosecution played a DVD of his body camera footage from Aug. 28 of last year, the night of the murder. The video showed Sater collapsed on her neighbors’ porch, blood smeared on the door and pooling on the porch, as she moaned in pain and begged Burns to take care of her dog, Harley.
Burns said he followed Sater’s ambulance to the hospital but she was unconscious by the time they arrived, so he could not question her further.
Sater’s neighbor Elke Pessl, an academic adviser at IU, said she saw a dark SUV and a silhouetted woman out her kitchen window before Sater began screaming. Pessl’s husband called Sater’s home landline and reached her grandmother, who alerted Sater’s mother and father.
Sater’s mother, Deanna Hawkins, cried as she recounted standing at her daughter’s head during the surgery to save her life.
“I asked her, ‘Did Nephew shoot you? Did Money shoot you? Did Memphis shoot you? Did B.J. shoot you?’” Hawkins said. Sater shook her head no to all but hesitated at the mention of B.J., who came to her house with the then-unknown shooter. “Nephew” is known otherwise as Johnny Moore.
Elliott Jordan, the second BPD officer called by the prosecution, testified that he and two other officers cleared Sater’s house after arriving on the scene. Her purse and phone were missing, two rings had been taken, and her safe was open with a few bills stuck in the door. He also found crack cocaine in the house.
Sater died at 9:46 a.m. the same day, almost exactly nine hours after she was shot.
“I went in and just held her,” Hawkins said.
Moore’s trial continues through this week.
