CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — The trial for a man accused of killing a Daytona Beach police officer continued Tuesday in Clay County.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Othal Wallace is accused of shooting Officer Jason Raynor in June 2021. Raynor died weeks later.
Prosecutors played graphic body camera video Monday from a second officer who arrived seconds after she saw her colleague lying on the ground hurt.
It brought Raynor’s family and some jurors to tears.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
On Tuesday, social media posts were a major argument.
Prosecutors said Wallace posted on Instagram two hours after the shooting.
Read: LIVE: JFRD Chief ‘pretty confident’ everyone safe after partial parking garage collapse in Riverside
His voice could be heard over a dark screen saying “Black power,” and telling people to not let the police -- or as he called them: “pigs” -- mess with them.
During witness testimony Tuesday, there emerged a clearer picture of what Wallace did and with whom he spoke after the shooting.
His attorneys seek to prove he was acting in self-defense and that Raynor approached him unlawfully.
Read: ‘More than just a Good Samaritan:’ Woman hit and killed trying to save dog honored and remembered
Tuesday was the second day of the trial that Wallace’s social media activity was at the center of prosecutors’ arguments.
On Monday, they displayed and read posts written by Wallace weeks before the shooting.
“One day, I will take great honor in taking pigs’ blood on my boots,” he wrote.
Read: MTV Video Music Awards: Here is the list of winners
When questioning the state’s witnesses, Wallace’s defense team has been dialing back to the days prior to the shooting.
Daytona Beach police Detective David Dinardi, the lead detective on the case, took the stand Tuesday.
Wallace’s attorney asked him if his reports mentioned what Raynor was doing at the apartment complex on Kingston Avenue the night of the shooting.
“You made no reference of Officer Raynor going after a stolen vehicle,” Wallace’s attorney said. “You made no reference of the reason Officer Raynor approached my client.”
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Even so, prosecutors worked to keep the focus on Wallace’s motive for pulling the trigger.
His father, Oltha Wallace, told jurors his son called him and asked to borrow a car that night.
“He just said he had some stuff going on, and he needed to get away,” the defendant’s father said. “He said, ‘Cop shot. I gotta get away.’”
Read: ‘I suck at playing Simon Says’: Corey Harrison of ‘Pawn Stars’ explains DUI arrest
His father said he answered once and then turned off his phone.
On Tuesday, a detective also described his interaction with Wallace when he found him hiding in a treehouse days after the shooting.
CLICK HERE to read the original story by WFTV.
Read: Drew Barrymore dropped as National Book Awards host after writers strike pushback
Read: Customs officers seize more than $1.1M of meth at US-Mexico border
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
