Beckwith testifies; case to jury
A Mohave County Superior Court jury returns to the Law and Justice Center in Kingman this morning to begin its deliberations in a trial where there’s no dispute that Carter Beckwith, 19, shot and killed Daemon Petetan, 19, outside a house party in Lake Havasu City 18 months ago.
Beckwith provided dramatic testimony Thursday. His lawyer Jaimye Ashley called him to the witness stand to buttress Beckwith’s self-defense case in their bid for acquittal on a second-degree murder charge.
Beckwith said he was aware that Petetan allegedly sold drugs and guns and had formed a 3-member gang that was engaged in a fear and intimidation campaign around the community. He testified that Petetan had a propensity for violence and always carried a weapon.
“I never saw him without one,” Beckwith said. “I feared him.”
Beckwith testified that Petetan arranged for one of his friends to be jumped. Beckwith said that Petetan threatened he and three associates following that fight.
“I remember he told me and my friends that he had a bullet with each of our names on it,” Beckwith testified. He told the jury that he armed himself for self-protection about two weeks before his deadly encounter with Petetan in July, 2021.
Beckwith said Petetan arrived at the house party at 2387 Alpine Lane, that they exchanged some dirty looks before Petetan asked him if he “wanted to handle this like a man”. He said he was scared but didn’t want to look “weak” to his friends so he agreed to go the back yard hoping to resolve matters peacefully. He testified he anticipated possibly a fight, but not a shooting.
Beckwith said it wasn’t long when they were in the back yard before Petetan raised and pointed his weapon at him, but that he drew and fired his gun first.
“I pulled my gun out, cocked it and shot,” he said. “I was scared. I don’t know. I just panicked.’’
Beckwith, choking back tears, said he was confused as he fled to Parker where he put the murder weapon to his head before deciding not to commit suicide out of concern for those who love him. He slept in the vehicle for about an hour before police arrived and arrested him.
During his closing argument to the jury, prosecutor Rod Albright implied that Beckwith has had ample time since the shooting to manufacture his “story”, and that his trial testimony was much more detailed and was inconsistent and contradicted many statements he made to police following his arrest.
Ashley countered that those discrepancies were the result of police questioning a “scared kid”, 18 years old at the time, who was exhausted after his one-hour Parker nap after having been awake for 24 hours or more before.
Albright tried to flip the script, suggesting that Beckwith was the aggressor before the shooting, bent out of shape that Petetan had his friend “Danny” jumped. The point Albright hammered home most was that none of the party attendees or arriving police located the weapon Beckwith said Petetan pointed at him.
“Why couldn’t he keep his story straight is because there was no gun,” said Albright who said shooting an unarmed man is by no means self-defense. He questioned why Beckwith didn’t stay at the scene and lay out his gang-based fear and self-defense story rather than driving away.
“Why do you flee a scene,” Albright asked rhetorically. “You flee because you’re guilty. You’re trying to get away.”
Jury deliberations begin at 9:30 a.m.
Dave Hawkins
