MOHAVE VALLEY — Trial is underway for a Mohave Valley man who was wounded during an Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) early this year. Attorneys presented opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Richard Crist, 68, at the Mohave County Law and Justice Center in Kingman.
Crist faces two aggravated assault charges, one count each for Mohave County Sheriff Sergeant Mike Goodwin and deputy Sal Gonzalez.
Deputy Mohave County attorney Jacob Cote told the jury that the case began when Crist called a crisis hot line on February 8.
“He made suicidal comments, said he wanted to kill himself,” Cote said. “He also made some comments about harming others as well.”
Cote said Goodwin was driving the lead law enforcement vehicle approaching Crist’s home in the 8200 block of South Green Valley Road. He said Gonzalez passed Goodwin in an attempt to get closer after seeing a subject appearing to be holding a block object up by his face.
The prosecutor said Goodwin subsequently spotted the subject and believed the person to be pointing a weapon at him as officers drove by Crist’s residence, parking two homes down the block. He said Crist refused commands to drop what turned out to be a BB gun before Goodwin shot him multiple times in the breezeway between his home and a detached garage.
Crist was taken into custody and flown to Las Vegas where he was treated for his gunshot wounds.
Cote said Crist is guilty of the two assault counts for placing Goodwin and Gonzalez in reasonable imminent fear or threat of injury or death.
“You will see that this was a tragic misunderstanding, not a violent crime,” countered defense attorney Ross Carponelli. “Mr. Crist never pointed a gun at anyone, not once.”
Carponelli said Crist neither pointed nor fired the BB gun.
“There will be no evidence that he intended to threaten, scare or harm anyone,” said Carponelli. “No officer ever heard Mr. Crist make a threat.”
Carponelli said holding does not constitute pointing a weapon, and that any fear by the officers does not necessarily constitute a threat.
Judge Lee Jantzen is presiding over the trial.
