needanak
01-27-2000, 04:40 PM
Video shows slain deputy's final minutes
By Mara Shalhoup
The Macon Telegraph
BRUNSWICK - The man in the white pickup truck stopped just past the white picket fence, jumped out of the cab onto Whipples Crossing Road and met the Laurens County deputy who had followed him there.
Kyle Dinkheller
Andrew Brannan
"Come on back here for me, sir," the deputy said cordially. "How are you doing today?"
"OK," the man answered. He looked into the video camera mounted in the patrol car, likely without knowing it was taping him.
It was likely, too, that he didn't know what he was about to do, according to the attorney who's arguing to clear the man of murder - and save his life.
On Tuesday, the second day of Andrew Brannan's death penalty trial, a Glynn County jury watched the tape that showed the last five minutes of Kyle Dinkheller's life: 5:32 to 5:37 p.m., Jan. 12, 1998.
Brannan walked toward the patrol car, toward Dinkheller who stood just outside the driver's door.
"Take your hands out of your pockets," Dinkheller, 22, said just after Brannan said he was doing OK.
"Why?" Brannan asked angrily. He then lapsed into an expletive-laden rage.
"He has an exaggerated startle response," said defense attorney Richard Taylor during his opening statement Monday. "Loud sounds send him into a fit, sudden movements send him into a fit."
The jurors could not see Dinkheller. The microphone mounted on his right shoulder recorded no startling noise.
What they did see was Brannan hopping from one foot to another, waving his left and then his right hand in the air as if dancing. They heard him yell "shoot me," three times, and watched as he lunged off screen at Dinkheller.
"Sir, get back now," Dinkheller screamed. "Get back, get back."
Brannan ran back onto the screen again and mumbled about being a "Vietnam combat veteran."
He lunged again at Dinkheller, who again asked him to back off.
The camera in the patrol car kept the time. At 5:35 p.m., three minutes into the tape, Brannan crawled into his truck.
"Sir, get out of the car ... get away from your vehicle," Dinkheller said.
Brannan stepped out of the Toyota with an M-1 carbine, a high-powered military weapon.
"Put the gun down," Dinkheller repeatedly screamed, his breathing heavy. Twenty-six seconds later, Brannan started shooting. One shot hit the windshield. Brannan ran to the passenger side of the car. The shots continued over the car. Some hit Dinkheller.
At 5:36 p.m., Brannan ran back to his truck. According to earlier testimony, he reloaded the rifle there.
"Stop now," Dinkheller cried.
The tape showed Brannan, eye to his rifle's sights and finger at its trigger, walking slowly toward the driver's side of Dinkheller's patrol car, firing rhythmically. Dinkheller's screams and moans could be heard. There was a 4.7 second delay. There were more of the deputy's screams and more shots fired.
Somewhere in there, Brannan said: "Die."
Then, the camera still ticking at 5:36 p.m., Brannan walked back to his truck and drove away. The microphone recorded a gasping and gurgling noise from Dinkheller. It recorded his 13 last breaths.
Dinkheller was shot a total of 10 times: once in the right lower leg, the bullet embedding itself in bone, according to testimony from a GBI medical examiner; once in the left foot and toes; once in the left shoulder; once in the left arm; once in the left armpit; once in the left chest; twice in the back; and twice in the head.
Brannan, who was shot once, fired about 30 times.
"He said he hated that it happened," according to the testimony of Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Terry Pelfry. "But the boy just wouldn't leave him alone."
Pelfry rode with Brannan, who suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen, in an ambulance the day after the shooting. Brannan was caught that morning and arrested on his ride to the hospital.
When describing the shooting to psychologist Robert Storms, Brannan said things like, "I was engaged with a target," and, "I had to put up a volume of fire."
Brannan, 51, a Vietnam veteran who spent 15 years in and out of treatment for combat-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Storms, who testified for the defense Tuesday after the state closed its case with the videotape, said he has interviewed many accused murderers about their alleged crimes.
"I've never heard anybody describe it in these (military) terms," Storms said. "I don't know any other way to characterize it but bizarre."
He said his opinion was that Brannan was suffering from a flashback to Vietnam, that as he reached for his rifle, he heard bamboo clicking and felt that he had to protect his fellow soldiers.
"My opinion," Storms said, "is that he did not have the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong."
Testimony will continue at 9 a.m. today in the Glynn County Courthouse, where the trial was moved because of extensive publicity in Laurens County and Middle Georgia.
By Mara Shalhoup
The Macon Telegraph
BRUNSWICK - The man in the white pickup truck stopped just past the white picket fence, jumped out of the cab onto Whipples Crossing Road and met the Laurens County deputy who had followed him there.
Kyle Dinkheller
Andrew Brannan
"Come on back here for me, sir," the deputy said cordially. "How are you doing today?"
"OK," the man answered. He looked into the video camera mounted in the patrol car, likely without knowing it was taping him.
It was likely, too, that he didn't know what he was about to do, according to the attorney who's arguing to clear the man of murder - and save his life.
On Tuesday, the second day of Andrew Brannan's death penalty trial, a Glynn County jury watched the tape that showed the last five minutes of Kyle Dinkheller's life: 5:32 to 5:37 p.m., Jan. 12, 1998.
Brannan walked toward the patrol car, toward Dinkheller who stood just outside the driver's door.
"Take your hands out of your pockets," Dinkheller, 22, said just after Brannan said he was doing OK.
"Why?" Brannan asked angrily. He then lapsed into an expletive-laden rage.
"He has an exaggerated startle response," said defense attorney Richard Taylor during his opening statement Monday. "Loud sounds send him into a fit, sudden movements send him into a fit."
The jurors could not see Dinkheller. The microphone mounted on his right shoulder recorded no startling noise.
What they did see was Brannan hopping from one foot to another, waving his left and then his right hand in the air as if dancing. They heard him yell "shoot me," three times, and watched as he lunged off screen at Dinkheller.
"Sir, get back now," Dinkheller screamed. "Get back, get back."
Brannan ran back onto the screen again and mumbled about being a "Vietnam combat veteran."
He lunged again at Dinkheller, who again asked him to back off.
The camera in the patrol car kept the time. At 5:35 p.m., three minutes into the tape, Brannan crawled into his truck.
"Sir, get out of the car ... get away from your vehicle," Dinkheller said.
Brannan stepped out of the Toyota with an M-1 carbine, a high-powered military weapon.
"Put the gun down," Dinkheller repeatedly screamed, his breathing heavy. Twenty-six seconds later, Brannan started shooting. One shot hit the windshield. Brannan ran to the passenger side of the car. The shots continued over the car. Some hit Dinkheller.
At 5:36 p.m., Brannan ran back to his truck. According to earlier testimony, he reloaded the rifle there.
"Stop now," Dinkheller cried.
The tape showed Brannan, eye to his rifle's sights and finger at its trigger, walking slowly toward the driver's side of Dinkheller's patrol car, firing rhythmically. Dinkheller's screams and moans could be heard. There was a 4.7 second delay. There were more of the deputy's screams and more shots fired.
Somewhere in there, Brannan said: "Die."
Then, the camera still ticking at 5:36 p.m., Brannan walked back to his truck and drove away. The microphone recorded a gasping and gurgling noise from Dinkheller. It recorded his 13 last breaths.
Dinkheller was shot a total of 10 times: once in the right lower leg, the bullet embedding itself in bone, according to testimony from a GBI medical examiner; once in the left foot and toes; once in the left shoulder; once in the left arm; once in the left armpit; once in the left chest; twice in the back; and twice in the head.
Brannan, who was shot once, fired about 30 times.
"He said he hated that it happened," according to the testimony of Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Terry Pelfry. "But the boy just wouldn't leave him alone."
Pelfry rode with Brannan, who suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen, in an ambulance the day after the shooting. Brannan was caught that morning and arrested on his ride to the hospital.
When describing the shooting to psychologist Robert Storms, Brannan said things like, "I was engaged with a target," and, "I had to put up a volume of fire."
Brannan, 51, a Vietnam veteran who spent 15 years in and out of treatment for combat-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Storms, who testified for the defense Tuesday after the state closed its case with the videotape, said he has interviewed many accused murderers about their alleged crimes.
"I've never heard anybody describe it in these (military) terms," Storms said. "I don't know any other way to characterize it but bizarre."
He said his opinion was that Brannan was suffering from a flashback to Vietnam, that as he reached for his rifle, he heard bamboo clicking and felt that he had to protect his fellow soldiers.
"My opinion," Storms said, "is that he did not have the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong."
Testimony will continue at 9 a.m. today in the Glynn County Courthouse, where the trial was moved because of extensive publicity in Laurens County and Middle Georgia.