Cheever trial nears its close
Ron Sylvester
Originally published 01:32 p.m., October 30, 2007
Updated 01:32 p.m., October 30, 2007
EUREKA — Today a jury was hearing closing arguments and might begin deliberations over what role Scott Cheever played in the killing of Sheriff Matt Samuels.
Cheever has admitted killing Samuels on Jan. 19, 2005. The 12 jurors will determine the degree of Cheever’s criminal intent. Part of the decision could rest on how much of a role methamphetamine played in Cheever’s actions that day.
Samuels was shot to death when he tried to serve arrest warrants on Cheever for allegedly stealing firearms from his stepfather and for not reporting to his parole officer.
Evidence ended Monday with disparate opinions from experts in pharmacology and psychiatry on just how high Cheever was on meth the day he shot the sheriff.
Authorities did not order lab tests that day, which would have measured Cheever’s level of intoxication.
On Monday, Lee Evans, dean of the school of pharmacy at Auburn University, testified for the defense that Cheever’s use of meth kept him from making sound decisions.
Evans, who holds a doctorate in pharmacy, said the level of meth that Cheever said he took can change the structure of the brain — especially areas commanding decision-making, reasoning and consequences of actions.
“He would use all he could get his hands on, all he could manufacture,” said Evans, who had interviewed Cheever.
Such prolonged use can show lingering effects for at least six months after a person stops using the drug completely, Evans said.
That may explain why Cheever wrote letters bragging about killing Samuels in the weeks and months following his arrests, Evans testified.
Evans said Cheever now seems calmer. In his testimony on Friday, Cheever said he was sorry for what he’d done.
Evans testified that on the day of the killing, however, Cheever would have had “no judgment at all.”
Michael Welner, a professor of psychiatry at NYU, said Monday that Cheever knew what he was doing when he fired.
“He made a decision to shoot when he did,” said Welner, testifying as a rebuttal witness for the state. “And when he stopped shooting, he made a decision to stop shooting.”
If meth controlled Cheever’s violence it would have erupted in the months of bingeing leading to Samuels’ shooting, Welner said.
“He injected, injected, injected, continuously injecting on what some would describe as runs,” said Welner, a medical doctor specializing in forensic psychiatry.
“And he did not become homicidally violent,” Welner said. “He became violent after methamphetamine use on a much smaller scale.”
Jurors will likely have these choices:
• Capital murder: the unlawful, intentional, premeditated killing of a law enforcement officer.
• First-degree murder: the unlawful, intentional, premeditated killing of another person.
• Second-degree murder: the unlawful, intentional killing of another person.
• Or jurors could find Cheever not guilty.
If Cheever is convicted of capital murder, jurors would then decide whether he would face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
A noncapital conviction would send the case to Judge Mike Ward for sentencing.
Jurors also will decide six other criminal charges against Cheever, including the attempted murder of four law enforcement officers, manufacturing meth, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
yellow82 (anonymous) says...
GUILTY ON ALL SEVEN CHARGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 30, 2007 at 5:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
guilty, he had been called and told the sheriff was on the way to servea warrant, and made his decision before to sheriff got there, hope he hangs
October 30, 2007 at 7:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
marebear14 (anonymous) says...
Cheever made a lot of decisions before he decided to pull the trigger. He decided to use drugs, he decided not stick with the programs and rehab when he was offered the rehab and half way house. He then decided to keep using drugs. He apparently decided to steal some guns, so he was planning to do something with them. Then he decided not to let the police arrest him. Then decided to shot the officer that came to arrest him. He made a lot of decisions. To bad they weren't better decisions. I vote for guilty of murder of a law enforcement officer.
October 30, 2007 at 9:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cddarbro06 (anonymous) says...
Cheever should be guilty on all seven charges. He made the choices that got him to where he is today. If he stole the guns, he obviously had plans to use them. And, If he was capable of operataing a hand gun, then he was capable of knowing what he was doing when he pulled the trigger and killed Samuels. He should spend life in prison AT LEAST! If he only gets sentenced to so many years, he will eventually be back on the streets and free to shoot someone else!
October 30, 2007 at 10:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
I still think they oughta get 6 months and rehab for even thinking about this stuff.Second arrest-a bullet in the head in front of the courthouse right after trial.Maybe in full view of the jail population,too.
October 31, 2007 at 4:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
if someone kills another person, they should be given the death penalty, and they should be killed using the same method they used on the victim, no more letting them pick a last meal, say goodbye to family, no more painless injection that kills swiftly, and no more years of going to court in hopes of getting off the hook
October 31, 2007 at 7:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )