Darnell Howard Trial: Defense questions credibility of surveillance video

By By EVAN WHITE

Story Created: Feb 26, 2008 at 1:05 PM EDT

Story Updated: Feb 26, 2008 at 6:25 PM EDT

UTICA - Jurors were in the midst of hearing testimony Tuesday in the trial of Darnell Howard, one of three young men charged with second degree assault for beating Utica Police Officer Dzenan Sabanovic in September.

Jurors listened to testimony from the Utica Police Crime Scene Unit who described how they obtained the tape of the incident. The defense questioned the credibility of the short section of video UPD extracted from the James Street market's recording device.

Jurors then saw a map illustrating where officers responded during the incident. Portions of the radio transmission were played, jurors heard that police headquarters checked on officer Sabanovic's status and never heard back.

The first officer to respond was Jeremy Nash. He took the stand and explained the scene as officers arrested Darnell and Terrell Howard -two of the three teens suspected of assaulting Sabanovic.

The defense questioned the screams from the transmission tape, coming presumably from Howard after police said everything was under control.

After hearing about the scene of the arrests, the defense appeared to question the amount of force used to apprehend the Howards, which included a claim that officer Nash threw Darnell Howards mother to the ground - a charge he denied.
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