The lone adult survivor of a May 2006 church shooting spree testified Tuesday the last thing she remembered after being shot in the head was her son-in-law, with a gun dangling from his hand, allowing her daughter to kiss her on the cheek and say goodbye.

“And then, I remember, he said in a voice I had never heard from him before, ‘Yes. Kiss your mother goodbye,’ ” Claudia Brown testified Tuesday in a loud, booming voice.
The testimony of Brown — the pastor of the Ministry of Jesus Christ Church, where the shooting occurred, and the mother of Bell’s wife, Erica — was the highlight of the first day of testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Bell, 27. Bell has been indicted on five counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.

Brown testified Tuesday she knew the only reason God saved her life was so she could testify in the trial.
“It was for this reason. To be here. My daughter can’t speak. My mother can’t speak. My father can’t speak. My cousin can’t speak. My aunt can’t speak,” Brown testified, listing her family members who died in the shooting spree.
Brown pointed to Bell in court and testified he was the man she identified to police as being the person who shot and killed her family and shot and injured her.

Bell, who is representing himself at trial after firing his defense attorneys in February, is facing the death penalty if convicted.
However, late Tuesday afternoon, Bell filed a motion asking state District Judge Todd Hernandez to reappoint one of the two public defenders Bell previously fired. Bell asked in the motion that attorney Greg Rome be his “exclusive trial counsel.”

Rome and prosecutors said after court Tuesday they did not know about Bell’s motion and had not seen it. Hernandez did not mention the motion in court Tuesday.

Rome and defense attorney Margaret Lagattuta were named “standby counsel” by Hernandez in case Bell needed some limited assistance with his trial.
Earlier in the day, prosecutor Mark Dumaine said in his opening statement that Bell wanted to make sure not to leave any adult witnesses alive in the Dallas Drive church two years ago.

“Every adult witness in that church was shot in the back of the head. It was brutal, premeditated and execution style,” Dumaine said.
But Bell, who is accused of fatally shooting four-in-laws inside the church, and Erica Bell later at an apartment complex, made one mistake, Dumaine said.
Claudia Brown, his mother-in-law, lived, Dumaine said.
Killed inside the church were Brown’s cousin Darlene Selvage, 47; her aunt, Doloris McGrew, 68; and her parents, Gloria Howard, 72, and Leonard Howard, 78.

Dumaine told jurors Bell had gone to the family church on May 21, 2006, and asked his wife if she would take him back.
After Erica Bell rejected Bell’s request, Bell walked out of the church, paced a while, then returned and began shooting, Dumaine said.
Bell said in his opening statement that he was not the killer. He told jurors his wife shot and killed her own family and later fatally shot herself after Bell confessed in the church service that he was having sex with Brown.
Bell told the jury that prosecutors cannot prove he shot the gun because his fingerprints were not found on the weapon.
“Two people know what happened in the church,” Bell said. “One of them has amnesia.

“But I can tell you what happened,” Bell told jurors. “I saw who shot her. It was her daughter. The truth will prevail.”
During Bell’s questioning of Brown, he asked if she saw him shoot her or anybody else in the church.

Brown said she did not see him shoot anyone but she repeated that she saw a gun dangling from one of his hands. Brown also testified she heard her mother, Gloria Howard, scream out, “Don’t shoot me Anthony. Don’t shoot me.”
Brown testified she heard her mother say those words after she heard some kind of commotion near the front of the church after services ended that morning.

Bell will continue questioning Brown at 9 a.m. today.

Source: The Advocate