news-record.com

GREENSBORO (AP) — Attorneys laid out competing accounts Wednesday of a 2002 shooting in which a North Carolina deputy fatally shot one soldier and injured another during a traffic stop.

Both sides presented their positions in the federal lawsuit by Stephen Phelps against former Moore County Deputy Randall Butler. Butler shot two soldiers during a traffic stop while the men were participating in a Special Forces role-playing exercise called Robin Sage.

Phelps was wounded in the exercise that was the last step before becoming a Green Beret. Tallas Tomeny was killed.

Carlos Mahoney, an attorney for Phelps, portrayed Butler during opening arguments as a deputy who lost his temper when Tomeny stalled during a search. The lawyer repeatedly used his fingers to mimic a gun, pointing it at the jury to emphasize what he deemed was excessive force.

Mahoney said Butler shot Tomney even though the soldier was covering his face and staggering backward after Butler used pepper spray. He said Phelps was shot while trying to run from the scene.

Jim Morgan, an attorney for Butler, portrayed the deputy as a dutiful law enforcement officer who was thrown into a tragic series of miscommunications. The defense claims Butler saw what he thought were two machine guns in a bag and that the encounter escalated when the soldiers wouldn't comply with his commands and appeared to reach for weapons.

"He reasonably believed his life was in mortal danger," Morgan said after showing the jury an M-4 assault rifle similar to the one that was actually in the bag. "He didn't know they were soldiers. They were acting like criminals — dangerous criminals with nothing to lose."

Phelps briefly began his testimony Wednesday before a judge decided to break for lunch. He has recovered from his injuries and now lives in Florida working for Department of Defense contractor SOS International.

Butler is now the chief deputy in Lee County.

An attorney representing Tomeny's estate said he reached a settlement with Butler.

Butler has sued separately, saying the Army failed to inform others about the training exercise.