Terry Mance testifies about the night his twin daughters were shot

CLEARWATER, Fla. (Court TV) — The trial of a skinhead accused of murdering a biracial girl and critically injuring her twin sister opened Thursday morning with a defense lawyer conceding that his client shot the 6-year-olds and was, in fact, a virulent racist.

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Jessy Roten's lawyer, however, told jurors during his opening statement that the shooting was an accident and urged them to convict him only of manslaughter, not the second-degree murder charge sought by the prosecution.

Roten, 19, is facing life in prison for the April 1999 slaying of his neighbor Ashley Mance. Prosecutors allege that Roten, a high school dropout who adorned his body with racist tattoos, was motivated by hatred when he fired a single bullet at the home of Ashley's biracial family. The bullet traveled through an exterior wall before striking Ashley and her twin, Aleesha, and nicking their 4-year-old stepsister, Jailene Jones.

Countering the suggestion that the shooting was an accident, prosecutor Lydia Wardell told jurors that Roten had bypassed 10 homes closer to his own house before "setting up" outside the Mance home. He may not have known that the bullet would kill Ashley, she said, but he knew children lived in the home and he chose to fire at it because the family was biracial.

Ashley Mance

"Nobody is saying that Jessy Roten intended Ashley Mance to die. What we are saying is that because of his beliefs, his lifestyle, his anger, he intended to shoot that house," she said.

Defense attorney Wesley Blankner told jurors that the gun went off accidentally as his client tried to dismantle it. He noted that only one shot was fired at the Mance home, and suggested that if his client was acting in a racist rage, he would have squeezed off more bullets.

"Why would he go down there with 84 bullets and fire only one shot?" he asked.

Blankner called the shooting a tragedy and warned jurors that testimony would be emotional. He urged them to put aside their feelings and concentrate on the evidence.

But the state's first witness indicated how difficult that task may be. Terry Mance, the victims' father, wept as he described the shooting. He testified that he was preparing for bed when he heard what he thought were two shots, then the screams of the young girls who were in another bedroom.

He ran into the room, "And when I turned on the lights, I just saw blood all over the bed," Mance said.

As his wife dialed 911, he tried in vain to give CPR to Ashley.

"I knew it wasn't helpful because every time I blew into her I heard the air come out of her," he said.

Prosecutors played a tape of the panicked 911 call and showed the jury pictures of the Ashley's body and the injuries suffered by Aleesha and Jailene.

Mance also recalled a run-in with four skinheads, one of whom he identified as Roten, outside his home six months before the shooting. He said he and his brother were drinking beer in their yard in October 1998 when the youths approached and yelled profane racial slurs at them.

On cross examination, Mance admitted that he first told police that he could not identify any of the skinheads because it was too dark. He testified that when they first asked him about the incident five days after the shooting, he was too preoccupied with the hospitalization of Aleesha to remember. Defense attorney Gregory Pond suggested Mance identified Roten only after seeing his face on television and speaking repeatedly to investigators. Mance denied this.

Roten's mother, Katherine Wooley, cried during some of Mance's tearful testimony.

Katherine Wooley, Roten's mother (Court TV)

But she was stone-faced later in the day, as the judge chastised her for talking to a prosecution witness about the case in the hallway.

Joyce Bierl, a witness for the state, said that she was outside the courtroom and about to enter when Wooley stopped her and asked her if she was there for the Roten trial.

When Bierl responded that she was, the woman asked, "Do you think he's guilty of a hate crime?"

Bierl said she answered yes — and that's when Wooley identified herself as the defendant's mother.

Judge Nancy Moate Ley (Court TV)

Both Bierl and Wooley were called to the stand to describe the events. Under oath, Wooley claimed that she was unaware Bierl was a witness. But Moate-Ley reminded Wooley that since she's on the witness list herself, Wooley is banned from discussing the case with anyone.

Prosecutor Wardell tried to have Wooley ousted from the courtroom for the remainder of the trial, charging that she's using her presence to intimidate witnesses.

But Moate Ley instead opted for a stern final warning, telling Wooley she's only jeopardizing her son's trial.

Joyce Bierl (Court TV)

"I assume you don't want to do anything to hurt your son," the judge said.

Bierl later took the stand again to testify before the jury. Bierl said she heard "rapid fire in the back of the house" at around 2:30 a.m.

She went back to sleep and then heard a single shot at around 4:30 a.m., she testified.

Another neighbor, Aldi Sanders, also testified that she heard gunshots a couple of hours before the fatal shooting. Mrs. Sanders said she saw a male with a very short haircut in the alley outside her house carrying a gun and called 911.

Two hours later, she heard a single shot and a gun-toting man running through the alley. Sanders admitted under cross-examination that she told detectives that she saw a different man the second incident. But during redirect by the state, Sanders agreed that when she called 911 a second time she said "he's back."

Sgt. Michael Ring, homicide unit supervisor of the Pinellas County Sheriff's office, testified about the interview he conducted with Roten following the shooting.

According to Ring, Roten voluntarily went with Ring to the stationhouse and answered questions about eight hours after the shooting. Not yet under arrest, Roten admitted to Ring that he was familiar with firearms and that he owned an SKS rifle, he testified. The weapon was later found under a piece of furniture in Roten's garage.

Also taking the stand were Officer Keith Somers, canine deputies Robert Livernois and Edward Littlejohn and paramedic Michael Gority, all of whom responded to the scene.

Testimony will resume Friday morning.