T.J. ROYAL
The retrial of Bobby Ray Bordeaux for first-degree murder got underway today in Edgecombe County Superior Court after the first trial in September resulted in a knotted jury.
Back in September, Bordeaux, 39, admitted in court that he was responsible for the shooting death of 44-year-old Clifton Jackson, which occurred outside of the Hogs Pen Pub near Macclesfield on Aug. 31, 2008. But he said that he could not remember shooting Jackson or 50-year-old John Warlick, though, because he had a "blackout" due to being extremely intoxicated.
Though knotted on the murder charge, Bordeaux was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, for shooting Warlick at the bar that night. He shot Warlick in the side with a .22-caliber revolver, after witnesses said at the trial that he also shot Jackson in the back of the head at close range.
The murder proceeding was declared a mistrial after two jurors felt Bordeaux acted without premeditation in Jackson's death, wanting to find him guilty of second-degree murder. The other 10 jurors were convinced Bordeaux had control over his actions, acted with premeditation and wanted to find him guilty of first-degree murder.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Graham, who is again prosecuting the case for the state, was unavailable for comment Friday. He had said previously of the mistrial that "it happens" occasionally in first-degree murder cases. He said previously the state is prepared to move forward with its prosecution of Bordeaux today.
In the first trial, in showing the jury what legally constitutes premeditation, Graham held the pistol used by Bordeaux to the back of his head, cocked back the hammer and dry-fired the weapon.
But Dr. Moira Artigues, a forensic psychiatrist based in Cary, told the jurors that she was convinced Bordeaux could not have had control over, or premeditated, his actions last August because of his extremely intoxicated state that night. Bordeaux's wife, Robin, and Artigues testified that he had a history of alcoholism where he would act out and not remember his actions the following day. Sometimes those actions would result in him wounding himself.
Responding to Bordeaux's assertion that he could not remember the shooting acts, Graham said, "When he violates the law, all of his memory is gone. ... Once they cross the line and break the law, they don't remember anything.
"He's a cold-blooded murderer ... (and) he's going to try to dupe you folks.
The prosecutor noted that Bordeaux said he could remember riding a dirt bike several miles to the bar, in the dark and without a working headlight.
Graham also dismissed the psychiatrist's testimony as being the work of a "hired gun" on behalf of the defense.
Superior Court Judge Cy A. Grant, who presided over the September trial, also will preside over the retrial.
