Loren Wade on trial for murder

Former ASU running back charged

 by Brian Indrelunas/The State Press
 published on Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Ralph Freso / COURTESY OF THE EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

Wade appeared in court Monday for the start of his murder trial's second week.

Ralph Freso / COURTESY OF THE EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

Wade listens to the opening statements from the prosecution during the first day of his trial May 15.

Ralph Freso / COURTESY OF THE EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

Wade’s former teammate and current Chicago Bear linebacker, Jamar Williams, testifies May 21.

Ralph Freso / COURTESY OF THE EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

Wade’s then girlfriend Haley van Blommenstein wipes a tear from her cheek as she testifies May 21.

Ralph Freso / COURTESY OF THE EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

Wade’s defense attorney Ulises Ferragut and girlfriend at the time of the shooting Haley van Blommenstein re-enact how close she was to Wade the night of March 26, 2005.

After two weeks of trial, the fate of a former ASU football player could be decided this week.

Loren Wade, a former Sun Devil running back, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with a 2005 shooting outside a Scottsdale nightclub that left another former ASU football player, Brandon Falkner, dead.

The prosecution and defense don't dispute that Wade reached into Falkner's car to punch him with gun in hand in the early morning hours of March 26, 2005. Neither side contests that Falkner was killed when the gun fired and he was shot in the head.

At issue is whether the fatal shooting was a separate, intentional act or an unintended event tied in with the punch.

"Our position is not that Mr. Wade's not responsible but that he did not commit this intentionally," said defense attorney Ulises Ferragut, who will continue calling witnesses when the trial resumes Tuesday afternoon.

Before wrapping up the state's case against Wade last Wednesday, prosecutor Juan Martinez spent the better part of two weeks trying to prove that the shooting fits Arizona's definition of first-degree murder - that it was premeditated and intentionally or knowingly committed.

Martinez has said Wade killed Falkner in a "moment of decision."

The prosecution called a number of eyewitnesses to the shooting, some of whom said they had seen or heard Wade rack his gun, an action that brings a bullet into the chamber so that it can be fired.

Falkner was shot as he sat in his car outside the CBNC nightclub, near Scottsdale and McDowell roads, which he had just visited with the three other men in his car.
Passengers Cale Readis and Tyrone Bowers both said they heard Wade rack the gun. But they differed on whether he did so before or after he punched Falkner.
Both men, though, said they saw Wade punch Falkner with gun in hand and then, in a separate motion, shoot him.

"He drew the gun back, chambered it and then he fired," Readis said.

Antoine Manning, a friend of Readis' visiting from Washington state, was also in the car and testified that he saw Wade rack the gun after loading ammunition into the weapon.

Outside the car, Haley van Blommestein said she stood a few feet away from Wade, who was then her boyfriend, repeatedly shouting, "No."

Van Blommestein said she and a friend had planned to meet up with Falkner's group after the nightclub closed. But while on the phone with Wade as she walked out of the club, she asked Wade to pick her up instead. Van Blommestein said she was telling Falkner about the change in plans when Wade walked up to the car.

"Loren hit Brandon in the face," she said. "At that point he had a gun.
"And then I saw the bullet [hit] the left side of his head, and his head fell and the car shot forward."

Van Blommestein said she didn't remember how much time elapsed between the punch and the shot and didn't see whether Wade racked his gun.

Levise Robertson, the friend who accompanied van Blommestein when they went to meet with Falkner, said she didn't see Wade holding a gun, but heard the shot.

"[I saw] him walking up to the car and the sound - the pop," she said. "I didn't think it was real."

The prosecution also called law-enforcement officials who testified about the investigation, the firearms examiner who tested Wade's gun and the medical examiner who performed Falkner's autopsy.

Steven Valdez from the Scottsdale Police Department's crime lab said he found that the gun would not fire without the trigger being pulled. But he said the gun did not eject used bullet casings as it should, and one of the weapon's two safety mechanisms didn't work.

Valdez said that if the safety on the grip of the gun was disengaged by being held, the gun could be fired regardless of the setting of a safety switch on the side of the weapon.

Dr. Mark Fischione of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office said Falkner's gunshot wound was caused by a gun fired anywhere from six inches to three feet away from the head.

Family members, including Wade's mother and Falkner's father, and friends have been in attendance throughout the trial. The high-profile case also attracted Tempe resident Zeke Sanchez.

Sanchez said he often attends ASU football practices and has talked with both Wade and Falkner after practice during their respective years on the team.

"I always considered them both friends," he said. "They were great guys."

State Press editor Matt Stone
contributed to this report.

Reach the reporter at
brian.indrelunas@asu.edu