The body-camera footage played that afternoon. It was longer than the videos circulating online, and its ordinary details proved important. Jurors heard Raymond asking whether he was suspected of a crime, watched Puit check the registration, and heard the invented claims about occupancy after the registration returned clean. They saw the officer position himself between Raymond and the front door and listened as he described the consequences of refusing a welfare check that had no apparent basis.
The footage also captured the transition in Raymond's voice when the baton appeared. He remained calm, but the words became firmer and more precise. The jury heard him warn that he would remove a credential wallet slowly, watched the badge open, and saw the baton fall to the concrete. Puit's stunned silence after recognizing the shield was not the beginning of the misconduct. It was the moment the misconduct became undeniable to the person committing it.
Henry Calder testified about the earlier stop with measured anger. He described his mechanic's uniform, the bus pass in his pocket, the missing crime report, and the complaint he filed afterward. He acknowledged that he could no longer remember every word said during the encounter. But he remembered the wall against his face, the loss of dignity in front of strangers, and the way the dismissal letter reduced all of it to an officer exercising discretion.
Malik Patterson explained how the detention outside the jobsite changed his employment prospects. Jerome Ellis described an officer treating an envelope of school donations as evidence of suspicious conduct even after he offered a readily verifiable explanation. In each case, Donner cross-examined them about memory, missing recordings, and the possibility of an honest misunderstanding. The prosecutor did not object merely because the questions were uncomfortable. He wanted jurors to see that these witnesses could answer challenges without pretending their memories were perfect.
When Raymond took the stand on the second day, the room was silent in a different way. He had testified in dozens of cases, but this time the subject was his own home, his own body, and the fear he had felt when an officer threatened Sandra. Webb asked him to begin with the Chevelle. Raymond described the estate sale, the six years of restoration, and the quiet Saturday routine. Several jurors smiled when he admitted that the car received more attention than some household chores.
Then Webb asked when the morning changed. Raymond described the slow approach of the cruiser and the officer's first words. He did not repeat speeches from the news or use the opportunity to condemn the whole department. He described each action in order, separating what he heard from what he inferred. When Webb asked about the threat to Sandra, Raymond paused for the first time in his testimony and looked toward the gallery.