MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tremaine Wilbourn took the stand Saturday to tell the court he would not testify in his own defense in the murder trial of Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton.
Court concluded around 4:30 following closing arguments and jurors will return to deliberate at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Wilbourn originally said that he would testify and give his account of what happened on that August night. It’s unclear why he may have changed his mind, but prosecutors would have been able to bring up his troubled past.
Defense attorney Juni Ganguli said there was no evidence of premeditation, but Judge Coffee disagreed and said a reasonable jury could and should conclude that it was premeditated.
“His face was basically ripped off,” the judge said. “This is, in fact, a particularly cruel killing.”
The judge indicated from testimony that Wilbourn had calmly told a woman after the killing that he needed to borrow her car because he had just killed a police officer.
Charges against Wilbourn are: First-degree murder, carjacking, employing a firearm in commission of a dangerous offense and felon in possession of a firearm. Jurors can find him guilty of the above or a lesser charge.
The state has rested its case. The jury took a field trip to the crime scene Friday.
Bolton was killed in 2015 as he was investigating a car parked the wrong way on a neighborhood street in Parkway Village. Bolton was shot at least eight times, but did not remove his weapon from his holster.