Attorneys want to bring Renisha McBride’s past into the courtroom

Reported By Liku Zelleke

At about 04:40 a.m. on November 2, last year, 19-year-old Renisha McBride was involved in a car accident. Instead of waiting for help, she fled the scene and, over three hours later, appeared on the front porch of Theodore Wafer’s Dearborn Heights, Detroit, MI, home.

Wafer, 55, fatally shot her in the face through a screen door. It was later found that she had alcohol and marijuana in her system.

Wafer is in court facing charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter without malice and felony firearm.

Now, according to reports, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office wants to keep indecent details about McBride’s life out of the courtroom and Judge Qiana Denise Lillards must decide whether or not a jury will hear about it. She will be holding a pretrial conference, regarding the issue, on Friday.

Among the details that Worthy’s office is trying to withhold are McBride’s criminal past, slanderous cell phone images and a previous car crash into a house.

The image is reported to show McBride with cash, marijuana and a gun. Her criminal record includes a retail fraud conviction and it is also alleged that during the accident that involved the house, she and the occupants (whom witnesses said appeared to be intoxicated), fled the scene.

One of the mysteries of that fatal early morning was the three-hour absence of McBride, from the time she crashed her car until she was shot on Wafer’s porch.

The jury will have to determine whether Wafer’s actions were caused by his fear for his life or whether it was simply negligence or even malicious intent.

Meanwhile, Wafer’s lawyer, Cheryl Carpenter, has been quite busy. She is looking to disqualify the judge, reveal the disputed evidence regarding McBride, have the trial moved to another county (citing the attention that the case has brought) and negate the bind-over from the District Court.