9/2/2010
By ERIN MATHEWS Salina Journal

A Salina man on Wednesday was ordered to stand trial for a 2009 Salina shooting that left another Salina man paralyzed from the chest down.

Saline County District Court Judge Rene Young ruled there was probable cause to bind Antwon M. Pierce over for trial on attempted second-degree murder and other charges in connection with the shooting. The trial for Pierce, 30, was scheduled for Nov. 8.

The decision came at the conclusion of the second day of Pierce's preliminary hearing and after his attorney, Andrew Parmenter, argued that the state did not have sufficient evidence "to even infer there was intent to kill a human being in this case."

Saline County Attorney Ellen Mitchell argued that the evidence showed that within minutes of firing a shot into the air early on Feb. 8, 2009, outside The Grind, 301 W. Ash, Pierce fired the shot that hit Lonnie Riedel.

Riedel, who was paralyzed from the chest down when a bullet lodged near his spinal cord, testified Aug. 18 about being shot while leaving a party at The Grind. Authorities allege Pierce sprayed the area with bullets, one of which struck Riedel, shortly after Pierce and friends were expelled from the party following a fight.

On Wednesday, Kysha Satterfield, Pierce's ex-girlfriend, testified after receiving two subpoenas and a court order to appear. Initially, she said she attended the party alone and did not see Pierce, but then she acknowledged seeing Pierce there.

"I remember leaving because people were fighting and shoving each other around," she said. She said she ran outside and drove to a friend's house. She said she didn't know Pierce's whereabouts, and she didn't remember hearing any shots fired.

A Journal headline

She said she first became aware of the shooting when she saw a Salina Journal headline.

Satterfield said her memory of that night was impaired by alcohol and marijuana use, and she agreed that an account she gave police shortly after the incident would be more accurate.

Investigator Sean Furbeck, of the Salina Police Department, testified that Satterfield told him in an interview Feb. 11, 2009, that she went to the party with Pierce and was there about half an hour before they left to go to a bar and then a friend's house. Furbeck said she did not describe a fight or disturbance.

Furbeck said when he interviewed Pierce, he initially denied attending the party but later acknowledged being there. He said Pierce told him he was "pushed out" the door of The Grind with a large group of people near the entrance.

Used the same gun

Zachary Carr, a forensic scientist with a Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratory, said he examined eight spent .22-caliber cartridges and one fired bullet collected in the area of The Grind.

Carr testified that he was able to determine from firing pin strikes at the edge of the cartridges that two of them had been fired from the same weapon. He said the firing pin markings left on the other six cases he examined weren't distinct enough to tell whether they were fired by that weapon or a different weapon.

He said he could tell from other markings on the sides of all eight cartridge cases that they had all been "cycled through" the same weapon.

Mitchell said one of the eight shell casings examined was found near the door of The Grind, where Pierce shot into the air, according to witness testimony. The other seven were collected along Ninth Street in the vicinity of where Riedel was shot.

n Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at emathews@salina.com.

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