Prosecutors called several witnesses, including shooting survivor Tiana Carruthers. During her testimony, Carruthers sobbed loudly while stunned relatives of other victims watched Dalton being hauled away. Police have quoted Dalton as saying a “devil figure” on Uber’s app was controlling him.
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Last month Dalton was found mentally competent to stand trial, and today’s hearing was expected to determine if there was enough evidence to move Dalton’s case to trial court, The Associated Press reported.
During Dalton’s competency hearing in April, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said he would not use statements made by Dalton during interrogation after his arrest early February 21.
He is accused in three separate shootings.
Survivor Tiana Carruthers, who was on the witness stand, began weeping uncontrollably during his outburst.
Dalton then allegedly approached two cars in a Cracker Barrel restaurant parking lot and shot five people, police said.
The judge later ruled that Dalton was fit to stand trial on 16 felony charges.
Before the hearing was interrupted, Carruthers, 25, described how she was with children outside an apartment building when Dalton drove up.
Carruthers says she sees Dalton’s face “every time” she goes to sleep.
The hearing later resumed but Dalton was not allowed to return to the courtroom. Another witness, Alexis Cornish, 17, said she saw the killing of her boyfriend, Tyler Smith, and his father, Richard Smith, at a auto dealership.
State Police firearms expert Jeff Crump testified that they were able to match the shells and the slugs recovered from the crime scenes to Dalton’s Glock and Walther automatics by the tiny but distinctive scratches and marks left by the process of firing bullets from a particular weapon.
Haenicke must decide if there’s probable cause to send Dalton to trial on charges of murder and attempted murder.
As she testified, Dalton, 45, started speaking about “black bags” and mumbling.
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At that point, a group of bailiffs removed Dalton from his chair and dragged him from the room, as he refused to comply. He was driving for Uber that night.
