Trial Begins in Killing Over Nintendo

Paul Myers fatally shot his brother-in-law after a brief argument over the return of a Nintendo game, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Moorpark resident is accused of gunning down 26-year-old car detailer Jason Weaver, the father of a 2-week-old baby and the stepfather of a 7-year-old.

Bonnie Myers, who is expected to be called to the stand today, has said she watched her son shoot her son-in-law in the driveway of her Clemson Street home in Moorpark on Aug. 11, 1999.

During the daylong opening statements, Paul Myers sat attentively, occasionally rocking silently in his chair.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Calvert told the jury he would be seeking a murder conviction, but declined to say whether it would be first or second degree.

Calvert began by describing a scene in which Weaver and his 7-year-old stepson, Jimmy, stopped at the home of the boy’s grandparents after work one day last summer to retrieve a Nintendo set.

After a short time, a conversation about who would keep the game turned into an argument between Myers and Weaver, Calvert said. Myers reentered the house while Weaver stepped outside for a smoke and to make a brief cellular phone call to his father. Then Myers reappeared in the driveway with a gun kept in the home by his father, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant.

“Jason Weaver did not have a gun, did not have a knife and did not have a club,” Calvert said. “Without warning, the defendant began to shoot.”

Defense attorney James Blatt did not give opening arguments Wednesday, saying that he would save them until Friday. Outside of court, he declined to reveal his legal strategy, saying, “This is about more than a Nintendo game--the defense will present psychiatric evidence.”

Myers previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but that plea was withdrawn, Blatt said. The lawyer indicated that Weaver may have had a history of aggressive behavior.

The prosecuting attorney called several witnesses to the stand Wednesday, including a California Highway Patrol officer and a neighbor of the Myers family, to testify about the aftermath of the 4 p.m. shooting. Both sides also spent considerable time cross-examining Ventura County Medical Examiner Dr. Ronald L. O’Halloran about the six bullets fired into Weaver’s body.

Calvert was trying to show by the angle and location of the bullets that the victim was running down the driveway, away from the assailant, when the bullets were fired.

By contrast, Blatt attempted to demonstrate that the bullets were fired in quick succession and suggested that Myers may have felt threatened by his 6-foot, 4-inch brother-in-law, who weighed 275 pounds.