Curtis Reeves Trial: Defendant’s children take the stand hoping to keep father out of prison

DADE CITY, Fla. - Curtis Reeves' two grown children took the stand in their father’s murder trial Friday.

Hoping to spare her 79-year-old father from prison, Jennifer Shaw told the jury Reeves had lost a step or two after he retired as a Tampa police captain. She said when he hit his 70s, his health issues slowed him down.

"He had difficulty doing things with his hands. I don't know if it was due to arthritis or due to another issue," Shaw stated.

The defense has painted Reeves as a fragile old man who feared a much younger Chad Oulson and had no choice but to shoot him.

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Reeves' son, Matthew Reeves, also testified. He said the day of the shooting, he was meeting his parents at the theater and walked in during the middle of confrontation and heard the gunshot. He immediately rushed over to help Oulson.

"Once I saw the bullet hole, what I knew to be a bullet hole on his left chest, I used the same shirt that I had lifted up to kind of like, ball it up over the wound put direct pressure on it," explained Reeves.

He said he reassured Oulson that everything would be okay.

Earlier, there was a much tenser scene in the courtroom as the jury heard from Pasco County sheriff detective Aaron Smith, who was peppered with questions about his missteps in collecting evidence the day of the shooting. The detective was challenged on his decision to allow the theater staff to handle the video evidence without any law enforcement supervision.

"Our policy and procedures allow the IT department that owns the system to hand the video to us," he stated.

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Reeves is accused of shooting and killing Chad Oulson after the two argued about texting. Reeves told detectives he feared for his life when he shot Oulson and claims Oulson attacked him first, either with a fist or a cell phone.

But lead defense attorney Rick Escobar pointed out that Oulson’s phone was mishandled by Smith and others.

Escobar suggested DNA proving Reeves was hit with the phone may have been contaminated or accidentally destroyed.

"Hey forensic investigator, you need to be very careful. Wait a minute. That may have some DNA on it. We need to do something special with his phone. You didn’t do that did you?" questioned Escobar.

"I did not ask for any DNA processing at the scene, no sir," replied Detective Smith.

The trial resumes on Monday.