DEARBORN HEIGHTS – 20th District Court Judge David Turfe ruled that Theodore Wafer will stand trial for the slaying of Renisha McBride, the 19-year-old African American woman who he shot on his front porch in a Dearborn Heights neighborhood in the early hours of Nov. 2

Judge Turfe said at the end of the two day pre-trial that based on evidence presidented in court, Wafer made a poor decision in shooting McBride after she knocked on his front door around 3:30 a.m. seeking assistance after she had crashed her car in a Detroit neighborhood a few blocks over.

“He chose to shoot rather than not answer the door,” the judge said, adding that Wafer could’ve sought alternative options that included calling the police if he felt threatened by the woman.

Defense attorneys argued Wafer’s actions were justified under Michigan’s 2006 Self-Defense Act. Wafer’s lawyers pointed to smudges on the screen door as a sign of aggression and suggested that McBride could have sustained a head injury during her car accident that could have caused such aggressive behavior. 

A couple weeks after her death, toxicology reports revealed that McBride has a blood alcohol level almost three times over the legal driving limit, along with marijuana in her system. At the site of her crash in Detroit, witnesses claimed that she appeared dazed and confused before disappearing from the scene of the crash. Two witnesses appeared at the pre-trial to echo statements that had been made to the Detroit Police Department during hours after her accident.

Assistant Wayne County Medical Examiner Kilak Kesha testified Wednesday that it is possible that McBride could have been more aggressive after sustaining a head injury, but that the injuries she sustained when Wafer shot her in the face were too severe for him to determine whether or not she had prior brain damage from the car accident. 

During the pre-trial, the defense called firearms expert David Balash, who said during testimony that McBride was two feet away from Wafer when he fired his shot and that the screen door had been knocked from its frame before the shot was fired, supporting the defense’s theory that McBride’s aggressive behavior justified Wafer’s shot in self-defense.

The incident sparked national media coverage in November with some comparing it to the incident of Treyvon Martin in Florida.