Cocaine at the Crossroads

On September 24, 1997, at an intersection in Montgomery, Alabama, a man approached a police patrol car on foot with a concealed gun and fired multiple rounds into it, killing the officer inside. During the same incident he fired at a bail bondsman and at a second officer, who shot back and wounded him. At trial he admitted firing the shots. He said cocaine use had left him paranoid and unaware of what he was doing, so he never formed an intent to kill, and he claimed self-defence as to the bondsman.