Curtis Reeves' wife testifies in movie theater shooting trial

DADE CITY, Fla. - Curtis Reeves says he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Chad Oulson during an argument over texting inside a movie theater in 2014. For a week, his legal team has been trying to prove it. 

The prosecution rested its case last week and the defense began calling witnesses on Friday. Monday, the defense surprised the courtroom by calling the defendant's wife, who was there when her husband fired one shot, killing moviegoer Chad Oulson.

Vivian Reeves told the jury she was sitting next to her husband when the confrontation between the two men happened.

She said Oulson was angry when her husband "softly" asked him to put away his cell phone. 

Prosecutor: Did you hear Mr. Oulson say something at that point?

Reeves: Yes.

Prosecutor: What did he say?

Reeves: Something to the effect of, "You told on me. Who the f," only he said the word, "do you think you are?"

Mrs. Reeves said her husband got up to alert the theater manager. While he was gone, she wanted to move seats, but didn’t, saying the whole encounter made her "uncomfortable."

"When my husband left, I was more ticked off that this was happening," she said.

Mrs. Reeves also said she did not know, at the time, if her husband had his gun with him that day.

"Based on my life experience with him, I assumed he carried a pistol, but I never saw it, I never asked we never talked about it," but she wasn’t thinking about whether he had a gun with him when they went to the theater or as the interaction between her husband and Oulson played out.

Defense attorney Dino Michaels questioned Mrs. Reeves about what she noticed Oulson do after Reeves returned to the theater.

Reeves: He leans towards Curtis it seemed like his whole upper body was leaning towards Curtis.

Attorney Michaels: How did it make you feel in terms of what it looked like to you?

Reeves: I thought he was coming over and it just freaked me out. I was terrified.

The surveillance video from the theater shows Chad Oulson grabbing Reeves' popcorn and throwing the bag at him. Reeves then pulled out a gun and fired the deadly shot. Mrs. Reeves said she doesn’t remember any of that.

Attorney Michaels: Did you see the shot?

Reeves: No

Attorney Michaels: Did you hear it?

Reeves: Yes.

Later Monday morning, the prosecution questioned Mrs. Reeves and appeared to have caught her backtracking previous testimony she gave in her husband’s Stand Your Ground hearings, back in 2017. 

Prosecutor: You indicated you had seen your husband leaning to his left, with his right leg out?

Reeves: Yes, sir.

The prosecution then read from testimony in her husband’s Stand Your Ground hearings, where Mrs. Reeves was asked if she saw anything after, "Mr. Oulson was lunging over the seat coming after Curtis?"

Reeves: I don’t remember that specifically, but when Curtis moved, I took a brief glance, but after he came over, I don’t know anything until after the gunshot.

Prosecutor: So, you would agree with me that during this previous hearing you never said anything about him leaning to his left and extending his right leg, did you? 

Reeves: I don’t know. I don’t remember.

The line of questioning may be the prosecution’s attempt to cast doubt on Mrs. Reeves’ recollection of the events. Did she see her husband reach for the gun in his pocket, and if so, when? 

Mrs. Reeves testified the encounter between her husband and Oulson made her "uncomfortable" and that she tried to look away during most of the interaction, including when the gun was fired.

On Friday, the jury heard from a crime scene detective who was peppered with questions about his alleged missteps in collecting evidence the day of the deadly shooting. The detective was challenged on his decision to allow the theater staff to handle the video evidence without law enforcement supervision.

"Our policy and procedures allow the IT department that owns the system to hand the video to us," stated Pasco County sheriff detective Aaron Smith.

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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.

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The first week of the trial wrapped up with testimony from Reeves' daughter and son. 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," Matthew said Friday.

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When Reeves' daughter took the stand, she told the jury her father had lost a step or two after he retired as a Tampa police captain. She said health issues started to slow him down when he hit his 70s.

"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.