Cyclist charged in homicide to testify today he feared for his life after traffic encounter
Theodore Edgecomb is expected to testify Tuesday, hoping to convince a jury he feared for his life when he fatally shot a Milwaukee immigration lawyer after a traffic encounter.
The prosecution rested its case Monday, and Edgecomb's defense team called some witnesses who meant to suggest police failed to adequately investigate the shooting. Their testimony largely seemed ineffective or irrelevant to Edgecomb's self-defense claim, which will turn almost entirely on his own credibility on the witness stand.
Edgecomb, 32, is on trial for first-degree intentional homicide in the Sept. 22, 2020 shooting of Jason Cleereman, 54, on the Holton Street bridge. The shooting occurred moments after Edgecomb, riding his bicycle, slugged Cleereman in the face as Cleereman and his wife were stopped at a traffic light on Brady Street.
Edgecomb says Evangelina Cleereman, driving the couple in her KIA Soul, had struck him a few blocks east, and that her husband yelled a profanity and racial slur. Edgecomb rode away from the couple onto the Holton Street bridge after the punch.
Evangelina Cleereman testified last week her husband told her to follow the cyclist, because he wanted to talk to him. He got out and walked quickly up to Edgecomb, who had gotten off his bike on the bridge. Edgecomb shot Jason Cleereman once in the head, then left the scene, and the state.
In the days after the shooting, detectives checked surveillance cameras along possible escape routes of the shooter. The footage showed the gunman heading north on Water Street, to Humboldt Boulevard, then turning into Dousman Court. from Locust Street.
He's later seen going into a house. Detectives were able to get a search warrant and found the bicycle that was seen in the various videos. A neighbor was shown still images from the footage and identified the suspect as Edgecomb.
More: Bicyclist's lawyers question lack of video from minutes before fatal shooting
Edgecomb had left town. Jurors also heard from the Kentucky state trooper who described stopping Edgecomb about six months later. He gave the name Agoo Newman, before the trooper found his real ID in the car and later learned he was wanted in Wisconsin.
Edgecomb's lawyers said their client was scared, and trying to find legal counsel at the time. Late last year, they raised self defense, saying Cleereman, a much larger man who had been drinking earlier that evening, came after Edgecomb while using a racial slur and threatening to kill him.
Cleereman's widow said aggression and racial animus were not part of his character.
The defense began its case Monday with witnesses meant to bolster the theory police botched the investigation.
Jurors must decide if it was unreasonable for Edgecomb to resort to deadly force against Cleereman.
Before Edgecomb testifies, the defense plans to call an expert witness about use of force who also testified for Kyle Rittenhouse. The Illinois teen was acquitted late last year of killing two people and wounding a third during protests in Kenosha in August 2020. Rittenhouse also raised self defense.
Edgecomb was out on bail at the time of the shooting in two pending charges -- one for drunken driving, another for domestic violence. At the start of his trial last week, he pleaded guilty to two bail jumping charges. He was not supposed to have a gun as a condition of his release.
The 9mm handgun he used to shoot Cleereman has not been recovered.
Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cyclist to make self-defense claim from stand today in Milwaukee courtroom
