Columbia, SC (WLTX) - The University of South Carolina student paralyzed by a stray bullet in Columbia's Five Points took the stand Tuesday to testify in the trial of the man accused of firing the shot.
"I just tried to move my legs and I couldn't. And I said Allison I can't feel my legs," said Martha Childress.
Nearly two years ago Childress was shot while she was waiting for a cab in Five Points, paralyzing her from the waist down.
"All of the sudden I heard this really loud noise, I wasn't sure what it was..I just fell to the ground," she said. "I wasn't sure why I'd fallen. I thought I'd tripped over something and immediately I couldn't feel my legs at all."
Smith is charged with attempted murder in the shooting. Prosecutors said Smith intended to shoot someone else, but instead shot Childress.
"The defendant missed his target, but his intention to kill his target continued to travel with that bullet landing in Martha's side," said Prosecutors.
The defense argued that Smith fired one shot in self defense after being targeted by another person earlier that night.
"It's my fear that sympathy, well deserved for Martha Childress, will change how you view the facts," Smith's attorneys said.
Childress spent weeks in the hospital following the shooting undergoing lengthy physical therapy and later returning to complete classes at the University of South Carolina.
Smith's attorney did not cross examine Childress.
Throughout the day the jury of eleven women and one man heard from another five witnesses and also watched surveillance video of the incident. Childress left the courtroom before the footage was shown.
"At that point, once that happened I just remember my breathing started...I just really couldn't breath and I blacked out after that. I can't remember anything after that," she said.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Hood rejected a defense attempt to exclude a statement Smith gave to police following his arrest and jailhouse calls that the defendant reportedly made.
Smith has already been convicted in federal court on a weapons possession charge related to the incident, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime.
