VIERA, Fla. – Testimony continued Wednesday in the second-degree murder trial of a 65-year-old man accused of shooting and killing a Brevard County car salesman in what authorities are calling an act of road rage.
John Pratt's family looked on in horror as attorneys showed the 8-person jury graphic photographs of the longtime car salesman's dead body.
Prosecutors said Pratt was gunned down by William Sherwood in an act of road rage in March of 2013.
He was test-driving a customer's car for a potential trade-in, when a half mile road rage incident ensued, according to investigators.
Prosecutors said it ended with Sherwood pulling the trigger twice.
"The cause of death is multiple gun shot wounds. The manner of death is homicide," said Dr. Sajid Qaiser, who performed the autopsy on Pratt.
Sherwood claims Pratt approached his car after the fender-bender and punched him in the face, saying that he shot in self-defense.
However, Dr. Qaiser testified Wednesday that he didn't find any trauma to Pratt's knuckles during his autopsy that would indicate he threw a punch.
But that didn't stop Sherwood's defense team to explore any other scenarios, and even reenacting what they believe happened.
"If I knocked them (Sherwood's glasses) off with my hand there wouldn't be any bruises or anything when you split the hand open, would there," said Daniel Ciener, Sherwood's attorney. "I just slapped them off the face. There wouldn't be any injury to my hand would there?"
"No," replied Dr. Qaiser.
Court wrapped up with testimony from an FDLE crime lab analyst.
Jurors are expected to see surveillance video from a nearby gas station Thursday that apparently shows the altercation and the moment Sherwood allegedly shot Pratt.