TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Chazz Courtney took the stand today in his own defense. He painted a different story compared to several others’ testimony on Thursday, during day four of the attempted murder trial.
Courtney was arrested and charged after allegedly shooting three individuals in March of 2024. A Probable Cause Affidavit (PCA) states that Courtney confronted one of the victims, Robert Trump, at a gas station located at 13th and Poplar, in Terre Haute, accusing him of being a “snitch.” After leaving the station, Trump returned home.
Authorities stated that Courtney allegedly knocked on the door, spoke with Trump’s parents about their son, before being told to leave, then allegedly exchanged gunfire with Robert, who grabbed his mother’s gun from upstairs.
Courtney took the stand as the final witness in the trial, in which he gave a very different account of the events of the shooting compared to everyone else’s testimony. Courtney stated that he knew Robert through a mutual friend, and that the three had spent time together smoking marijuana and even once meth together.
Courtney stated there was a falling out between the mutual friend and Robert, leading to Courtney being blocked by Robert and Courtney finding posts on social media bad-mouthing him. When finding him at the gas station, Courtney claimed he went to Robert to ask what his issue is, to which he claimed he responded with “who are you” and “we aren’t doing this here”.
The lead detective, Justin Gant, also testified on his part of the case Thursday and brought up text messages that the mutual friend claimed were from Courtney, stating that they had a back-and-forth exchange, during which they insulted each other and flashed guns at each other, something that both Courtney and Nichole Shaffer denied happened. Nichole Shaffer was convicted in this case for assisting a criminal and was the driver of the vehicle Chazz Courtney was found in.
Courtney then stated that he and Shaffer went to do meth in front of her mother’s home before asking if they could try and find Robert’s home to confront him. Shaffer also testified on Thursday with a story of events that was very similar to most of the testimony given by other witnesses, much of which Courtney disagreed with.
Courtney claimed that when they had found the home, a green laser hit the van, spooking Shaffer. He claims he had Shaffer Park around the corner as he went to the house and knocked, asking Robert’s parents to speak with him. Courtney claims that when Robert got to the door, he was pointing a 10mm Glock at him and joining his parents in telling Courtney to leave and that Robert would “blow him down” if he didn’t. Courtney claims he called Robert a snitch and that the family then came off the porch and started yelling at him before being struck by Robert’s stepfather and shot at by Robert. Courtney then claims he ran and fired without looking back at Robert before getting in the car and asking to leave.
He claimed that due to being high and in a shootout, he didn’t call the police. The defense also mentioned Courtney’s upbringing and problems related to the police. Later that day, Courtney claims to have factory reset his phone by accident, something that was also mentioned in testimony from Jason James, Director of the Vigo County High Tech Crime Unit and Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity at ISU, who spoke on processing the phone and corroborated that it was factory reset later that same day.
The defense rebutted several times in the course of the testimonies. One such instance was during testimony given by Detective Gant on the multiple statements given, where some of the information from witnesses was found to be inaccurate through the course of the investigation, such as a claim that the mutual friend was involved.
Another instance was during Shaffer’s testimony, in which she stated that Courtney intended to spook Robert and was “hyped up” before the shooting. The defense mentioned that Shaffer made statements about the incident that were incorrect compared to prior recorded statements. When the defense claimed that Shaffer might have pleaded guilty to her charges in the incident so she could get out of jail, she rebutted, stating “no, I pled guilty because facts is facts”.
Courtney, along with his defense attorney, states that he did not fire the shots with the intent to kill, though Courtney was not injured, whereas Robert, his mother, and stepfather were hit. Courtney ended his time on the stand, stating that he believed most people were wrong in their testimony and claimed he never raised his voice during the altercation and was merely scared. Courtney also claimed never to have shot a gun before, though he did carry his two guns everywhere due to the dangerous positions he put himself in.
The jury trial concluded with final instructions and closing statements. The jury is now deliberating. WTWO will update the story once a verdict has been reached.
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