Story by Donna Thornton donna@southerntorch.com

As they cross-examined the state’s witnesses Wednesday, Keith Sullivan’s defense attorneys worked to drive home what Sullivan told law enforcement officers after the shooting – and before it: That he feared for himself and his family because of Greg Bagwell’s reputation in the community.

Sullivan shot Bagwell May 8, 2023 outside Sullivan’s home. Bagwell come onto Sullivan’s front porch at about 2 a.m., after Sullivan had twice called 911 to report Bagwell yelling outside the trailer where he was staying, that he was “messed up” and probably armed.

The next call to 911 was from his wife, crying, sounding hysterical, after Sullivan shot Bagwell.

Sullivan said in more than one recorded interview that he saw Bagwell turn and believed he had a gun.

According to defense attorney Nicholas Sparks, it doesn’t matter that Bagwell was unarmed, it only mattered that Sullivan believed he was in danger. Based on seeing Bagwell’s mugshots and arrests, and having heard he burned his house down, and fired guns into a neighbor’s house, and fired at law enforcement officers, Sullivan said he feared the man he’d never met before the shooting.

Questioning then-DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator Nick Brown, Sparks asked if anything had been found to prove Sullivan was not in fear of serious injury or death when Bagwell came to his house. Brown said there had not.

It’s up the state, Sparks asserted, to prove the shooting was not self-defense.

Brown told jurors he obtained a search warrant based on what Sullivan told the first officers to respond to the shooting. It led to the discovery of six shell casings, located on and around the porch.

The day after the shooting, investigators watched surveillance camera footage from the Sullivan home, and sought a second search warrant.

“We were told the shooting took place around the steps,” DCSO Investigator Dalton Veal said.

The camera recording, shown several times in two days of testimony, shows the initial six shots, fired rapidly, then Bagwell goes down the steps and out of the camera’s view. Sullivan follows and another shot is heard, and after a small pause, another shot.

Dalton said investigators realized there were eight shots fired, and went back to look for the other two shell casings, searching with a metal detector in the area where Bagwell’s body was found.

According to Shane Golden, a forensic scientist from the JSU Center for Applied Forensics, who help process the crime scene and collect evidence, they found two shell casings, two projectiles and a fragment of a projectile in the area where Bagwell’s body was found.

Questioned by Ninth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Summer Summerford, Golden said no weapons, or anything that could have been used as a weapon was found in that area.

Under cross-examination, Veal was asked: If Brown, the chief investigator, said there was no evidence that Sullivan did anything other than defend himself, would he disagree?

“I would,” Veal said.

Sparks called attention to a hairbrush visible in Bagwell’s back pocket in the surveillance video, and pointed out that it was still in his pocket in photos of his body.

Sparks has asserted that hairbrush could have contributed to Sullivan’s thought that Bagwell was armed, and criticized the fact that investigators had not kept the hairbrush as evidence. It had been released to Bagwell’s daughter along with his other personal effects – including some $500 in cash that was needed to pay for his funeral.

Referring to the surveillance camera recording, Sparks offered enlarged photos asking Brown if the photo taken from the video showed Bagwell holding a lighter. He referred to Bagwell as an arsonist who was staring at the flame from the lighter while standing on Sullivan’s porch.

Brown had to approach the video screen where the photos were projected, but acknowledged seeing the lighter’s flame.

“Did the defendant say anything about seeing a flame?” Summerford asked. Brown said he had not.

Testimony will continue Thursday at the DeKalb County Courthouse, before Ninth Circuit Judge Shaunathan Bell.