Tearful testimony
Witness tells of seeing shooting by former Navajo Police officer

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — Jurors heard from an eyewitness Wednesday to the killing of Frieda Toledo Smith, during day two of former Navajo Police Officer Harrison Largo’s trial for first-degree murder.

Senior Trial Prosecutor Kerry Comiskey told the jury during opening statements that Stevick Jim, 23, watched an execution-style killing just before 8 a.m. on May 20, 2008, — a day, Jim said Wednesday, that he has been trying to forget ever since.

Jim lived with his mother and siblings in the trailer adjacent to Smith’s trailer the day Smith died. He testified that he woke up about 7 a.m., and then fixed breakfast for his siblings before settling in at the computer to browse Myspace. The computer was against a window facing Smith’s trailer.

Capital Crimes Division Public Defender Steve McIlwain showed the jury photos during cross-examination of Jim’s vantage point from the window. The photos, McIlwain argued, prove that Jim could not have seen what he says he did — at least not with the clarity and detail that are the substance of Jim’s eyewitness testimony.

To read more subscribe to the Gallup Independent by calling (505) 863-6811 or purchase the paper at the newstand.