Published: March 23, 2007 10:55 am      

Witness: Route 20 shooting was no accident

BLUEFIELD — Irene Perdue was in her New Hope Road home March 12, when her son-in-law shot her daughter through the stomach.

The petite 83-year-old woman was the first to take the stand Tuesday, as Mercer County Magistrate Harold Buckner weighed the evidence in Raymond Powell’s preliminary hearing.

Powell, who has remained in custody since the incident that left his wife seriously injured, is charged with malicious wounding, domestic battery, domestic battery with a weapon and wanton endangerment.

As Perdue recalled the events of a night she said she would never forget, she said she and Karen Powell had been sitting in a living room in the Bluewell house they lived in with Raymond Powell. The defendant had been out late but returned home about 4 a.m. with an acquaintance the women knew.

Perdue said Powell came into the house through a garage entrance and immediately began railing at Karen Powell about an alleged phone call and making household decisions.

“He goes straight to Karen like a wild man,” Perdue said.

During the altercation, Perdue said she quickly knew the argument would get physical.

“He draws his fist up over her head, like he was going to hit her,” she testified.

Perdue said she told her son-in-law not to hit her daughter. Then, she went for help.

Before she got to her room to dial 911, Perdue said Powell chased her down, shoved her against the wall and told her she wasn’t “calling anybody.”

When Powell and Perdue returned to the living room, Perdue said Larry Walker, the man who had accompanied Powell home, told him to leave the women alone.

Perdue said Powell then went into another room and returned with a gun, turning it first on Walker.

Perdue said he told Walker, “If you don’t get out of my house, I’m going to blow your head off.”

When Walker ran from the house, Perdue said Powell turned on her daughter, pointing the weapon at her as she stood in the middle of her living room.

Perdue testified she could still see Powell’s finger on the trigger and the shocked expression on her daughter’s face as she realized that her husband had shot her.

“I tried to get up to help her, but I didn’t know if he was going to kill me or not,” Perdue said, her voice muffled by tears and the hand she held to her mouth. “I saw blood on her stomach and her legs.”

When she approached Karen Powell, Perdue said her daughter grabbed her hand and said, “Mother, let’s run.”

The women ran from the New Hope Road home toward a neighbor’s residence, at which time, Powell allegedly approached them and asked them not to report the shooting to the police because he feared he would go to jail.

The first neighbor did not come to the door, but a second neighbor did. Perdue said she and her daughter awaited help there.

During questioning by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kelli Harshbarger, Perdue explained that the bullet had entered one side of her daughter’s abdomen and exited the other.

She was initially transported to Bluefield Regional Medical Center, but was later flown to Charleston Area Medical Center, where she was discharged late last week.

Under cross-examination by defense counsel Joseph Colosi, Perdue said her daughter lived in fear of Powell but that she had only seen him be violent with Karen Powell once before.

“He had a way of manipulating her … she was scared of him,” Perdue said.

When Colosi asked Perdue if the shooting could have been an accident or if Karen Powell believed it was an accident, Perdue was vehement in her denial.

“No. No. God forbid,” she said.

When Mercer County Sheriff’s Department Det. R.M. Combs took the stand, Colosi won a motion to have him read Karen Powell’s statement to the court.

In it, Karen Powell recounted a story that matched Perdue’s.

“I am very frightened for my mom and me,” Karen Powell wrote.

After the testimony, Buckner found probable cause to send the case to the June term of the Mercer County grand jury. He also denied a defense motion to reduce bond, leaving the amount at the pre-determined $50,000.

Powell has remained in custody since his arrest on March 12.

In the meantime, Perdue said her daughter requires medical treatment daily and that she was in a tremendous amount of pain, as a result of her wound.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.