The Rapid City Journal reports..
The Rapid City teenager facing a second-degree murder charge for shooting and killing Nathan Graham told detectives that he had taken LSD at a party and was under the influence of the hallucinogenic drug during the night of the shooting.
That’s according to testimony from Detective Evan Harris with the Rapid City Police Department, who testified Monday during the trial of Ronald Black Cloud.
Black Cloud was 14 at the time of the Aug. 17, 2018 shooting. He is now being tried as an adult and is 17. His trial started last Monday. He is accused of shooting Graham, 43, in the head after being told to by Ross Johnson.
Johnson, who was with Black Cloud at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and being an accessory to the second-degree murder of Graham.
A video of the interview between Black Cloud and two detectives, one being Harris, was played for the jury Monday.
During the interview, Black Cloud changed his story over the course of several hours. Initially, Black Cloud did not admit to shooting the gun that was used to shoot Graham — a 9 mm pistol.
Later during the interview, Black Cloud admitted to shooting the gun and taking two tabs of LSD prior to the shooting at a party he attended with Johnson.
Harris also testified that Black Cloud stated he believed Graham had a gun and had turned around to retrieve the gun from his home at 245 1/2 E. Philadelphia St.
Black Cloud told detectives that he had fired the pistol twice, trying to scare Graham off, according to Harris’s testimony and the recorded interview.
The prosecution rested its case Monday afternoon, with the defense expected to bring their witnesses to the stand on Tuesday morning.
Judge Matt Brown also denied the defense’s motion for judgment or acquittal. That motion rests on the claim that the evidence at trial was insufficient for a conviction and a reasonable jury could find guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Black Cloud’s trial will resume at 8:30 a.m. at the Pennington County Courthouse in Rapid City.
The interview had taken place when Black Cloud turned himself in about a day and a half after the shooting had occurred.
