Trial Continued June 25, 2005 I-15 chase case handed over to jury Verdict in '04 incident expected Friday night BY SHANE FARVER_ Standard-Examiner staff sfarver@standard.net OGDEN The prosecution and defense in the attempted aggravated murder trial of Brian Wood rested their cases Friday, leaving the jury to deliberate the fate of a man accused of shooting at three police officers and a citizen during a high speed chase. The jury started deliberations at 6 p.m. and as of press time a verdict hadn't been reached. The jury was expected to announce its findings Friday night. During closing arguments, both the prosecution and defense said that Wood was guilty of committing several crimes. However, they differed upon what crimes he should be convicted of. Deputy Weber County Attorney Brenda Beaton asked the jury to convict Wood on three first-degree-felony counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder. Wood was accused of shooting at three police officers and one civilian during a high speed chase on southbound Interstate 15 from Brigham City to Ogden on Jan. 6, 2004. Wood, who was wanted at the time for a Clearfield stabbing and parole violation, ran over spike strips and lost con-trol of his car near 12th Street. "The defendant literally declared war on the community," Beaton said. "He didn't care about the citizens in the community and he didn't care about the officers behind him." Beaton said earlier witnesses had testified that Wood was desperate not to go back to prison for the stabbing. "If the red and blues start flashing, he has a plan of 'taking them out,"' she said. Beaton recalled a nurse's testimony of Wood's words after the incident. The nurse had told prosecution that Wood said, "I should have shot a couple of them." Defense Attorney John Caine asked jurors to convict the defends i the lesser charge of discharging a firearm from a vehicle, a third-degree felony. Caine said it was not the defendant's intention to shoot the officers pursuing him or the citizen, Frank Dawson of Layton. "The law doesn't say that if you intended to shoot a vehicle, you intended to kill somebody," Caine said. Caine said the defendant had shot at pursuing officers in an effort to scare them away, not kill them or cause them serious bodily harm, as the charges of attempted aggravated murder and attempted murder dictate. The attorney also said Wood shot two of 11 rounds fired near the tire of Dawson's car in an effort to cause an ac-cident and end police pursuit. "Brian could have shot through the window, but did not," Caine said. Caine also addressed a tattoo on the defendant's arm that prosecution made mention of previously. The tattoo, according to the nurse who treated Wood, is a likeness of the defendant holding a gun in a police officer's mouth. The defense attorney asked the jury to understand that they don't know the context of the tattoo or how long the defendant has had it. During prosecution rebuttal, Beaton said the fact that none of the bullets appeared in close proximity to the victims does not mean Wood should be found guilty of a lesser charge. Wood is also charged with-one count of possession of a firearm by a restricted person and one charge of failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, neither of which the defense attorney denied.