Testimony about Roy Oliver pulling gun on 2 women not allowed during murder trial

Evidence that former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver threatened two woman with a gun weeks before he shot and killed teenager Jordan Edwards will not be allowed in Oliver’s murder trial, Judge Brandon Birmingham decided.

The decision was made Thursday morning before the state rested its case against Oliver, who is charged with murder in Edwards’ death. Edwards, 15, was unarmed and sitting in the passenger seat of a car when Oliver shot five times at the vehicle.

Edwards was hit in the back of his head. The car was full of several other teenagers, according to testimony heard last week.

Oliver’s defense was that he believed the car was moving to run over his partner, Officer Tyler Gross.

Gross testified last week that he never felt in fear for his life.

A use-of-force expert who testified for prosecutors said a reasonable officer would not have opened fire into Edwards’ car.

But weeks before Edwards was killed — two women said Oliver pointed his gun at them during a fender-bender when he was off-duty.

Assistant District Attorney Shelly Yeatts argued that car was a carbon copy of how Oliver responded to Edwards.

The defense will call their first witness Thursday — Roy Oliver himself.

Oliver first testified about his childhood and what led him to becoming a police officer. He said he dropped out of high school to help his mom, who was single.

He said he “grew up on the system. Welfare, food stamps.”

Oliver received his G.E.D. around 2002 and then became a volunteer firefighter. He was interested in becoming a police officer and joined the military to get experience before applying for the civil service test. He testified about his deployment in Iraq.

Just before 11:30 a.m., Oliver started to testify about what happened when he and Officer Tyler Gross were sent to the house party where Edwards and his brothers were on April 29, 2017.

You can watch a live stream of his testimony here.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 10:10 AM.