VANCOUVER, Wash. — A robbery suspect accused in the January 2022 death of an off-duty Vancouver police officer took the stand in his own defense Wednesday, halfway through the third week of his murder trial.
Officer Donald Sahota died from gunshot wounds outside his home after a responding deputy mistook him for the robbery suspect, 22-year-old Julio Segura, and opened fire. Regardless, Segura is charged with murder for allegedly causing that tragic confluence of events.
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It was a crowded and emotional courtroom as officers led Segura in on Wednesday. Segura appeared to be in good spirits, and was smiling and joking with his attorney as officers removed the shackles from his arms and legs. For the next hour-and-a-half, Segura took the witness stand and gave his account of what led up to the deadly shooting.
Prompted by his defense attorney, Segura testified that he'd always dreamed of owning "a really nice car," and said he'd go scope out car lots. But in late January 2022, Segura admitted, he acted on his daydreams and stole a Mercedes from a dealership in Yakima, Washington.
Segura testified that he'd bought an airsoft gun that looked like a real firearm. On January 30, he parked outside of a Vancouver convenience store, saying that he needed money for gas.
"I sat outside the store, spending a lot of time thinking, 'Am I going to do this? Why am I going to do this?'" he said, describing how he got out of the stolen Mercedes and went inside the store. "I took the airsoft out of my pocket, pointed at the clerk, told them to give me all the money in the store ... I was not intending on hurting anybody."
It wasn't long after the robbery that law enforcement found Segura, still driving the stolen Mercedes, and gave chase with lights and sirens.
"I had no idea where I was going," Segura said. "First it was one police officer, then one, then two, then four ... They threw these spike strips to stop me, and I don’t know how I did it, but I avoided them, and I stayed on the shoulder and didn’t want to put any more people at risk but myself."
Even if he'd avoided the spike strips, Segura soon crashed the stolen Mercedes into a ditch. He abandoned the car and ran into the woods near Battle Ground. It was nighttime, and there was little light with which to see, Segura said — but he did see the lights of a home.
"I didn’t know at the time, but it did end up being the Sahotas' home," Segura testified. "I knock on the door, and I step back and wait for someone to answer the door ... This older gentleman opens the door and says, 'What are you doing here?'"
Segura said he recalled asking Donald Sahota for help, that he needed to make a phone call. But Sahota noticed the sound of sirens growing nearer.
"After he heard the sirens he said, 'I’m sorry I can’t help you,' so I walked away," Segura testified. "While I was walking away, I heard him call me back … He steps out of the door frame and points a gun at me and said, 'Police, now get on the ground or I’m going to put you there.'"
Segura claimed that if Sahota had remained 10 feet away, he wouldn't have fought back. But, he said, Sahota came closer and pressed his knee into Segura's back after the robbery suspect got down on the ground.
"He starts saying, 'I’m going to shoot you, I’m going to shoot you.' So I’m thinking I have to get him away from this gun, I have to somehow get this gun away from him because I am not trying to get shot," Segura testified.
Segura said that he didn't believe that Sahota was a police officer, and he resisted the man's attempts to restrain him. During the struggle, Sahota wrapped his arm around Segura's neck, the defendant testified.
"I needed to breathe," Segura testified. "I thought I was going to die there."
Segura said that he reached for his pocketknife, flicked it out and started swinging wildly. He said he didn't know where he was aiming, but he believed he managed to strike Sahota three times before the off-duty officer released him.
With flashing red and blue lights of law enforcement now visible and the sound of sirens growing closer, Segura said that he ran into the Sahotas' home.
"I was trying to get away from the cops that were probably going to shoot me," Segura said.
Outside, Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan Feller had just arrived and saw Sahota pick up his gun from the driveway. That's when Feller fired four times, mistaking Sahota for the robbery suspect.
In the courtroom, Sahota's family members were in tears as Segura testified about the off-duty officer's death.
"I heard what sounded like eight gunshots, but that was probably the echo of the four," Segura said. "When I heard the gunshots, I got super nauseous."
Segura then decided to turn himself in.
"When they told me to walk backwards, I walked backwards, and unfortunately, I had to step over Sahota’s body," Segura testified, his voice quavering. "And when I did that, I meant no disrespect to him; I was just afraid if I did anything other than what they told me to I was going to get shot."
At that point, Segura said, he believed that he'd been the one to kill Sahota with his pocketknife. The Clark County Medical Examiner later determined that one of the three knife wounds was to the neck and would likely have been fatal without immediate proper medical attention, but concluded that Sahota died from Feller's gunshot wounds first.
"I thought that all that blood was because of me, and I thought I had just killed someone," Segura testified. He said that he did not learn Sahota had died from gunshot wounds until his first court appearance. "I wish I had never gone and asked for help at that house; I wish I had never knocked on their door."
During cross-examination, Clark County prosecutors grilled Segura about his motives for approaching the Sahotas' home, for resisting Sahota and for pulling out his pocketknife during the struggle. Segura maintained that he believed he was fighting for his life.
On May 9, Sahota's wife Dawnese delivered her emotional testimony in the case, recalling how she and her husband had been enjoying a romantic dinner when someone began desperately ringing their doorbell. Her testimony differed from Segura's in a few key ways.
Dawnese Sahota testified specifically that Sahota identified himself as a police officer, while Segura insisted that Sahota only said the word "police" and that he did not know Sahota was an officer.
Segura is the last witness to testify in the case. Closing arguments are set to happen Wednesday, May 23.