Nassau jury to weigh evidence in murder case against mechanic accused of killing co-worker

The way jurors interpret a mechanic's call to 911 in which he admitted shooting a co-worker at a Glen Head body shop could be key to whether they find him guilty of murder.

An attorney for Lawrence Grammer, 74, said Wednesday in his closing argument at his client’s Nassau County Court trial that the call supported the defense contention that the shooting was an accident.

"What’s most telling? He had a chance to leave, to run, to get away. He didn’t. How many people call 911 on themself?" defense attorney Joseph Lo Piccolo said.

The Garden City lawyer called the evidence "reason to doubt" Grammer’s intent to cause the death of Bashir Ward and tried to persuade jurors to find his client guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Ward, a 35-year-old husband and father from Valley Stream, died after Grammer shot him once in the back of his head at point-blank range on Aug. 4, 2018, in the garage of D & R Automotive on Glen Head Road.

Prosecutor Tracy Keeton told jurors in her closing argument that Grammer’s 911 call "proves it’s not an accident" and "proves it’s murder" along with other evidence she said corroborates that the defendant intentionally killed Ward.

The call in which Grammer declared "I just killed a guy" and asked for police to respond was the first piece of evidence jurors heard as his trial started last week. Jurors have been seated in a socially distanced format and other health-related precautions also are in place in the Mineola courtroom amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Keeton on Wednesday called the shooting an "execution" and said Grammer’s testimony that both his 911 call and a videotaped recording of his interview with homicide detectives were altered was "a distortion of the truth."

The defendant said while testifying in his own defense Tuesday that he brought a loaded .45-caliber pistol to work because he wanted to protect himself a day after he and Ward had a shoving match.

Evidence showed Ward used a racial slur and pushed Grammer to the ground on Aug. 3, 2018, after Ward intervened in a separate dispute Grammer had with another colleague about a possible deduction from Grammer's paycheck.

Grammer testified he grabbed his gun to protect himself on Aug. 4 because he believed Ward was picking up a tool to strike him after again using a racial slur and threatening him. The defendant also said "the gun went off" as he racked it to get ready to shoot and the blast frightened him because he didn't think at first that he had pulled the trigger.

Lo Piccolo on Wednesday painted Ward as the aggressor, saying video from the body shop showed Ward was "amped up" before the shooting and tests showed later he’d had drugs in his system.

The defense attorney also stressed that his client had taken responsibility for his actions, saying Grammer "accidentally took a man’s life and he knows he’s going to jail."

Lo Piccolo added that Grammer had armed himself because "he didn’t want to be a victim."

The defendant initially told police he shot Ward after he called out Ward’s name as they worked close to each other in a bay of the garage and Ward didn’t acknowledge him. He also said, initially, he had stored the gun in a car parked near the garage after their confrontation a day earlier.

Grammer’s new claims Tuesday about what happened in 2018 regarding the shooting were "absurd and it defied common sense," Keeton told jurors.

"This case is exactly what it seems … This man took a loaded firearm and decided to end the life of one of his co-workers," she added.