As Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Sheryl Prichard finished her questioning Friday of former Columbus police vice officer Andrew Mitchell during his retrial on murder charges, she asked him if he looked at Donna Dalton Castleberry when he first fired his gun on Aug. 23, 2018.
“For the first couple of shots, I didn’t look at her,” Mitchell replied.
Those were the last words a Franklin County Common Pleas jury heard from Mitchell, who is on trial for murder and voluntary manslaughter in connection with Castleberry’s shooting. Mitchell testified for more than three hours on Friday, giving his account of what occurred around 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2018, inside his unmarked Mitsubishi Galant.
Mitchell testified that he was in fear for his life during his encounter with the 23-year-old Castleberry, whom he picked up while working undercover on Sullivant Avenue, where she was working as a prostitute, and drove to the side of an apartment building in Franklinton.
Mitchell tried to arrest Castleberry, he testified, but she did not believe he was a police officer. Mitchell did not have his police badge or radio with him, instead showing Castleberry a plastic Division of Police ID badge and a blank arrest form. He also showed Castleberry his handcuffs and a handcuff key.
“She had a look like maybe I’m a police officer, maybe I’m not,” Mitchell testified, saying that she began to “get more violent” and was yelling out of a car window for help, urging a passerby to call 911.
A struggle ensued inside the Galant. Castleberry, who was in the right front passenger seat, pulled out a pocket knife and slashed Mitchell, who was in the driver’s seat. Mitchell fired his gun multiple times at Castleberry, hitting her three times and ultimately causing her death.
Mitchell’s testimony on Friday was consistent with testimony he gave at his original trial in April 2022, when he described what he said was Castleberry choking him with her foot after cutting him, nearly to the point of him losing consciousness. Mitchell also described reaching for his firearm, which was in a holster between the driver’s door and the driver’s seat with his left hand and firing at least two shots with his left hand. Mitchell then moved the firearm to his right hand and fired the remaining shots.
Castleberry, who was in the back seat, couldn’t get out because the passenger side of the car was parked along a brick wall and the child lock was activated on the rear doors.
In total, six shots were fired before Mitchell’s handgun jammed, according to evidence presented at trial.
“Is it a coincidence you decided to stop shooting right when your gun jammed?” Prichard asked.
“It’s a coincidence,” Mitchell responded.
As Mitchell was questioned by one of his defense attorneys, Mark Collins, Mitchell said he thought Castleberry was going to “finish the job” when she went into the backseat of the unmarked car.
“If I don’t go for my gun, I’m going to die,” Mitchell testified. “Every time I fired a shot, I still felt threatened.”
Prichard questioned Mitchell about the differences in his testimony on Friday to statements he gave to Columbus police detectives who were investigating the shooting in 2018 and to a grand jury in 2019.
In those prior statements, Mitchell said he didn’t know what foot Castleberry had used to try and choke him. During his testimony Friday, Mitchell said it was her left foot because his DNA was found on the bottom of Castleberry’s left sandal.
“So that’s why the foot was the left foot, to match the evidence?” Prichard asked.
Under cross-examination, Mitchell also was asked about previous statements where he said that while he had his personal cellphone in his lap and had used a group text with other vice officers to ask for backup, he could not “get to his phone” to call 911.
“Where was your phone?” Prichard asked.
“It was in my hands,” Mitchell responded.
Mitchell was also asked questions relating to whether Castleberry could have done anything different to prevent herself from being shot. Common Pleas Judge David Young did not allow some of those questions to be asked, but in response to a differently worded question, Mitchell said he merely reacted to Castleberry’s actions.
Mitchell said he did not escalate the situation, though an audio recording of the encounter from Mitchell’s cellphone that had been playeed in court indicated Mitchell had raised his voice.
“If she would have just stayed calm, none of this would have happened,” Mitchell said.
Prior to Mitchell’s testimony, jurors heard from the prosecution’s expert on police use of force, retired FBI agent Urey Patrick. He testified Thursday that in the 45 seconds between when Mitchell is heard saying on the audio recording that Castleberry cut Mitchell with a knife and Mitchell fired his first gunshot, the situation changed significantly enough that Mitchell was not justified to use deadly force.
“He should have been aware of the changing circumstances,” Patrick testified.
Patrick also said that Castleberry, in his interpretation, was retreating in the back seat of Mitchell’s undercover car and that Mitchell should have seen it as a reason to de-escalate.
“Once he was injured and she’s in the back seat, the opportunity to do something other than shoot her is in that time frame,” Patrick said. “I’m in fear for my life is not a magic shield that lets me shoot anybody I want.”
Testimony is expected to continue Monday with Mitchell’s defense expert on police use of force.