Defendant says he only meant to scare Bellaire teen

Dontae Moore, the 19-year-old man charged with capital murder in the Dec. 27 shooting of Bellaire High School student Jonathan Finkelman, testified Thursday that he only meant to scare Finkelman by holding a loaded gun to his head during what Moore said was intended to be a robbery. Finkelman, 16, was found in Godwin Park with a gunshot wound to the head; information later emerged that Finkelman and a friend were at the park meeting Moore and Warren Payne, then 15, to complete a drug deal in Finkelman's car.

Payne, testifying Wednesday, said he wanted to rob Finkelman because Finkelman — who reportedly sold prescription painkillers — had shorted him by one $2 pill in an earlier deal. Payne said he, Moore and two other men went to Godwin Park with $250 to buy 250 pills from Finkelman, but then they found out that Finkelman wanted $500 for the pills — so Moore said he got a revolver from one of the other men, Jeff Lopez, and pointed it at Finkelman. "I put the pistol to his head and he tried to grab it, and the pistol went off," Moore told jurors. Payne and Finkelman's friend, Mark Taormina, testified that three shots were fired during the struggle; after the shooting, Moore said he got out of the car and fired the remaining bullets into the air. Moore didn't admit that he also shot Payne, whose spleen and gall bladder had to be removed, until he was being cross-examined. And under questioning by prosecutor Mia Magness, Payne admitted that he had lied to police out of fear in earlier videotaped statements. "You're willing to lie out of fear?" Magness asked Moore.

Moore's defense is based on the concept that the shooting wasn't intentional. Closing arguments are expected this morning in the case.