STING SHOOTOUT CASE HINGES ON JUSTIFICATION

The jury is being selected in the trial of a man accused of shooting
at 10 officers.

The case of a Des Moines drug sting that ended in a hail of gunfire
at a south-side hotel last spring will hinge on whether jurors feel
one of two defendants was justified when he shot at 10 police
officers who surprised him during an alleged methamphetamine deal.

Jury selection begins today in Dennis "D.J." Schofield's trial on a
list of charges that include 10 counts of attempted murder from a May
shootout at the Heartland Inn, 1901 S.W. Hackley Ave.

Schofield, 25, was arrested with Lee Michael Castillo, 28, after
three officers were wounded when gunfire broke out in a hallway and
stairwell. Schofield and Castillo were also shot.

Police said they arranged the "reverse sting" through an informant
who approached Castillo to buy roughly two pounds of meth.

Officers said they did not expect the men to be armed. Castillo, who
reached a plea deal in August, has said he didn't see Schofield's gun
until police moved in.

Court documents have described police in the hallway behind a shield
as Schofield and Castillo left the room.

Guns roared, and smoke from the weapons set off the hotel's fire alarm.

Ted Prine, Schofield's attorney, said at a court hearing last month
that Schofield had his back to the officers as he ran down the
hallway, so he "may have never seen them."

A second group of officers Schofield allegedly shot at on a hotel
stairway wore no badges or law enforcement insignias.

"That's going to be the issue in this case: Did he think he was going
to be assaulted and possibly killed, or did he have reasonable belief
to believe he was being arrested?" Prine said.

Listed among the witnesses are more than 20 undercover officers and
the informant who helped arrange the deal.

Courtroom cameras will be barred during their testimony, under an
order signed by Judge Don Nickerson.