BY KIMBERLY HOPSON
L’OBSERVATEUR

EDGARD – After being questioned in a cross-examination during a motions hearing, Chanel Skains, a suspect in the August St. John the Baptist Parish deputy shootings, admitted that she felt at least partly responsible for the what took place that morning.
Skains, the wife of defendant Terry Lyn Smith, was charged with accessory after the fact to attempted first-degree murder, and pleaded guilty to the charge on Nov. 15. Skains was one of nine witnesses to take the stand on Friday morning. Her testimony was by far the longest and most vivid of the recollections. Skains was initially resolute, but her words began to waiver near the end of her testimony as she described the chaos that ensued after the shooting began.
Skains said she was getting up to make a pot of coffee on the morning of the incident when she received a brusque phone call from Derrick Smith, saying that the police were chasing them. Derrick hung up immediately after. Skains said she she was used to practical jokes from her family but became worried that this might be something more serious.
Skains was about to leave the trailer when her husband, Terry Smith, returned with a truckload of people. According to Skains, Terry, Brian and Derrick Smith, Kyle Joekel and Tenesha Bright all piled out of the truck and into the trailer.
“Everyone was running around,” she said. The suspects were all talking at once, and defendant Brian Smith paced the trailer frantically, saying “We have to leave. We can’t stay here.” She testified that Brian Smith went on to say that he thought Terry Smith was “turning on him.”
At this point in her testimony, Skains explained that Brian was known to be paranoid and said she had told her husband in the past that Brian Smith needed help and should possibly be committed.
Skains said she asked her husband what happened, and he replied that Brian Smith had shot at an officer. The suspects had just left the Valero employee parking lot after Brian Smith reportedly shot Deputy Michael Scott Boyington with an assault rifle.
Skains said Terry Smith then stepped outside. Shortly afterward, she answered a knock at her trailer door with her dog in-hand. She said she heard noise from a walkie talkie and knew it would be the police. The officer who knocked told Skains that he’d like to talk to her, and she offered to come outside and speak. When she did, she noticed that her husband, who was sitting at a picnic table, had been handcuffed. Skains said she also saw two other officers outside with Terry Smith. The officer who had knocked then told her to go back inside the trailer. He followed her inside.
According to the testimony, Brian Smith, his girlfriend Britney Keith and Tenesha Bright had closed themselves in her bathroom. The officer saw Joekel lying on her bed and asked him to go outside. When they got outside, the officers threw Joekel to the ground in an attempt to handcuff him. Skains said the officers began kicking Joekel in his side and then pointed the gun at Terry, threatening to shoot him.
Skains’ dog began barking wildly. The officer eventually turned to her, saying he would shoot the dog. She was pleading with the officer not to hurt the dog when she suddenly saw Brian Smith “sling open” the door of her trailer in her peripheral vision. That’s when shots began going off.
Skains rolled under a picnic table with her dog and covered her head. She said she couldn’t see anything that was going on but could hear screaming and more shots. She heard Brian Smith say, “I give. I’ve been shot.” The shooting then paused for a moment, and she crawled from under the table back toward her trailer.
She then saw Joekel walk past and pick up a gun, likely the same rifle Brian Smith had allegedly used. Skains said Joekel began firing in the direction where the officers had been though she didn’t actually see Joekel shoot the officers in question. Skains testified that she only saw Joekel aiming the gun in a downward direction.
Skains noticed an officer on the ground. She said she went to him, and asked if he was OK. Skains said she could hear his radio and asked whether they were talking to him. He replied with barely audible gurgle, she said. In an attempt to comfort the officer, Skains said she began rubbing his hair, telling him, “They are coming soon,” although she was screaming with panic.
She then returned to the trailer after she saw Terry Smith. There, she noticed Brian Smith on the ground, bleeding. His girlfriend was screaming hysterically.
Skains said she thought about what Joekel had done and looked him in the face, saying “You’re crazy.” She then returned to the fallen officer.  
When she knelt again, she asked him if he was still with her. The officer seemed even less lucid, and Skains got on his radio, telling the people she heard to “please hurry” and that she had no weapons. Skains began to cry as she described the officer taking his last breath as she watched.
Skains went on to say that she eventually noticed she had been shot in the arm and was swept into an ambulance shortly afterward.
Others that testified Friday included police officers, security guards, neighbors and Skains’ daughter.
The next hearing will take place on June 27 at the 40th Judicial District Courthouse in Edgard.
Trials will begin next year.