Created: 11/4/2009 6:55:33 PM 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The prosecution today started its cross examination of Tyrone Hartsfield, who took the stand in his own defense this morning, breaking down and crying several times.
The prosecution rested its case against the man accused of shooting former Jaguars player Richard Collier in 2008 on Tuesday. Hartsfield is charged with attempted murder.
Hartsfield waived his right to remain silent and took the stand after Judge Mallory Cooper questioned him to make sure he understood what he was doing.
Defense attorney Ann Finnell questioned her client about the night in April 2008, that he got punched by Collier in a club. Hartsfield broke down in tears the first of several times as he started to recount his story. The prosecution has said the shooting is retaliation for the fight.
The club was full, he said, and this "big guy walked up," and he told the man, "Hey man, you squeezing my chest."
That's when he said he got knocked out by Collier. Hartsfield recounted the events that led him to file a police report, again breaking down in tears as he said, "He didn't have to hit me like that, you know, he didn't have to hit me like that."
The questioning from Finnell then moved to the night of the shooting, specifically Hartsfield's phone records before, during and after his time at the club, Square One, in San Marco.
Stephfan Wilson, a key witness for the prosecution, testified earlier in the trial that he got a ride with Hartsfield that night and was there at the time of the shooting. But Hartsfield said he went to the club with his two-months-pregnant fiancee, and that she was driving.
He said he saw Wilson only when he got them into the club. Hartsfield on a couple of occasions said Wilson lied.
Wilson has testified that Hartsfield called him after 3 a.m. the morning of the shooting to ask how to remove gunshot residue.
"It's right there in black and white," Hartsfield replied, pointing to the phone records indicating Wilson actually called Hartsfield at that time.
Hartsfield said Wilson was returning a call from earlier, when Hartsfield called him to thank him for getting them into the club.
The defense also asked for clarifications of passages throughout the transcript that seem to indicate Hartsfield didn't understand what Wilson was saying about the night of the shooting.
When Finnell was finished reviewing the transcript, she asked what he did after the conversation.
Breaking down, Hartsfield told the court he cried on the street. "It's just been a lot of stress...(I get) the short end of the stick, every time I try to do the right thing.
"I'm fighting for my life. I can't do a life sentence for something I didn't do."
Finnell then asked him directly, "Did you shoot Richard Collier?"
He replied, "No ma'am," and continued sobbing and explaining that he never could do something like that.
But prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda didn't waste any time changing the mood. "Sir, do you want to do any more crying before we start?" he began aggressively. de la Rionda also established that Hartsfield has six previous felony convictions.
The defense immediately objected, but Cooper overruled. The two maintained an aggressive tack towards one another throughout the cross-examination.
At one point, they mimicked the fight that happened in April 2008 and were were face-to-face, only inches apart and speaking in raised voices.
Hartsfield made a point that he was a delivery driver and knew the best routes around town, so de la Rionda asked him why the phone records put him close to the murder when it was out of the way for the drive home.
Hartsfield said the phone records are not accurate.
At one point, de la Rionda said to Hartsfield, "You've got an explanation for everything, don't you?"
"No, sir, I have the truth," replied Hartsfield.
The recording of the conversation with Wilson, who was wearing a recording device in cooperation with detectives, has been the subject of many questions, as there were several points in the conversation that could be interpreted as either incriminating or not.
Hartsfield offered explanations for all of them, finally asking de la Rionda, "Didn't I say I'm innocent enough times (in the recording)? How many times I got to say I'm innocent?"
As for why he maintains he "did not do this crime," he said, "My life was going too good, good job, built a house...everything was just going great, then this liar that you got on your team (Wilson) just destroyed my life."
After he stepped down, another group of witnesses took the stand, one that confirmed Hartsfield was at the club with his fiancee the night of the shooting and another that said he overheard Wilson in jail trying to drum up a plan to pin the shooting on Hartsfield so he could get the reward money.
Hartsfield dismissed testimony that he was with Wilson during the shooting as a plot by Wilson to keep him out of jail.
The testimony this afternoon from Nakia Pressley, Hartsfield's girlfriend who said she was at the club with him the night of the shooting mirrored that of Hartsfield from earlier in the day.
But when de la Rionda cross-examined her, he asked why the two exchanged test messages when they were together.
Pressley said she never exchanged text messages with Hartsfield that night, but phone records show she did. Pressley responded that maybe the text messages got to her hours after they were sent.
De la Rionda also pressed her on a call between Hartsfield and Pressley while he was in jail -- a call that was recorded but was not presented to the jury.
During the call, Pressley says she's not supposed to be talking about the case, and tells Hartsfield that she doesn't know what to say. de la Rionda told her it sounded like he fed her a lie.
The trial is set to resume at 9 Thursday morning, and closing arguments should come tomorrow after a few more witnesses.
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