Investigator McMahan back on the stage

A sheriff’s officer gave testimony to implicate a Walhalla area man in the case of multiple crimes that occurred early last year at a home near highway 11. And when the trial resumes at 9 this morning at the Oconee Courthouse, investigator David McMahan will returns to the stand. The state has opened trial in the case of Timothy Ray Wirtz, charged with five offenses: armed robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, grand larceny, kidnapping, and burglary first degree. For the prosecution, McMahan narrated a convenience store surveillance video which, according to the investigator’s testimony, showed an individual in a ball cap using a credit card stolen from the crime scene. McMahan said he was able to trace ownership of the car, from which the individual emerged, to the defendant’s family. He also read to the jury the contents of what he called a voluntary statement given by Wirtz in which the defendant admitted that he was part of a group that used a key to get into the victim’s home and then leave damage in an attempt to portray the burglary as a forced entry. Once the trial resumes this morning, the prosecution plans to offer as evidence tape recordings of calls made by Wirtz in an attempt to retrieve guns stolen in the burglary and return them to the owner. At that point, McMahan will face cross-examination by Wirtz’s attorney, Delane Rosemond.