Six jurors will decide whether the man who police say shot another man in downtown Charleston on New Year's Day three years ago should be ordered to pay that man's medical expenses and other damages.
A trial began Monday in Kanawha County Circuit Court for a lawsuit filed by John Charles Scott, who was shot in the doorway of the Recovery Sports Grill on Virginia Street East in the early morning hours on Jan. 1, 2014.
Scott filed his lawsuit in March 2014 against the alleged shooter, Michael Underwood II, of Beckley, and Fayette County lawyer Jamison Conrad, who both police and Scott allege served as Underwood's accomplice.
Underwood's and Conrad's conduct, the lawsuit claims, "constitute malicious wounding, battery and wanton endangerment."
Underwood was charged with malicious wounding, a felony, but the charge was dismissed by prosecutors after Underwood successfully completed a six-month pre-trial diversion.
A misdemeanor obstruction charge and a felony charge of being an accessory after the fact to malicious wounding were dismissed against Conrad by prosecutors.
In his lawsuit, Scott alleges that, "Without privilege or other justification, [Underwood] violently assaulted and maliciously battered the plaintiff including using a firearm to strike [Scott] and fire a gunshot that struck and seriously wounded [Scott]."
Mark McMillian, Scott's lawyer, told jurors Monday afternoon that his client still suffers - and always will suffer - from emotional distress and permanent, severe physical injuries.
Scott wants jurors to award him damages for medical bills, lost income, the loss of enjoyment of life, annoyance and inconvenience, among other things.
The lawsuit also asks that Underwood and Conrad be forced to pay punitive damages.
Police previously said that surveillance video from the sports bar shows Conrad and two other people physically fighting with Scott in the early morning hours Jan. 1, 2014.
Underwood, who is Conrad's friend, was later seen getting a .40-caliber handgun and shooting Scott, Charleston police wrote in criminal complaints filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court against the men.
Conrad was accused by police of helping his friend hide evidence by allegedly removing Underwood's cellphone from the scene and telling him to flee.
Underwood ran to his car in a nearby garage, police wrote and added that they discovered Scott's cellphone in Conrad's hotel room.
Police also said at the time that Conrad refused to cooperate with their investigation into the shooting. He called the shooter a "dear friend of his," but he would not identify him by name, according to police.
Several witnesses later identified Underwood to detectives.
One witnesses, Travis McClintic, told police he stayed with Conrad inside the hotel room after the shooting. When asked why the men did not call 911, he said "he was instructed by [Conrad] to not go to the police, to let the police come to them," according to complaints written by police.
Scott had wounds to his left shoulder and left thigh. He was treated at Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital and released the next day.
The trial will continue Wednesday in front of Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.