On the witness stand this afternoon, the most consistent answer given by victim Joseph Roberts was “I don’t remember.” The young man was quiet, almost inaudible during much of his testimony, and he seemed reluctant to discuss his wounds and what he remembered.

A short time later, one of the main investigators in the case, Phoenix police detective Clark Schwartzkopf, told the judge that Roberts had originally told police far more than he let on today. “There were a number of things he didn’t remember this afternoon,” Schwartzkopf said with the jury out of the room. For one, Roberts described more about the shooting, including that he saw the silver car slow down and cut off its headlights as it approached him on July 3, 2006. He then saw the barrel of a gun leveled out the window.

“This witness claims he doesn’t recall,” said prosecutor Vince Imbordino. “I quite frankly don’t know whether he does or doesn’t.”

Prosecutors are trying to convince Judge Roland Steinle to let them use the young man’s previous description to police. After all, it’s far more compelling than the testimony he gave this afternoon. Steinle said he will decide tomorrow whether to let Schwartzkopf bring the description into the trial.

Update (11:32 a.m. Tuesday): Judge Steinle allowed Schwartzkopf to tell the rest of Roberts’ story this morning. It was based on a hospital interview that took place the same day as the shooting. “When the arm came out of the vehicle, he saw a white arm holding onto the gun itself,” the detective said. “He said that he thought the headlights on the vehicle were turned off right before the shooting took place.”