The slaying led to the dismissal of charges against three Indiana men, Claypoole said, adding “mission accomplished.”
Croom, 43, of Bunker Hill, Ind., is charged with aggravated murder, purposeful murder, murder and two counts of felonious assault.
He was charged and arrested in August 2010. His trial started Monday, and jurors will begin to hear testimony Wednesday morning.
Defense attorney Scott Calaway told the jury that his client did not kill Hurd and that the blame lay with the three drug defendants from Indiana.
“This case is about self-interest and self-preservation,” Calaway said.
“This is the man they’ve thrown to the wolves.”
Hurd was shot eight times on Aug. 2, 2007, as he sat in the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Blazer that was in the parking lot of a Sunoco gas station, 1070 S. Main St.
The woman who was driving the Blazer, Tiffany Brewer, was shot once but survived.
Claypoole said Hurd had picked up a series of charges in both Indiana and Ohio and choose to sign up as a confidential informant for the DEA.
He signed the paperwork in March 2006.
In June and July, he wore a wire while purchasing cocaine from the targets of the DEA investigation, Claypoole said.
The three suspects did not know about the wire until Hurd’s girlfriend, Latisha Walker, told those men after she and Hurd argued, Claypoole said.
The suspects initially did not believe her, but in July 2007, they were charged in Wayne County, Ind., with cocaine trafficking charges.
Hurd, who feared for his life, signed up again as an informant. He moved to Centerville to live with Walker, and the DEA told him to “stay put,” Claypoole said.
But Hurd and Walker argued again, and on Aug. 2, he went out with some friends.
He ended up in the SUV with Brewer, and he tried to rent a motel room, but his credit card was declined.
The motel clerk directed him to an ATM at the Sunoco, where he went next, Claypoole said.
Video footage from the Sunoco shows that he took money from the ATM before he was ambushed as he got back in the SUV. Brewer drove off to Good Samaritan Hospital North, but that hospital was closed, and police found them there. Hurd died later at Miami Valley Hospital, Claypoole said.
Croom was allegedly to be paid some money and given a red Cadillac in return for killing Hurd. Months later, Croom’s girlfriend held the title of a red Cadillac once owned by someone connected to the drug trafficking ring, Claypoole said.
Calaway told the jury that there was no physical evidence tying Croom to the crime.
Two women witnessed the shooting, but one could not identify Croom as the shooter.
The other woman did, but evidence would show “that identification is not valid,” he said.
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