Ryan is charged with five felonies, including first-degree murder after deliberation, for allegedly chasing and shooting at Thomas Crookham, who was carrying Noah. A bullet penetrated Crookham's right hand and traveled through Noah's chest, killing him.
Defense attorney Jennifer Hens lee and Chief Deputy District Attorney Michelle Amico traded very conflicting evidence about Angela Crookham's relationships with her estranged husband and her one-time lover, Ryan.
Detective Troy Bisgard said Angela Crookham told police she was reconciling with her husband and considered Ryan "a great friend, like a big brother" even though she had slept with him during several dates in March. The two moved into the Madison Street apartment in May.
Angela Crookham said Ryan recently had become suicidal, and police found two suicide notes in his bedroom, one addressed to her. Police also learned Ryan had bought a Ruger .357-caliber, five-shot revolver two days before the shooting. Ten rounds were missing from a box of ammo in his bedroom.
Attorney Henslee produced 10 months of Angela Crookham's e-mails, in which she wrote that Ryan was "unbelievably sexy," how she wanted to be his "one and only," and how afraid she was of her husband. She wrote that Tom Crookham had pulled out a knife once and threatened suicide. She was terrified for her son, so she called police.
Tom Crookham admitted to police the couple had been going through a nasty divorce until their decision to reconcile. He said he and his wife had been intimate a week before the shooting and that he learned just two days before the shooting that she had been intimate with Ryan.
County Court Judge Andrew Armatas ruled that sufficient evidence exists to prosecute and moved the case to district court, where Ryan will be arraigned Feb. 17. />
