Ohio Jurors See Video of Paralyzed, Dying Man Blinking to Identify His Killer

May 8, 2013— -- Jurors sitting in a Hamilton County, Ohio, courtroom watched closely as the videotaped testimony of a dying man, whose eye blinks were used to identify his alleged killer to police officers, was offered as evidence.

In the 17-minute video, detectives asked shooting victim David Chandler, who was paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator, to answer questions by blinking two times to say "no" and three times to say "yes."

Jurors watched the video on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, silently counting in their heads the number of times Chandler blinked in response to each question.

When Chandler was shown a picture of his alleged killer, Ricardo Woods, and asked if Woods was the man who shot him, Chandler looked at the photo for a couple of seconds before he responded to detectives with pronounced blinks, according to the AP. When police asked if he was sure, Chandler blinked again three times, the AP reported.

The video was shown after an Ohio judge denied the motion by Woods' defense attorneys last month to ban the blinking testimony from the trial.

"Police set up these rules, and they asked him a series of questions," Woods' attorney, Kory Jackson, told ABC News. "There are times he doesn't blink at all in response to questions. There are times he blinks more than three times, so it is often unclear what exactly he is trying to communicate."

Woods, 35, is accused of fatally shooting Chandler in the head and neck on Oct. 28, 2010, in Cincinnati.

Detectives interviewed Chandler on Nov. 2, 2010. Ten days later, he died of complications from his paralysis and gunshot wounds.

Woods was charged with murder, felonious assault and weapons counts. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

Jackson said Chandler's eye-blinking testimony was also problematic because authorities showed Chandler only one photo and reportedly suggested to him that Woods was the person they believed was the suspect.

"They planted the idea in his mind, and then asked him to respond," Jackson said.

Jackson said that according to Ohio law, whenever authorities arrange for a line-up or a photo array for identification purposes, an officer in the room is required to not know who the suspect is.

But Jackson said that not only did officers know who the suspect was, but they only showed Chandler one picture, a picture of Woods.

"It is improperly suggestive," Jackson said. "That causes false identifications more often than not."

Jackson said the two individuals who were in the car with Chandler when he was shot were both shown a line-up, and neither of them identified Woods as the shooter.

ABC News' Christina Ng contributed to this report.