Defense: Defendant had right to shoot neighbor; prosecution: video shows he didn't

Defendant Jason Levesque during his testimony on Thursday morning prior to closing arguments (CourtTV screenshot)

DOVER - Defense lawyer Mark Sisti told jurors during Thursday's closing arguments it's rare in a horrific crime like this that the defendant takes the stand in his own defense, but the defendant, Jason Levesque, wanted to testify "so he could look you in the eye and tell you what happened."
Levesque, 45, is facing life in prison for pumping six shots from his Glock pistol into the head and torso of his neighbor, Kyle Violette, over a plowing dispute on a snowy night in Rochester last April 4.
Sisti told the jury that the confrontation leading up to the shooting occurred in a matter of seconds.
Several surveillance cameras from the duplex where both men lived will be available for jurors to refer to as they deliberate Levesque's verdict.
"I urge you to watch those videos and study them closely," Sisti said.
He added that his client had every reason to shoot Violette in self-defense, because he represented a clear and present threat to his daughter and parents who live with him on Summer Street in Rochester.
Levesque was plowing out his driveway around 10 p.m. on April 4 when Violette left his house screaming at his neighbor, "If you put your fucking snow in my driveway I'm gonna kill you and your family."
The surveillance videos show the two men face to face before Violette begins to walk back toward his home, but then stops and turns around and threatens Levesque again.
Then they show Levesque pulling out a gun from his waistband and aiming it at Violette who begins to turn away. Moments later he is shot in the jaw. A few seconds later Levesque approaches Violette on the ground and pumps five more rounds into Violette, all in the back.
For his part Levesque has testified that he blacked out and doesn't remember what happened after the first shot.
But Assistant Strafford County Attorney Joachim Barth told jurors Levesque knew exactly what he had done.
"He goes back to his truck, gets inside where his daughter is seated in the passenger seat and says, "Should we run?"
She replies, "No, you don't run."
Levesque then removed the magazine from the handgun "to make it safe" and waits for police to arrive.
Barth told jurors that when the two were face-to-face during the initial confrontation, "that was the highest point of tension; and that moment passed as Kyle started back to his home."
"He walks away, that mitigates, that defuses the situation," he added. "When Kyle saw the gun he turned away. You see Kyle go down after the first shot goes through his jaw. Jason then advances toward Kyle and four seconds later Kyle gets five more bullets in the back. All six shots were potentially lethal."
Barth added that if he hadn't been treated on-scene by Rochester Police Lt. Spencer Williams-Hurley who has combat medical training, he likely would have died.
The jury began deliberating today.