PICKENS — Judge Edward Welmaker decided Tuesday to deny the man accused of murdering John Larry Bruin of Action Pawn Shop in Easley his request to cross-examine witnesses.

Roger Eugene Shepherd is accused of having murdered Bruin at his shop in downtown Easley three years ago.

Shepherd asked Welmaker Monday to allow him to cross-examine one or two witnesses in the case, but Welmaker’s answer Tuesday was: “It wouldn’t be proper and rights are protected by the defense attorney.”

“I feel that this would not be in anyone’s best interest, therefore, I deny you the opportunity to cross-examine any witnesses in this case,” Welmaker said.

Shepherd’s attorney, Chief Public Defender John DeJong, said his client wished to cross-examine Sergeant Detective Marco Roy of Canada. Roy and his partner arrested and interrogated Shepherd in Canada.

Roy has been with the Montreal Police for 25 years and the Homicide Unit since 2005. He understands about 80 percent of English, but speaks very little, and had an interpreter during questioning.

Roy said he received a request from the Easley Police Department on June 16, 2006 to find Shepherd.

Roy and his team arrested Shepherd on June 17, 2006 around noon. Roy identified the defendant in the courtroom as the man he arrested in 2006 in Montreal.

Roy said they found Shepherd because he used his credit card to make a reservation at a hotel. They staked out the hotel, and when Shepherd left his hotel room to go to his car on June 17, a swat team was waiting for him by his car.

The receptionist at the hotel recognized Shepherd as the person who was renting room 207.

“I was there at his arrest,” Roy said through an interpreter. “My partner, Sgt. Mario Lambert, arrested Mr. Shepherd and read him his rights. I was right beside my partner.”

A video was played of the Montreal Police Department interrogation of Shepherd on Tuesday. The jury may see the video during the trial.

The video was admitted over DeJong’s objections, because Welmaker said “all pertinent points were complied with by the (Montreal) officer, and perhaps he even was given more rights than he would receive here.”

The defense said Shepherd was forced into the interrogation even though he had a lawyer.

But Welmaker rejected that notion.

“It was not a forced statement in any way,” he said. “It was intelligently made by Mr. Shepherd. Based upon that, I will allow statement into evidence as the state requested.”

Assistant solicitor Judy Munson said the video speaks for itself, therefore she hopes to use it as evidence against Shepherd in the case.

Other witnesses who were questioned Tuesday included Francis Nealy, an ATF arresting agent who found the bag of stolen guns and another ATF agent who did inventory on the missing merchandise after the incident.

Shepherd faces charges of murder, armed robbery, assault with intent to kill and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.