Steven Branscome in court

The man accused of shooting a state trooper in March and leading police on a chase that lasted over a week was in court Friday.
Steven Branscome faces four felony charges in Mercer County West Virginia including malicious wounding of a police officer.
The defense argued according to state code that charge only applies to police officers who work for the state of West Virginia. Magistrate Mike Flanigan agreed,
“Based on the pure technicality of the way the code reads is that that is geared towards West Virginia Police employed by the state of West Virginia so but certainly malicious wounding still certainly fits.”
Branscome is also charged with stealing a truck and burglarizing a West Virginia home after the shooting. West Virginia State Trooper Jeffery Cook read off a bizarre list of stolen items “Light blue long sleeve t-shirt, swiss army watch, a coffee cup, instant maxwell house coffee, gallon 2% milk, approximately 3 gallons of gasoline with the can, four pocket knives, white pillow case, twelve pack of chewing tobacco and a .32 caliber black powder pistol.“
Investigators say the items, along with the .25 caliber pistol investigators say was used in the shooting were later found inside the truck abandoned in Floyd County.
However, the magistrate ruled the prosecution failed to prove the value of the truck and dropped the grand larceny charge.
The certified charges which include wanton endangerment, malicious wounding and burglary will be reviewed by a grand jury in June.