Man killed Monday was witness in 2016 murder trial, linked to suspect in 2 killings
Two men who were key players in a 2016 Muscogee County murder trial have both been shot in separate incidents in the last week.
Travis Porter, the 35-year-old man who was shot and killed in a Farr Road apartment late Monday night, was a key witness who recanted his story in a 2016 trial that led to the acquittal of Reginald Jamal Jackson.
Jackson was one of two people shot on Aug 28 around 2 a.m. in the 800 block of Morris Road. Jackson, who was treated at Midtown Medical Center, was arrested Saturday after his release from the hospital.
At the time of his death, Porter was facing felony perjury charges related to his April 2016 testimony in a murder trial in which Jackson was the defendant, according to court records. Porter was scheduled to be in Superior Court in front of Judge Frank Jordan on Tuesday.
Jackson is facing two murder charges in separate July shootings. He is charged in connection with the deaths of Michael Fleming and Brandon Scott. Scott was shot to death around 2 a.m. on July 7 on Rigdon Road. Fleming was found shot to death and his body was found burning in the trunk of a car on July 10.
The Jackson-Porter connection goes back to the 2013 shooting that killed 23-year-old Dior Cheney. Jackson was charged with that murder.
Cheney was driving a 2010 Ford Focus when he was killed and Porter, his passenger, was wounded after a gunman fired shots into the car at Benning Drive and Head Street.
In April 2016, Porter was the star witness for the prosecution in Jackson’s trial in Muscogee County Superior Court. When he took the stand, Porter denied that Jackson was the shooter, going back on what he had previously told investigators.
“I just told them whatever so they’d leave me alone,” Porter told Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly at the trial. Porter said he had no interest in speaking to police, and didn’t care whether they captured a suspect in the assault and homicide. “I was just going to let the Lord deal with it,” he said.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Melvin Cooper, Porter flatly denied Jackson shot him and Cheney. “Reginald Jackson did not pull the trigger that night,” he said, later adding, “I know that for a fact.”
Porter testified that he and Cheney, who were living in Macon at the time, had come to Columbus’ Winston Road to visit a “trap house,” an apartment rented for dealing drugs. They had hoped to buy a pound of marijuana to sell, he said.
Porter, who said he used to be a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang, grew up on Winston Road and knew people there. Cheney, a Macon native, did not.
Porter was serving time for felony possession of marijuana at the time of the trial and testified that when Columbus detectives questioned him after the Oct. 29, 2013, shooting at Benning Drive and Head Street, he just agreed with anything they suggested.
Staff writer Sarah Robinson contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Man killed Monday was witness in 2016 murder trial, linked to suspect in 2 killings."