Court: Scheme to take man’s marijuana led to fatal shooting at motel

A plot to use counterfeit money to defraud a Phenix City man of marijuana led to the shooting on Jan. 24, 2014, that killed a Fort Mitchell, Ala., resident outside Columbus’ Super 8 Motel on Warm Springs Road, according to testimony Tuesday in Christopher Kelvonte Womack’s murder trial.

Womack was among four suspects charged in the death of Troy Saunders, 39, who gave 21-year-old Joseph “Joey” Wilkes a ride to the 2935 Warm Springs Road motel, where Wilkes was to meet Niesha Jones, Womack’s sister. Besides Womack and Jones, police also charged Trevon Brown and Mayson Deandrea Gibson, who at the time was Jones’ boyfriend.

Today Womack is 21; Jones is 20; and Gibson and Brown are 22.

Only Womack is on trial this week because Brown and Gibson will be tried separately, and Jones has agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for pleading guilty to reduced charges.

Prosecutor George Lipscomb gave jurors this account of the scheme and the shooting that ensued:

He said Jones, who was 17 at the time, began communicating with Wilkes on Facebook at Brown’s direction after Brown saw Wilkes had posted photos of marijuana, money and guns. Jones set up a meeting with Wilkes at the motel, telling him she had rented a room where they could smoke marijuana. Unknown to Wilkes, Jones’ co-conspirators, armed with pistols, would be waiting there.

Brown, Gibson and Jones got into a pickup truck and picked Womack up on their way to the motel, where they parked the truck in a front parking lot while Jones walked through the motel to the rear to wait.

When Saunders and Wilkes arrived, Jones met them in the rear parking lot, where she got into their car to smoke marijuana.

Womack, Gibson and Brown walked through the motel to the rear entrance and waited, Lipscomb said.

Jones testified Tuesday that the plan was to pay Wilkes fake money for marijuana, believing he would not notice the cash was counterfeit until later. Lipscomb said her cohorts planned a robbery.

But they did not want to point guns at the car while Jones was in it. First Womack walked out, knocked on the window and asked for a light. Before Jones handed him a cigarette lighter, Womack saw Wilkes reach into his jacket.

When Womack went back into the motel, he told Brown and Gibson he suspected Wilkes was armed.

According to Lipscomb, Gibson was prepared to rob Wilkes and Saunders, but Womack insisted his sister leave the car first. So Gibson went to the car and asked to buy some marijuana, then pretended to notice Jones for the first time and in feigned outrage opened the rear door and pulled her out.

As he did that, Jones spilled her purse, leaving her identification in Saunders’ car.

Womack and Brown then rushed the car, guns drawn. Wilkes again reached toward his jacket before Womack warned him not to draw a weapon, after which Wilkes relented, Lipscomb said.

But Saunders panicked, cranking the car to speed away as Womack and Brown opened fire.

One bullet punctured a tire on Saunders’ Buick Century; another hit the driver in the neck. Wilkes fired two shots into the air as Saunders, bleeding profusely, hit a curb that deflated a second tire, then got onto the road headed east, weaving and fishtailing.

Warm Springs Road becomes Gentian Boulevard just east of the motel. Saunders got about a quarter-mile away, near the Burger King at 3101 Gentian Blvd., when he bled to death. Wilkes steered the car off the road, got out, hid his pistol and went to the restaurant to call 911, Lipscomb said.

Jones and Gibson were arrested that same night, as police soon found her ID in Saunders’ car. Brown surrendered to police the following Jan. 28, and Womack was arrested in early February 2014.

Authorities since have lost track of Wilkes, for whom they are searching, said Lipscomb. Though Wilkes is subject to arrest, Lipscomb said he does not plan to detain him if he shows up to testify.

Womack, whose indictment charges him with murder, aggravated assault and two counts of trying to commit a felony in the attempted robbery of Saunders and Wilkes, is represented by Columbus attorney Michael Eddings.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Court: Scheme to take man’s marijuana led to fatal shooting at motel."