Murder trial snags when witness mentions 4th suspect

The murder trial in the 2012 death of Columbus barber Charlie Artis hit a snag Friday when one of the three suspects charged in the case testified a fourth man was with the trio the day Artis died.

The witness was Demetrice Scott, who’s testifying for the prosecution in the case against Edward Lee and Donteviouse Doleman.

The prosecution’s theory of the case is that on Jan. 5, 2012, Scott and Doleman took Lee to rob Artis outside Charlie’s Barbershop, one of several businesses in the Gunboat Plaza shopping center off Milgen Road.

Prosecutors allege Scott and Doleman dropped Lee off and then parked a green Mercury east of the plaza at the Stratford Lane Apartments, where Lee ran to join them after robbing and fatally shooting Artis in the parking lot outside his shop.

On the witness stand Friday, Scott was testifying much as expected until he told the court a fourth individual he knew only as “Chris” accompanied them to Gunboat Plaza, and that Chris got out of the car at the same time Lee did.

After the robbery, Lee came running back to the apartments, hurriedly telling his companions to “Go,” Scott said. They picked up Chris as they fled, he said.

He described Chris as having dreadlocks that fell below his shoulders.

When jurors left the courtroom, defense attorneys went ballistic.

Will Kirby, who represents Doleman, wanted to know whether Assistant District Attorney Wesley Lambertus deliberately withheld evidence that could cast doubt on the defendants’ guilt. Kirby noted some witness testimony described a suspect as having long dreadlocks.

Lambertus said Scott had told him nothing of a fourth suspect named Chris. “I don’t know who he is. I don’t know where he is,” the prosecutor said, adding he’s obligated only to disclose “exculpatory” evidence to the defense.

Kirby countered that a fourth suspect matching witness descriptions would be exculpatory.

Prosecutor George Lipscomb asked Scott if he knew where Chris could be found. Scott said he knew nothing more about Chris and agreed with Lambertus that he had not mentioned Chris before.

Kirby and Jennifer Curry, who represents Lee, said they would have to further depose Scott before the trial resumed.

Other testimony

In his earlier testimony, Scott said that he knew Artis because his aunt had attended the same barber school, and Artis had cut his hair before. “He was known to have a lot of money,” Scott said.

Knowing that Artis kept a wad of cash in his pocket, Scott proposed a robbery to Doleman and Lee, to ingratiate himself to the two.

“I felt that if I brought up something like that, I wouldn’t be an outsider anymore,” he said.

He made a point of testifying that unlike Lee and Doleman, he was not from the East Highland neighborhood, where he moved to live at an aunt’s house in September 2011. He grew up in Washington Heights, and East Highlanders saw him as an interloper and sometimes would assault him were he alone, he said.

That’s why he knew so little about Chris, he said: Chris was from East Highland, and Scott didn’t know many people there.

Scott said he got to know Doleman and Lee after he moved into his aunt’s house on 19th Street. His cousin was dating Doleman, and Doleman and Lee were best friends, he said.

Doleman and Lee moved into the same house after Scott’s aunt was hospitalized and later died, he said. Together the three started committing crimes — stealing cars, flat-screen TVs, laptops, cameras and other electronics, often from nearby homes.

Scott testified that one night he and Doleman went for a walk near Doctors Hospital, where they saw a woman sitting in her Kia Sport in the parking lot. Doleman had a BB pistol that looked like a real firearm. He pointed it at the woman, who got out of the vehicle and ran into the hospital as Doleman took her car and picked Scott up.

Authorities said that was on Dec. 15, 2011, sometime after midnight. Later that same day, Scott, Doleman and Lee drove the Kia to an apartment complex off Buena Vista Road, where they saw a woman in a Lexus.

Lee had a .38-caliber revolver, and Scott had a paintball gun that looked like an assault rifle, he said. When they approached the woman, she screamed and ran into her apartment, and Lee drove off in her Lexus as the other two left in the Kia.

Scott told of trying to rob a 47-year-old merchant at the Hometown Grocery, 1159 27th St., where he and Lee tried to stop the man as he left the store. But the store owner got to his Honda Odyssey and sped away as Lee shot at him. That was on Dec. 20, 2011, authorities said.

Scott also testified to breaking into a 19th Street apartment with Doleman. The resident had left her door open and gone upstairs to a balcony, so they went in and took a TV, laptop computer and the keys to a Chevrolet Equinox.

He said Lee later got the keys, went back and stole the Equinox. Lee was driving it to a neighborhood Circle K when the owner saw it. Lee hit a utility pole getting away and later abandoned the vehicle, Scott said.

Authorities said that 19th Street burglary was on Dec. 21, 2011.

Scott became less forthcoming when testifying to another case. He said that at Lee’s direction, he climbed through the open window of a house where he came face to face with a woman who’d just gotten out of the shower. He pulled a gun and ordered her to get down on the floor, then let Lee and Doleman in the door, he said.

He held the woman at gunpoint as the other two rummaged through her house. Then Doleman ran, and Lee left in the woman’s Chevrolet Aveo.

Scott’s testimony turned hesitant.

“When I went back to the other room, that’s when everything happened,” he said.

“What happened?” Lambertus asked.

“That’s when the rape occurred,” Scott replied.

Despite Lambertus’ prompting, his testimony became marked by long stretches of silence, until finally he said: “Let me put it like this — I took what’s most valuable to a female.” He raped her with a gun to her head, he said.

He said Doleman later ordered Lee to return the Aveo, and Lee reported police were at the woman’s house when he went back.

Authorities said that offense occurred on Jan. 15, 2012 — just four days before police arresting the three men for stealing a neighbor’s Xbox gaming system found the .38-caliber revolver they believed to be the gun used in Artis’ homicide.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Murder trial snags when witness mentions 4th suspect."