Defendant blames cousin for Oakland Park homicide

Gary Lee Jones Jr. spent an hour on the witness stand Thursday, testifying he saw his cousin Adrian Devon Patterson wrestling with Robert Earl Bolden the day Bolden fatally was shot in Columbus’ Oakland Park neighborhood.

On trial for murder in Bolden’s death, Jones said Patterson had gone there with Antonio Benefield to buy marijuana, arriving around noon Nov. 5, 2014. Jones said he was there only because he’d caught a ride with Patterson from Cusseta, Ga., planning a family outing here with his then-girlfriend and her sister.

When he and Patterson got to Columbus, they visited another cousin at the Botany Arms apartments on Farr Road, where they met Benefield. Benefield agreed to drive Patterson’s white Geo Prism to Oakland Park, as Jones and Patterson, both from Cusseta, were unfamiliar with the area.

Jones said that en route, Patterson was on the phone with Bolden, getting directions. Benefield drove into Oakland Park on Hawthorne Drive, turned onto Riverland Avenue and backed the Prism into a parking space near the Riverwind Apartments.

Patterson got out of the car, talking on his cell phone, and walked away, Jones said, adding he was annoyed because the side-trip made him late meeting the women with whom he was to take children to Chuck E. Cheese.

Growing impatient, he got out of the car to walk along Riverland Avenue, where he saw Patterson up the street, he said. Then he saw a blue Honda CRV come down Hawthorne Drive and park at the apartments.

A man got of the Honda, spoke to Patterson, and then both got into the vehicle, he said. In a few moments the car doors opened and they got out.

Then they started “tussling,” grabbing and pulling on each other, he said, and he heard a gunshot. Then more shots.

He saw Benefield pull out and drive from Riverland Avenue up Ramsey Road, and he ran to catch up, jumping fences and crossing yards. He got in the Prism and told Benefield he thought Patterson had been shot, he said.

As they drove away, they saw the Honda CRV following them, but it broke off when Benefield turned onto Howe Avenue, he said. They picked up Patterson and left Oakland Park for the Fort Benning Road area, where Jones got out of the car and called for a ride, he said.

He said that day he was wearing black jeans, a black thermal shirt and a blue Carolina Panthers knit cap. Patterson was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, he said.

The clothing has been a key factor in the trial testimony, because Frank Smith, who gave Bolden a ride in the blue Honda, testified the man who shot Bolden was wearing a gray hoodie, and that’s what Patterson appeared to be wearing when a Ramsey Road resident’s security camera recorded him running by, trying to catch up with the Prism.

Defense attorney Michael Eddings hammered on that, claiming police charged Jones with murder when they knew the evidence pointed to Patterson.

Also testifying Thursday was Keith Jones Jr., who said he referred Patterson to Benefield when Patterson told him he wanted to buy some marijuana. Keith Jones said he had a prepaid cell phone he’d sold to Patterson for $20, and that was the phone Patterson was using to arrange a meeting with Bolden.

Keith Jones said he was on another phone with Benefield when the shooting occurred, as Benefield abruptly said, “Ah man, I think Adrian got shot,” and hung up.

He said he noticed Patterson had a small, silver revolver that day.

Patterson and Gary Jones are his cousins, he said.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly grilled Keith Jones about his refusing to cooperate with police during the investigation, when Jones told officers he wanted nothing to do with it.

Kelly also cross-examined Gary Jones, who admitted that when police first questioned him, he denied having been in Oakland Park that day.

Closing arguments

During closing arguments Thursday afternoon, Eddings told jurors Benefield lied during a police interview on Jan. 9, 2015, when he told detectives Jones shot Bolden. When called to testify in court, Benefield said he didn’t know who fired the fatal shot.

The bullet penetrated Bolden’s right side and exited his left, crossing his mid-torso. He died later at the hospital, on his 44th birthday.

Police found a .32-caliber bullet lodged in the Honda’s sun roof, and found a .380 pistol on Hawthorne Drive, where Bolden collapsed after he was shot.

The .380’s firing chamber was empty. Investigators believe Bolden had the gun with him, but never fired it.

Kelly and Assistant District Attorney Michelle De Los Santos told jurors the drug deal was just a setup for an armed robbery, recalling that Smith testified Bolden was talking to the man in the gray hoodie when the stranger said, “Give me all you got!” After the gunfire, both ran in different directions, Smith said, and he pursued the shooter in his car.

Benefield said that after the gunfire, Gary Jones got back in the Prism and told him Bolden saw he had a gun and pulled his own pistol, prompting Jones to shoot him.

Patterson also is charged with murder in Bolden’s death, but he is not on trial with Gary Jones because his case was severed. He will be tried separately.

De Los Santos told jurors that even if they believe Patterson shot Bolden, Gary Jones is guilty because he participated in the armed robbery, making him a party to the crime.

Eddings countered that no marijuana was found at the crime scene or on Gary Jones or Patterson, so prosecutors can’t prove a robbery occurred.

He also told jurors the difference in witness accounts of what the shooter was wearing creates sufficient doubt for them to acquit his client, as establishing the killer’s identity is an element of the crime prosecutors must prove.

“Identification has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” Eddings said.

Jurors also can’t convict Gary Jones of acting as Patterson’s accomplice in a robbery if prosecutors can’t prove Jones intentionally participated, he said: Proving only that Jones was there is not sufficient.

“Just because he was there on Riverland doesn’t make him guilty,” Eddings said, adding mere association with the killer doesn’t, either.

In his closing argument, Kelly recalled the testimony of John Crimmel, who was driving through the area that day. The witness said he saw three men in the street, and two appeared to be arguing.

Kelly said Benefield already had pulled from his parking space and started down Ramsey Road by the time he heard gunfire, and Benefield told police Jones caught up with the car first, and then Patterson – as evidenced by witnesses’ reporting suspects jumping fences and running through yards, and the camera footage showing Patterson lagging behind the Prism and Honda.

What most likely occurred was that Jones, also wearing a gray hoodie, robbed and shot Bolden with Patterson as a lookout and then raced past Patterson catching up with the Prism, as he was in better shape.

Because Bolden had a gun, the robbery didn’t go as planned, Kelly said.

“This is an armed robbery that went south because Mr. Bolden resisted,” he said.

With closing arguments concluded, jurors are to return to court Friday, when Judge Frank Jordan Jr. will instruct them on the law by which they must weigh the evidence.

Jones is charged with malice or deliberate murder, felony murder for allegedly killing Bolden while committing the felony of aggravated assault, aggravated assault, and using a gun to commit a crime.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Defendant blames cousin for Oakland Park homicide."