Murder or self-defense? Columbus jury must decide answer in birthday party shootout trial
A jury now must decide whether Roger Thomas committed murder or acted in self-defense when he fatally shot his half-brother at his birthday party.
Jurors will have to sort through two weeks of conflicting and sometimes confusing testimony regarding which people attending Thomas’ party at his 435 Bernard Drive home fired guns the night Demetrius Williams was shot four times on Dec. 4, 2015.
Williams, 32, died of his wounds at the hospital. Two bullets passed through his body and two lodged. Of the two police recovered, one was a 9-millimeter and the other was a .38-caliber.
Thomas testified that he fired a .38-caliber revolver once or twice at Williams after Williams shot another guest and then fired at Thomas, the bullet passing through Thomas’ shirt and sweater, but striking no flesh.
Thomas said another shooter must have fired the 9-millimeter, as he heard someone shooting from the side of his apartment after he shot at Williams, but could not identify the shooter.
Other witnesses, however, said Thomas fired two guns, and he was photographed earlier that night holding a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol with an extended clip.
Assistant District Attorney Wesley Lambertus emphasized testimony from three women who were present, who said that they did not see Williams with a gun that night.
Whether Thomas acted in self-defense is crucial, because defense attorney Stacey Jackson has invoked Georgia’s “stand your ground” law, which authorizes the use of deadly force to protect oneself or others if one “reasonably believes” it is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury.
Because of that claim, Lambertus had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt not only that Thomas murdered Williams, but that he was not defending himself at the time.
The evidence
Thomas testified that Williams and another guest, Roderick Phillips, that evening had been drinking and using the drug “molly,” or ecstasy, when they became belligerent and combative, with Phillips twice instigating a confrontation with another guest.
Thomas said that prompted him to order everyone to leave as he went inside his apartment to get ready to go to a nightclub. He showered and was getting dressed when a guest knocked on his door to ask what was wrong with Williams. He looked out and saw Williams and Phillips were fighting on his front porch, with Phillips on the floor on his back, and Williams on top of him, holding a .32-caliber revolver.
After witness Jeffrey Flakes broke up the fight, Phillips ran inside to the bathroom as Williams fired a shot at him, Thomas said. Williams then pointed the gun at others and threatened to shoot them, he said.
Flakes took Williams outside to a waiting car, and Thomas kept Phillips in the apartment, at one point taking a gun away from him when he tried to go back out to confront Williams, Thomas said.
When he stepped back outside, he saw Williams was sitting in the back seat of the car, but had not left. Then Phillips walked out toward the car, raising his arms and saying, “It’s all love, bro,” Thomas said.
Williams got out of the car and approached Phillips, again threatening to shoot him, Thomas said. Phillips turned back toward the apartment, repeating he had no weapon, and Phillips shot him in the leg, the defendant said.
As Phillips ran to a neighboring apartment, Thomas asked Williams why he shot Phillips, and Williams again started pointing the .32-caliber at Thomas and other guests and threatening them, Thomas said, adding he could hear the revolver clicking as Williams pulled the trigger before it fired a bullet at Thomas.
Thomas said that after he shot back, he heard other gunfire and retreated inside, locking his door and running out the back. He did not return, and surrendered to police two days later. He said he gave his gun to a woman he knew, and never got it back.
Phillips, meanwhile, went inside the neighbor’s apartment, where he attacked the man living there as the man tried to force him to leave. Police arrested him outside when he burst out and fought them until they Tased him, officers said.
Phillips also was charged with murder in Williams’ death, but later pleaded guilty only to assaulting the neighbor, and testified during the trial. He’s to be sentenced later.
Phillips’ testimony matched much of what Thomas told the court. Like Thomas, he also said Williams wildly was pointing and firing his handgun, and was so enraged that no one could calm him.
Other witnesses also said Williams was behaving recklessly, and they could not mollify him.
Jackson hammered on that testimony, saying it corroborated Thomas’ version of events, and proved Thomas shot Williams in self-defense.
But some physical evidence that would have shed light on that scenario was missing: Police found only one gun at the scene, and it was not Williams’ .32-caliber revolver, Thomas’ .38-caliber or the 9-millimeter. It was a .380-caliber handgun found in the neighbor’s apartment, a gun the neighbor claimed Phillips beat him with.
A witness said one of the women who was to drive Williams away from the party picked up Williams’ revolver and put in the car, after Williams fell.
Jackson theorized she did so because Williams was a convicted felon who could not legally have a gun, and not knowing he would not survive his wounds, she feared he would be arrested. “That’s the best explanation for why the gun was removed from the scene,” he said.
Self defense?
Besides sifting through the evidence, the jury will have to sort out Georgia’s “stand your ground” law to determine whether it applies in Thomas’ case.
Georgia passed the law in 2006. It reads in part, “a person is justified in using force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”
The law further states a person in those circumstances “has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and use force … including deadly force.”
The law does not authorize the use of deadly force for revenge, once an initial confrontation has ended, nor in any circumstance in which the threat is not “imminent,” Lambertus noted. He told jurors Thomas may have shot Williams in retaliation for Williams shooting into Thomas’ apartment.
“There’s a lot of conflict in this case,” he said of witnesses’ testimony, adding that should not divert jurors from the central issue: “The main issue in this case,” he said, pointing at Thomas, “is did this defendant act in self-defense.”
Had Williams actually shot through Thomas’ clothing as Thomas stood on his front porch, as the defense claims, police would have found the bullet, Lambertus said, calling the claim ludicrous.
“It is absurd, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “If there was really a gunshot through the back of the shirt, there would be a bullet, and there is not.”
Closing arguments ended at 4:50 p.m. Thursday. Judge Arthur Smith III told jurors to return at 9 a.m. Friday to be instructed on the applicable law before they begin deliberating.
This story was originally published February 14, 2019 at 6:14 PM.