‘I’m not going to die today.’ Defense attorney argues self-defense in Columbus double homicide

The defense attorney for a 19-year-old charged in the recent shooting deaths of two men in Columbus is arguing his client acted in self-defense during a drug deal gone wrong.

Rayshondre Tarver made his first appearance in Columbus Recorder’s Court on Wednesday, a week after his case was postponed. Tarver is charged with two counts of felony murder in the deaths of Montrell Johnson, 18, and Terreon Joseph, 17.

“Your honor, this individual is innocent. My client was in a life or death situation and he lived,” William Kendrick, defense attorney for Tarver, said in court. “My client decided ‘I’m not going to die today.’”

The case

Around 11 p.m. Oct. 7, police received a 911 call in reference to a shooting, police Sgt. Dexter Wysinger testified. Upon arrival, police found Johnson and Joseph shot multiple times. Both individuals later died of their injuries.

A malfunctioning 9 mm handgun was recovered in Joseph’s right hand, in addition to several 40 caliber shell casings found near Johnson’s body, Wysinger testified. Police also recovered an orange hoodie soaked in blood, as well as a cell phone.

Wysinger said that on Oct. 7, Tarver received a Facebook message from Joseph, who was interested in purchasing two ounces of marijuana for $450. According to Wysinger, Tarver found the message suspicious since it was a much larger quantity than he was used to selling Joseph, but decided to meet up with him anyway.

When Tarver and an unnamed driver arrived to the area on 32nd Avenue, Joseph was standing in the middle of the street. Tarver never got out of the vehicle, according to Wysinger, and waited for Joseph to approach the car.

Joseph asked to see and hold one of the packages of marijuana. According to Wysinger, Tarver then noticed Johnson in the rearview mirror and grabbed the marijuana from Joseph realizing that the transaction was a set up.

Wysinger said that Johnson put a gun to Tarver’s face, demanding that he give the marijuana up. Tarver refused, pulled out a handgun and started shooting.

Tarver told Wysinger that he was shooting at random with his head down and once the gun was out of ammo, he told the driver of the vehicle to speed away, Wysinger said.

Autopsy results from the medical examiner found that Joseph was shot one time in the center of his chest, while Johnson was shot a total of four times: three times in the head and once in the back.

Wysinger described inconsistencies with what Tarver reportedly told him and what evidence was found by officials.

“He described himself as head down, moving his arm from side-to-side and firing shots. That would’ve been very impressive to shoot an individual in the head three times by just doing that,” Wysinger said.

The shell casings found on the roadway indicate Tarver would’ve either had to have been outside of the vehicle firing the gun, or firing the gun out of an open car window, Wysinger said. Besides those two things, police have found no other inconsistencies between Tarver’s statement and any witness statements.

The defense

Kendrick spoke more about his client’s innocence outside of the courtroom.

“The issue in this case is whether or not my client was committing a felony or not. What my point is, and it’s not a point that’s going to change, is that without the substance (marijuana), you can’t tell whether it’s a felony or not,” Kendrick said. “They need to find it and they need to test it.”

Judge Julius Hunter bound the case over to Muscogee Superior Court.

This story was originally published October 30, 2019 at 3:29 PM.