Crucial witness testifies Thursday in Columbus Pizza Hut marijuana robbery, murder trial
The man who joined in robbing a suitcase of marijuana from a Columbus rapper left dead in a Pizza Hut parking lot testified against four others being tried for murder this week.
Eric Randall Spencer Jr. told jurors how the suspects allegedly robbed Branden Denson outside the Buena Vista Road restaurant, taking 16 pounds of marijuana before leaving Denson shot three times in back in the driver’s seat of his Jeep Wrangler.
Pizza Hut workers found Denson dead about 10:30 p.m. on April 6, 2018.
Spencer testified he spent that morning with one of the suspects, Tyree Jaquan Smith, a friend of Spencer’s younger brother. The brother accidentally had shot himself in the leg that day, and Smith had taken him to the hospital, Spencer said.
Spencer and Smith were in a rented Hyundai Elantra when another suspect, Tommie Jamal Mullins Jr., called Spencer to meet him at a home on Viking Drive.
When they arrived, Spencer got out to relieve himself outside the residence, and came back to find suspect Johnathon Lemorris Swift in the driver’s seat beside Smith, he said.
He said Mullins told him they were late meeting Denson at the Pizza Hut, and Swift knew back roads to get there faster. Spencer got in the car behind Swift, and another suspect, Dover Bartlett Coppins, got in the other rear seat beside him, he said.
Mullins waited behind, he said.
“Nobody said nothing” on the way to the Pizza Hut, and Spencer was unsure of their plan until they arrived, he said. His understanding was that they were to buy the marijuana with counterfeit money, he said.
Swift parked the Elantra by the driver’s side of Denson’s Jeep, and Coppins got out with a gun and went to the Jeep’s passenger side before Denson let him in, Spencer said. From the Elantra, he heard what sounded like an argument, he said.
He said Swift told Smith to move his seat back so Swift could “air out” the Jeep’s driver side, meaning shoot it up, so Spencer told Swift to hold off, and went to check on what was happening in the Jeep.
He knocked before opening the rear driver’s side door, and Coppins, holding a gun on Denson, told Spencer to check Denson for weapons, Spencer said.
Smith got out of the Elantra, grabbed Denson’s suitcase of marijuana from the rear of the Jeep, put it in the Elantra’s trunk and got back in, Spencer said.
Spencer checked under Denson’s seat and found no guns, he said. Coppins got out of the Jeep and returned to his seat on the Elantra’s rear passenger side, and Spencer had to run back to where he had sat behind Swift, because Swift already was pulling away, he said.
“Everybody was seated like they came,” he said.
As Swift backed out of the parking space, Coppins “screamed” at Denson not to “reach for anything” as he opened fire, Spencer said.
The robbery and shooting took less than a minute, according to surveillance video from a nearby grocery store. Acting District Attorney Sheneka Terry showed the grainy black-and-white footage to jurors as Spencer narrated, repeating the account he’d just given on the witness stand.
The video time stamp showed the Elantra arriving at the Pizza Hut three seconds after 9:59 p.m. and leaving the parking lot four seconds after 10 p.m., with pinpoint flashes showing the gunfire coming from the rented car.
Investigators have said Spencer told them what happened before they showed him the footage, and he later re-enacted the events for detectives. The video confirmed his account, they said, though the security camera was so far away that only dim figures could be seen entering and leaving the Jeep.
The suspects went back to meet Mullins, who kept 10-12 pounds of the marijuana, gave two pounds or so to Coppins, and divided the rest, Spencer said. He got about a quarter pound, he said.
He said he didn’t call police because they had used a car that his girlfriend had rented, and he had touched Denson’s Jeep, so he feared he and his girlfriend would be the first people police suspected.
Like his cohorts, Spencer also was charged with murder, initially, but prosecutors dropped that count in a deal to secure his testimony. He pleaded guilty Monday to armed robbery, using a firearm to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
Senior Superior Court Judge David Emerson sentenced him to 25 years in prison, with 10 to serve and the rest on probation.
After testifying for hours Thursday under Terry’s questioning, Spencer, who said he is 32, still faced cross-examination by the four defendants’ attorneys.
Here are the suspects’ charges and attorneys:
- Coppins, 27, is charged with murder, armed robbery, using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm. He is represented by Shevon Thomas.
- Mullins Jr., 28, is charged with murder and armed robbery. He is represented by Stacey Jackson.
- Smith, 24, is charged with murder and armed robbery. He is represented by William Kendrick.
- Swift, 30, is charged with murder and armed robbery. He’s represented by Michael Eddings.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 3:05 PM.