Defense asks judge to acquit clients in Columbus murder trial after key witness recants
Attorneys set to make closing arguments in the murder trial of four suspects accused of killing a Columbus rapper over 16 pounds of marijuana pushed the judge Friday to acquit their clients for lack of evidence, without sending the case to the jury.
They based their arguments on the conflicting testimony of Eric Spencer Jr., the prosecution’s star witness who testified against his former codefendants before the defense called him back to the stand to recant that testimony.
Senior Judge David Emerson said he wants to review the evidence before ruling on the defense motions for what’s called a “directed verdict of acquittal,” which means the evidence on its face is insufficient to sustain the accusations, so the jury needn’t deliberate on those charges.
Emerson has recessed court until 1:30 p.m.
The testimony
Spencer told the court Wednesday that he lied about “everything” he had said earlier about the men on trial for murder in the April 6, 2018 robbery and fatal shooting of Branden Denson, found dead outside a Buena Vista Road Pizza Hut.
Police believe Denson was robbed of a suitcase of marijuana before he was shot three times in the back and left dead in the driver’s seat of his Jeep Wrangler, where Pizza Hut workers found his body about 10:30 p.m.
Once charged with murder like his cohorts, Spencer pleaded guilty to lesser charges and agreed to testify “truthfully” against the other suspects. He testified March 24 and 25, giving a detailed account of each suspect’s role in the heist.
His testimony was crucial partly because police never recovered the marijuana or the .40-caliber Glock pistol used to shoot Denson. The only suspect’s fingerprint found on Denson’s Jeep was Spencer’s, near a door handle on the rear driver’s side, investigators said.
Denson was shot through that open door, leaving bullet holes in the back seat, but none penetrating the exterior of the car, police said. Detectives initially believed Spencer was the shooter, because the evidence put him in the position to shoot Denson.
Detective Robert Nicholas said he changed his mind after re-evaluating the evidence, deciding that had Spencer shot Denson, the shell casings from the semi-automatic handgun would have ejected into the Jeep’s interior. Instead the casings were found on the pavement outside Denson’s Jeep, near the rear of the vehicle, he said.
The robbery and shooting were recorded on a security camera on a nearby grocery store, but it was too far away to show the robbers’ faces. Police said it still corroborated what Spencer told them had happened.
The defense attorneys argued Friday that once Spencer recanted his earlier testimony, prosecutors were left with no evidence to prove their clients’ guilt.
Cell phone records showed some of the suspects had been in contact with each other, and that the alleged ringleader had texted Denson, right before the shooting.
But those records could not pinpoint the suspects’ locations, placing them only in a broad area served by certain cell towers.
Judge Emerson questioned prosecutors on that point, asking, “What is the independent evidence that corroborates Spencer?” To rely solely on the cell phone records struck him as a “leap of faith,” he said.
Here are the defendants on trial, their charges and attorneys:
- Dover Bartlett Coppins, 27, 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.
- Tommie Jamal Mullins Jr., 28, charged with murder and armed robbery. He is represented by Stacey Jackson.
- Tyree Jaquan Smith, 24, charged with murder and armed robbery. He is represented by William Kendrick.
- Johnathon Lemorris Swift, 30, charged with murder and armed robbery. He’s represented by Michael Eddings.
Spencer in his earlier testimony said Mullins arranged the rendezvous with Denson; Swift drove the rented Elantra they used; Smith took the marijuana from Denson’s Jeep; and Coppins fired the fatal shots as they drove away.
Spencer said his role was checking Denson for weapons as Coppins held Denson at gunpoint.
After the robbery, the suspects again met with Mullins, who divided the 16 pounds of marijuana among them, keep 10 to 12 pounds for himself, Spencer said in his testimony last week.
After he recanted that testimony Wednesday for the defense, he was cross-examined by Acting District Attorney Sheneka Terry, who asked him specifically what he had lied about.
“Just what I said about them,” he said of the other suspects.
Terry again asked him to be specific.
“Everything that I said that they did,” he answered.
He denied that three of the four defendants were with him in his girlfriend’s rented Hyundai Elantra the night Denson died. He had said earlier that Mullins did not go to the Pizza Hut with them, but met them afterward at a house on Rolling Ridge Drive.
Spencer testified he cooperated with police because the mother of his child had rented the car used in the robbery, and he feared police would charge her, too. He also said he was not pleased with his plea deal, in which he pleaded guilty to armed robbery and gun offenses for a sentence of 25 years in prison with 10 to serve.
Without that deal, Spencer faced life without parole, if convicted, because of his criminal history.
The defense attorneys in their opening arguments hammered the prosecution’s reliance on Spencer’s testimony, arguing he lied to authorities so often that he was not a credible witness.
Homicide detectives agreed that Spencer lied to them, early in their investigation, but when he detailed his account using a marker board during a police interview on July 2, 2018, and re-enacted it with substitute vehicles four days later, it matched the evidence.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 11:42 AM.