Despite plea deal, witness insists he did not see man’s fatal shooting in Columbus
Wayman McMillian did not testify as prosecutors expected when he took the witness stand Wednesday in Lydell Maynard “Trapa” Sparks’ Columbus murder trial.
Prosecutors anticipated he would say Sparks shot 22-year-old Travis Henry Jr. and dragged the Montgomery, Alabama man from his BMW the night of June 21, 2020 at the intersection of 17th Avenue and Nina Street.
But McMillian did not say that: Instead he said it was too dark, and he was too far away, to see what happened.
The last of three codefendants to testify in the trial after negotiating guilty pleas to reduced charges, McMillian’s account did not match what the other two said they saw and heard, when Henry was shot.
The others were Terreona Horton and Kalaya Sumter, who were with McMillian and Sparks the day Henry came to Columbus to visit Horton.
All three witnesses said everyone first met at Whisperwood Apartments on Flat Rock Road, then in two cars went to Bay Avenue near the Chattahoochee RiverWalk, and then to Nina Street, where Sumter said they were to buy drugs.
Sumter and Horton said that’s where Sparks got out of Horton’s white Volkswagen, walked to Henry’s black BMW and ordered him to give up his valuables before shooting him and pulling him from the driver’s seat.
Prosecutors expected McMillian to corroborate that.
McMillian testified that when they all got to Nina Street, he was driving Horton’s Volkswagen, with Sparks and Sumter as passengers, and Horton was with Henry in his BMW. They stopped with the cars parked about 20 yards apart, and he heard Horton arguing with Henry, he said.
That prompted Sparks to get out of the Volkswagen to see what was happening, the witness said.
McMillian also got out, and walked in the other direction, he said. He did not see the shooting, nor did he hear what people at the BMW were saying, he said.
Assistant District Attorney Peter Hoffman grilled McMillian on how the witness had said he would testify, when he pleaded guilty June 9 to aggravated assault and being a convicted felon with a firearm. McMillian insisted he had not changed his story, nor promised to testify differently.
McMillian said that upon hearing the gunshot, he briefly ran, before realizing he’d be stranded with no ride home, if he did not go back. He said that when he returned to the Volkswagen, he heard Horton say, “What the [expletive] just happened?” and “What the hell did I do?”
He did not see Henry’s body lying in the street, where witnesses reported it the next morning, he said.
He’d been abusing the prescription drug Zanax that night, so his perception and memory were not clear, he added.
Sumter’s testimony
Sumter testified she saw Sparks with a gun as he walked to the BMW and demanded Henry’s valuables: “All I heard was Mr. Sparks say, ‘Give me everything you got,’” she said.
Like McMillian, she also noted Horton’s reaction to the shooting, saying Horton came running from Henry’s BMW saying, “He shot him! He shot him!”
She saw Sparks pull Henry from the BMW, and saw him take some valuables from it, including three iPhones, a diamond bracelet and a gun Henry had, she said.
With Sparks alone in the BMW and the rest in Horton’s Volkswagen, they drove to Brickyard Road in Phenix City, and left the BMW in a secluded spot after Sparks wiped it down to clear any fingerprints, Sumter said.
From there they all rode in the Volkswagen to Columbus’ Rotary Park, off Victory Drive, where Sparks walked to the river and threw the necklace and phones into the water, Sumter said. She said he kept Henry’s gun.
They all went home, and she and Horton heard police had found Henry’s body the next morning, she said.
Sumter, 19, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault, and her recommended sentence is 15 years with six years to serve and the rest on probation.
Horton pleaded May 26 to armed robbery. Her recommended sentence is 20 years in prison with eight to serve and the rest on probation.
McMillian, 27, has a recommended sentence of 15 years with eight to serve and the rest on probation, for the charges he pleaded to.
Superior Court Judge John Martin will sentence them when the trial’s over.
Besides murder, Sparks, 21, is charged with armed robbery, using a firearm to commit a felony, and possessing a gun while he was a first offender on probation.