Detective counters Columbus suspects’ claims they didn’t plan robbery before fatal shooting
None of the three codefendants testifying at Lydell Maynard “Trapa” Sparks’ Columbus murder trial said they had planned to rob a Montgomery, Alabama man fatally shot here in 2020.
But the detective on the case told a different story when he took the witness stand.
Two of the codefendants, Terreona Horton and Kalaya Sumter, said Sparks decided on his own to point a gun at 22-year-old Travis Henry Jr. and demand his possessions before shooting him. The third, Wayman McMillian, said he didn’t see the shooting.
No one testified that Horton and Sumter had lured Henry here via Facebook messages with the intent to rob him, or that both Sparks and McMillian were in on the plan.
But homicide Detective Sherman Hayes said he found all four were in on the plan, in his investigation of Henry’s shooting, which likely occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m. on June 21, 2020, before the body was found the next day.
Hayes said Horton and Sumter admitted in police interviews that they flirted with Henry via Facebook messaging, and that they, Sparks and McMillian intended to rob Henry when he came to Columbus to visit.
Henry had attracted their notice because he had posted Facebook photos showing he had money, fashionable clothes and nice cars, Hayes said, adding Sparks had seen the pictures and told Horton that Henry looked “flashy” and would “make a good lick,” or target for robbery.
Facebook messages the day of the shooting showed Henry met the four around 9 p.m. at Whisperwood Apartments on Flat Rock Road, where Horton got into Henry’s BMW to go to the Chattahoochee RiverWalk downtown, with the others following in Horton’s Volkswagen Jetta.
Sumter and Horton told police the four had planned to rob Henry where they parked on Bay Avenue near a playground and splash pad, but too many people were present, so they had to find another spot.
They left downtown and drove through midtown, passing Lakebottom Park, where Hayes suspected they also considered robbing Henry, but again decided not, the detective said.
Finally they drove to Nina Street and 17th Avenue, near the Farley Homes housing complex, and parked there in the dark.
Hayes said Sumter told investigators McMillian got out of the Volkswagen and hid in the bushes as Sparks, holding a pistol, had Sumter walk in front of him as they approached the BMW, where Sparks pointed the gun at Henry as Horton got out.
“All I heard was Mr. Sparks say, ‘Give me everything you got,’” Sumter testified.
Testified Horton: “Mr. Sparks basically was telling him to give it up.”
But on the witness stand, both claimed they had no idea Sparks would do that, as they had joined in no robbery scheme.
Testifying after them, Hayes said he was surprised they would say that, because they made no such claims under police questioning. Only McMillian had denied knowing about the robbery, he said.
After the shooting, Sparks took the BMW, leaving Henry face-down in the street, and drove it to Phenix City to wipe it down and abandon it, Hayes said.
Then they all got into Horton’s Volkswagen and drove to Columbus’ Rotary Park off Victory Drive, where Sparks took three iPhones and a diamond bracelet he’d taken from Henry and threw them into the river, according to testimony from Sumter and Horton.
Hayes said police three times used divers to search the river at the boat landing, but found no evidence.
Sumter said Sparks kept one item he got from Henry: a handgun the victim had. Hayes said the gun had been in a cloth holster in Henry’s waistband, and the holster was still on the body when police found it.
Hayes said he believes the planned robbery went awry when Henry went for his gun, and Sparks pulled his trigger, sending a bullet left to right across Henry’s torso.
Sparks’ defense attorney Michael Garner noted that according to Henry’s autopsy, his entrance wound and exit wound both were 11.8 inches below his head, a level shot across the torso.
That’s evidence Sparks could not have shot Henry while standing at the driver’s side window of the BMW, because a shot from that position should have angled downward, and not traveled level across the body, Garner said.
Closing arguments
In his closing argument to the jury, Garner alleged police pressured Sparks’ codefendants to turn on him, threatening them with life in prison.
He said Horton more likely shot Henry in a dispute over drugs, sex or money, and then she and her longtime friend Sumter came up with a story pinning the crime on Sparks, Horton’s off-and-on boyfriend.
Horton, Sumter and McMillian each pleaded guilty to reduced charges while agreeing to testify against Sparks. McMillian, who already had a felony record, would have been sentenced to life without parole, had he been convicted without a plea deal, Garner said.
The defense attorney directed jurors’ attention to Spark’s indictment, which accused him of felony murder for allegedly killing Henry while committing the felony of armed robbery, to take Henry’s BMW by force.
Killing someone just for a car made no sense, Garner said: “If someone wants a BMW, why wouldn’t they go steal one?” he asked jurors.
Prosecutors presented no evidence that Sparks ever conspired to steal a BMW, Garner added, noting also that police found a wad of cash next to Henry’s body the next day, making robbery an unlikely motive.
To convict Sparks of felony murder and using a gun to commit a crime, jurors must have no reasonable doubt that Sparks was the suspect who shot Henry, Garner said. They must acquit Sparks if they have “any reasonable doubt someone else shot him,” he said.
Assistant District Attorney Peter Hoffman countered that whether or not Sparks shot Henry, Sparks joined in committing the robbery and homicide, making him a “party or the crime” under Georgia law, and the jury could convict him for that.
“Either Mr. Sparks directly committed the crime or he helped in the commission of that crime,” he said.
The BMW was listed as the property taken in the indictment because that is the evidence police recovered, the rest having been thrown in the river or hidden elsewhere, the prosecutor said: “We don’t know what exactly was taken, except the car,” he said.
The suspects had to discard the loot they got because their victim wasn’t supposed to die, he added: “This was a robbery gone bad, because it wasn’t supposed to be a murder,” he said. Once Sparks killed Henry, the suspects had to dispose of any evidence tying them to the crime, he said.
He said Garner’s claim the path of the bullet could not have been level, if the shot came from someone at the driver’s side door, made no sense. A level shot was possible, Hoffman said, and it’s unlikely Horton shot Henry from inside the car, because a bullet fired so close would have left gunshot residue, and the wound had none.
Sparks, 21, faces life in prison if convicted.
Here are his codefendants’ pleas and recommended sentences:
- Sumter, 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. 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, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and being a convicted felon with a firearm. His recommended sentence of 15 years with eight to serve and the rest on probation.
Judge John Martin will sentence them when the trial is over.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 3:41 PM.