Man wounded in homicide says defendant didn’t shoot him

The man wounded three times in the 2013 roadside shooting that killed 23-year-old Dior Cheney took the witness stand Thursday and denied defendant Reginald Jamal Jackson was the shooter.

Travis Porter, 34, who’s serving time for felony possession of marijuana, testified that when Columbus detectives questioned him after the Oct. 29, 2013, shooting at Benning Drive and Head Street, he just agreed with anything they suggested.

“I just told them whatever so they’d leave me alone,” Porter told Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly. Porter said he had no interest in speaking to police, and didn’t care whether they captured a suspect in the assault and homicide. “I was just going to let the Lord deal with it,” he said.

When questioned in the hospital the following Oct. 31, Porter told officers he could not identify a suspect. “I was on a lot of drugs,” he said. But in a later interview at police headquarters, he picked Jackson’s picture from a photo lineup.

Under cross examination by defense attorney Melvin Cooper, Porter flatly denied Jackson shot him and Cheney. “Reginald Jackson did not pull the trigger that night,” he said, later adding, “I know that for a fact.”

Of his earlier identifying Jackson to police, he said, “It was a false statement.”

Porter’s testimony was followed by that of police Sgt. Matt Blackstock, who told the court Porter appeared certain Jackson was the assailant when detectives questioned him the second time.

Porter told investigators he got a good look at Jackson when car headlights shone on him as Cheney’s car approached the intersection around 8 p.m. that day, Blackstock said: He described the clothes Jackson was wearing and said he knew “without a doubt” Jackson was the gunman.

Porter without hesitation picked Jackson’s picture from the photo lineup he was shown, Blackstock testified.

The background

In his other testimony, Porter described events that led up to the shooting.

He said he and Cheney, who were living in Macon at the time, had come to Columbus’ Winston Road to visit a “trap house,” an apartment rented for dealing drugs. They had hoped to buy a pound of marijuana to sell.

Porter, who said he used to be a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang, grew up on Winston Road and knew people there. Cheney, a Macon native, did not.

They arrived in Cheney’s Ford Focus about 6 p.m., and an acquaintance summoned a drug dealer to meet Porter, Porter said.

But the man summoned, whom Porter identified as Corey Purdue, was not pleased to see his prospective customer, because Porter had robbed him only a year earlier.

Porter said he and Purdue had been playing dice in 2012 when Porter beat him up and took his money. After arriving at the trap house and recognizing Porter, Purdue kept a pistol in his lap and never got out of the car.

Porter said the price Purdue set for a pound of marijuana was too high, so they never made a deal. Porter and Cheney then tried to sell clothing they had in the truck of the Ford. “I had some children’s clothes I was trying to sell,” he said.

As darkness fell, they decided to head back to Macon. With Cheney driving and Porter in the front passenger’s seat, they went south on Winston Road and turned east on Head Street to its T-shaped intersection with Benning Drive.

As they came to the stop sign, a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sitting on a bicycle there pulled out a pistol and started shooting, said Porter, who testified he told Cheney “Go! Go! Go!”

Trying to escape the barrage, he climbed over Cheney to exit the driver’s side, and was shot in his stomach, right abdomen and buttocks. As Porter got out of the car, Cheney sped across Benning Drive and rammed a utility pole on the other side of the street. He was found dead in the driver’s seat, a gunshot wound to his head.

Porter ran. “I didn’t feel the shots until later,” he said. He passed out, then came to and sought help, happening upon a friend who drove him to the hospital.

Police said 15 rounds were fired at the car, riddling it with bullet holes. A firearms expert testified Thursday that the shell casings police found on the ground all came from the same Glock 9-mm pistol.

Upon removing Cheney from the car, police discovered a revolver thrust into his waistband, a Charter Arms .38 Special still fully loaded, as none of its five rounds had been fired. They also found a revolver on the ground outside the car: It held four spent shell casings, and a fifth chamber was empty, investigators said.

Though police saw that a .38-caliber bullet at close range had been fired into the ceiling of the Ford Focus, Porter denied he had a gun that day.

Kelly in his opening statement told jurors Jackson had a motive to shoot Porter, because Jackson and Purdue were lifelong friends, and the two apparently talked that day about Porter’s robbing Purdue in 2012.

The trial resumes this morning in Judge Arthur Smith III’s Government Center courtroom.

Jackson, 25, faces charges of malice or intentional murder, felony murder for allegedly killing Cheney while committing the felony of aggravated assault, aggravated assault and using a firearm to commit a felony.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Man wounded in homicide says defendant didn’t shoot him."