Eddie Lee "fell in love with this area" and chose HSU over other options; the story of a dreamer who ended up accused as a murderer

Eddie Lee has been in custody while waiting for this case to go to trial.

Mr. Stallworth ended his opening statments by telling the story of Eddie Lee. A young child of bi-racial parents with blue eyes and wavy black hair that everyone loved. A kid and a young man who never got in trouble, even being raised in Michigan, in a city of crime. Lee was recruited into a mentor program, "I had a Dream" as a youth, got great grades. Lee chose HSU instead of UC Davis or Sacramento State and pre-med major in biology because he "fell in love with this area."

Lee had a job in 2007. He came from a family that always worked, great work ethic. "He doesn't rob people," said Mr. Stallworth. In 2008, Lee took a break from school. In 2009, he was finding it hard to keep up with his chosen major and wanted to change his career path. He had problems finding affordable housing in Arcata. Mr. Stallworth said that at this point he met Moriah Foster, a cocaine user who "smoked a lot of marijuana" and "she changed his life." Lee was in love for the first time.

After he met her, he got kicked out of school. Moriah and Eddie did odd jobs to pay the bills and Lee ended up meeting Reid through Moriah. Mr. Stallworth said Reid was 45-46 years old and it was his "first time cultivating marijuana." Someone in SoCal told Reid about an empty, abandoned house.

Eddie and Moriah became trimmers, Reid liked Lee's work ethic. "Billy Reid loved my client like a son." He had them move in, trim marijuana, help around the house. According to Mr. Stallworth, Reid "drank a lot of alcohol and didn't have a license so he paid Lee to drive him around." Referring to why Lee did not declare this income, Mr. Stallworth said "he could not claim it because it was illegal."

Lee was on probation in 2009 because he was given a pound of marijuana to sell and transport to Oregon and got busted for a broken taillight. While Reid was in New York in Fall of 2009, Moriah and Eddie invited Eddie's sister Jessica and her boyfriend Curry for Thanksgiving.

Mr. Stallworth described Curry as "a bad boyfriend and an Oakland thug." Eddie was worried about his sister and knew Curry was "robbing people." He proposed a deal to Curry that the four of them purchase clones from Reid and harvest 400 pounds of marijuana in 2010 and spilt the profits.

Mr. Stallworth said that Lee needed Reid's connections to sell marijuana and he stood to gain a lot more money from the larger grow than the alleged $10,000 he spent.

On Feb 3, Lee brought Curry to meet Reid. Lee was hoping Curry would work as a trimmer and then they could propose the clone idea. Reid was "suspicious" of Curry but since he knew Lee, he invited them into the house. The generator broke down, Lee and Reid went to fix it. Reid returned to the house before Lee and then Lee saw Curry shoot Reid "six times."

Curry then pointing the gun at Lee tells him to help him dispose of the body. Mr. Stallworth concluded by referring to alleged conversations between inmate Quentin Williams and Lee. He called Williams a snitch, an older African American man who befriended Lee and "advised" Lee while he was in prison. Mr. Stallworth said because Lee is biracial, he had some problems in jail.

Mr. Stallworth ended his remarks asking the jury to find his client not guilty.