"This is a homicide trial. You must pay attention at all times."

 

(Johnny Renfro)

(AlmaAhumadamendoza)

(Demetrius Coleman)

After jurors left for lunch, Judge Kelly Neel put two things on the record. One was about eye witness Joshua Moore watching 15 minutes of Investigator Ryan Hill's testimony before Rio Dell Police Chief Jeff Conner told him to stop.

According to Moore, he did not know what time he was supposed to sign on. Ms. Sullivan said what Moore observed was not germane to his testimony and such hiccups do happen.

The second was Judge Neel explaining her admonition to the jury. She had to interrupt Moore's testimony to address the jurors."

"If you become distracted or drowsy, you must let me know," said Judge Neel. "This is a homicide trial. You must pay attention at all times."

Today, Judge Neel said note was made that Juror #2 had eyes closed. This is the second time this has happened. Juror # 5 brought this to the Court's attention last week. 

Ms. Andrea Sullivan told Judge Neel Alternate number 15 is also having similar issues and that if Juror #2 is replaced that the juror is picked from the remaining three alternates.

There will be voir dire of Juror # 2 when court resumes at 1:30 and before more testimony.

Moore told Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Schaffer that he  lived at 33 Monument Road. Shortly before 6:30 p.m., "I was sitting in my living room." From his window, "I seen a green vehicle backing out of an alleyway." and "then the car proceeded to move forward. Then, I heard three gunshots." 

All  he remembered was that it was a "two door"and added, "I believe a Honda accord." The car stopped in front of the window; then reversed according to Moore.

"I seen a driver." Moore only saw the driver from the side. The driver had facial hair, "some dreads" and thick hair. It all ran together. Moore said this description a few times during his testimony. 

"Then I seen a female on the passenger side. She walked to the sidewalk, towards Wildwood." Moore said he could only see the driver "from the neck up." The driver was male and had a dark complexion. The woman near the "passenger side" of the car  was "kinda "chubby" but he only saw her face. She had long, dark, brownish hair and was wearing a white shirt. He could not tell if she was in the car or not. After he heard the gunshots, "I saw an African American guy screaming for help." He went over to where the man was and put a towel over his wound.

During cross examination, Moore told Ms. Sullivan, he only saw the green Honda once. He said the woman had light skin and was "probably white."

He saw the male and female and the car for "less than three seconds". The window was "20 feet away"  from where he was sitting and the car was outside his house. Moore could not tell if the windows on the car were up or down. He told the police officers the driver had dreadlocks. Dyring and after the incident, he had spoken to the police "five or six times."

"Do you remember telling the investigating officer that the driver was white?" asked Ms. Sullivan.

Again, Moore said the driver had dreadlocks. Moore could not see the backseat of the car.

 On redirect, Ms. Schaffer asked Moore, "Have you read a news article on this case?"

"I have," he responded. Moore said he read the article after his interview with the police but before testifying today. One of the articles had a description of the suspect.

"Do you think the news article influenced your testimony here today?" Ms. Schaffer asked  Moore.

Once again, on redirect Moore said the driver had "dreads", not jheri curls and that the driver had facial hair, thick hair "that all ran together."

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