Prosecutors say that Andrew Wesley Williams was mad at three special police officers who handcuffed his friend before Williams, angry, shot Junon Tyree Snead.
But Williams’ defense attorney Kevin Irving argued that prosecutors lack physical evidence and witness testimony to prove Williams was the shooter. Instead, Irving says the rests entirely on “similar clothing” and “looks like” to prove that Williams is the man in the video who shot Snead.
Police found 30-year-old Snead on May 14, 2011, in the 3700 block of Jay Street Northeast suffering from a single gunshot wound. Williams, 27, is charged with first-degree murder while armed and three related weapons charges in connection with Snead’s death.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Reagan Taylor told jurors in opening statements Monday that Williams was hanging out in a parking lot with other men that night when special police officers drove into the lot and chased the men out. One of the men, William’s friend, was stopped and put in handcuffs, Taylor said. Then, according to Taylor, some of the men returned to the lot and were angry that their friend had been stopped.
Snead was also in the parking lot that night on his bike, according to Taylor, and he too was angry that the other man was detained. Like Williams, Snead left the parking lot and went to the playground area, Taylor said.
But when the men returned to the playground area, Taylor said Williams got “trigger-happy” during an argument with Snead and shot him once in the head. The shooting was captured on video and multiple witnesses later identified Williams as wearing the same clothes as the shooter, Taylor said.
Irving says that playground trash tested for DNA excludes Williams from having touched material analyzed from the playground and that no gun linked to Snead’s death was ever found.
“No matter how many witnesses get on the stand and try to speculate about who it is, that will not answer who shot Junon Snead,” Irving said.
Larnell Mills testified on Monday that he was working the overnight shift as a special police officer in the Mayfair Mansions complex that night. He told jurors that he and his two partners drove up to a group of six to nine black males in a parking lot at around 2 a.m., and all of the men fled the area.
Shortly after, Mills said that one of the men returned and Mills “stopped him and patted him down,” for a “couple of minutes”, Mills said. Then, according to Mills, three other men returned and were “disorderly,” telling Mills he didn’t have a right to detain the man.
Later that night, Mills said that he heard a gunshot, so he exited the security building to “look in the general area.” Mills told jurors that he wasn’t watching the security cameras when the shot occurred, he didn’t call 911, nor did he patrol the apartment complex afterwards.
The next day, Mills said he received a call from his supervisor alerting him that a shooting happened. After reviewing video of the playground, Mills said he recognized the shooter wearing the gray sweatshirt as one of the men who returned to the parking lot. When Mills later saw the MPD poster showing Snead, Mills said that was another one of the men who returned to the parking lot that night.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
