Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the murder trial of Raymond Faunteroy agree that Derrick Ragland helped rob Faunteroy days before Ragland was shot to death.
But that’s where the agreement ends.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael Spence said Tuesday that the robbery motivated Faunteroy to wait in an alley wearing a black ski mask for Ragland and his friends to leave the house on Dec. 19, 2011.
When the teenagers walked through the alley near the 1000 block of Taylor Street Northeast to get to a nearby basketball game, Faunteroy fired his .45 caliber pistol at Ragland, Spence said.
Ragland ran in fear, Spence said, even crashing through a wooden fence in an effort to escape the gunshots. He eventually collapsed in a neighbor’s yard, where Faunteroy stood above him and fired two more shots, Spence said.
Faunteroy is charged with first-degree murder while armed and two weapons charges in connection with Ragland’s death. Prosecutors said that Ragland was shot seven times on the night he was killed.
Defense Attorney Billy Ponds argued that the government’s version of events is incorrect and inconsistent.
Faunteroy did not wait in the alley for Ragland, Ponds said, because he could not have known when Ragland and his friends were leaving the house. Gregory Holland, a friend of Ragland’s did know, Ponds said.
“He was very interested in when everyone was going to leave the house,” Ponds said, referring to texts Holland sent before the shooting.
According to Ponds, two witnesses said the shooter that night had on a puffy black coat and a ski mask. But one witness, who identified Faunteroy as the shooter because of his distinctive eyes and light complexion, said the shooter was wearing a black shirt and a knit hat, Ponds said.
Ponds also noted Faunteroy could not have been the shooter because examiners did not find Faunteroy’s DNA on the gun and only a small amount of his DNA in the one of the gloves the shooter wore.
The trial will resume tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. before Judge Jennifer Anderson.
