An argument over girlfriends and shared living space led Andre Miles to shoot Sandy Green III in April 2012, a prosecutor argued as Miles’ murder trial opened.
Green, who was known as Buddy, had a son with his girlfriend, April Porter. The two were living together when Green died. A few weeks before the shooting, Miles started to get involved with Porter’s younger sister, Hellena Best, according to the prosecution.
“Green found out about it and was getting tired of [Miles] hanging out at April’s place,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Leibman said in opening statements Monday. The two argued over the issue prior to the murder.
On April 30, Green and three friends were walking up Savannah Street Southeast. At approximately 11:42 a.m., Miles confronted Green and, according to police, shot Green six or seven times.
“[Miles] didn’t like what [Green] had to say then either,” Leibman said. “At point blank range, he fired.”
Leibman warned jurors that Green’s friends weren’t going to be forthcoming. Instead, he told them to focus their attention on the testimony of the “brave young woman” who witnessed the murder from across the street.
“She watches [Miles]. She sees the confrontation and she sees [Miles] shoot Buddy and she’s horrified,” Leibman told the jury, using Greene’s nickname.
Prosecution and defense disagree on the nature of that witness’s actions following that moment.
According to Leibman, the yet-unnamed witness and Green were friends. When she saw him get shot, she ran to help but was unable to stop the bleeding.
At the suggestion of Green’s friend, she went through Green’s pockets to remove anything incriminating before police arrived.
The prosecution said she was trying to protect his reputation, but defense attorney Billy Ponds argued that she was in fact robbing him.
Additionally, Ponds told the jury that she couldn’t have witnessed what happened because her statement to police diverges from that of Green’s friends.
But Leibman suggested that Greene’s friends weren’t credible.
“You’re going to know when you hear about their backgrounds that they were involved with the criminal justice system,” said Leibman.
One of those friends was Keith Archie, 32. When Archie was called to the stand Monday, he testified that he never saw who shot Green because the shots came from behind them.
“Shots went off and I ran,” said Archie.
Trial is scheduled to resume tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in courtroom 302.
