Attorneys for defendants being tried in connection with the 2015 slaying of D’Alandis Love tried to have the case dismissed as a mistrial and asked for a change of location due to high security around the courthouse and local media coverage.
Judge Ashley Hines rejected both motions.
For a second day, highly visible security was in place at the Leflore County Courthouse with police cars blocking entry onto Market Street from both Cotton and Fulton streets.
Officers armed with a variety of weapons stood in a cluster on the courthouse walkway. Inside, anyone headed for the courtroom was patted down.
Defense attorneys argued that the jury, which was sworn in late in the day on Monday, could be tainted by the presence of such obvious security measures and by reports in the media, specifically The Greenwood Commonwealth, that described the tense situation at the courthouse.
Assistant District Attorney Tim Jones vigorously requested that the motion for mistrial be denied, saying there was no evidence that the jury was tainted by high security or by media coverage.
The four defendants in the jointly prosecuted case — Michael Holland, Armand Jones, Sedrick Buchanan and James McClung — were all present in the courtroom. Each of them faces one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder against the passengers in the car with Love who were injured when the car was shot at, veered off U.S. 82 across a field and burned.
Attorney William F. Jordan of Jackson, representing Holland, said he was concerned that people were approaching jurors outside the courtroom with information and opinions about the case.
Defense attorneys also argued that with 15 officers visible, and blue lights flashing, making it impossible even for a secretary to make it to the office, there was a real possibility that a jury could be influenced or intimidated.
Regarding complaints about heavy security, Jones said, “The state thanks the sheriff for keeping everybody safe.”
Hines denied the motion for a mistrial, reminding counsel that jurors were instructed not to watch television news or read anything about the trial in the newspaper and that it was the sheriff’s duty to respond to threats from the public both inside and outside the courtroom. Hines also saw no evidence to justify a change of venue and denied that request.
A lengthy motion was presented by defense attorneys to exclude a statement made to the Sheriff’s Department by a fifth defendant, Jacarius Keys, who was shot and killed in December 2016, as evidence in the case.
Two of the defendants in the Love case were arrested and charged in connection with Keys’ death but have not been indicted.
The jury was not present in the courtroom to hear arguments around the Keys statement or any evidence brought forward.
Defense attorneys argued that Keys’ statement, made to a Sheriff’s Department investigator with his defense attorney present, could raise the danger of prejudicing the jury against their clients and that Keys’ recollection of events could not be verified or checked for accuracy.
Defense attorney Kevin Horan of Grenada said the right to cross-examination, protected by the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, is “one of the most important rights of a criminal defendant.” Horan represents defendant Armand “A.J.” Jones in the case.
Assistant District Attorney Jones countered that Sixth Amendment rights are not absolute in case law, even though the defense has the right to confront witnesses in cases of misconduct and blatant untruth.
In this case, however, Keys’ statement contains information that cannot be gleaned elsewhere, Jones said, and Keys, who admitted driving the car the night of the drive-by shooting, made the statement against his own interest, exposing himself to criminal liability, belying the question of whether he might have lied to protect himself.
Keys’ videotaped statement, which includes his account of the events of the night of the shooting, was presented to the judge within sight and hearing of all attorneys and the defendants. Sheriff’s Department investigator Bill Staten said he took the statement in the presence of Keys’ attorney, Steven Farese of Ashland.
Buchanan’s attorney, June Hardwick of Jackson, said the defense attorneys all agreed that Keys’ statement wasn’t completely accurate, was made to protect himself, could mislead and prejudice the jury against their clients and should therefore be withheld as evidence.
Hines said that the state had met its burden and could present Keys’ statement as evidence to the jury once the trial is under way.
Upon hearing that decision, all four defense attorneys moved to sever their clients’ trials from the joint prosecutorial procedure, but Hines denied that request as well.
After midday, the jury was brought in and opening statements were made. Jones began laying out the case for the prosecution, calling to the witness stand Dr. Lisa Funte of the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s office and Amber Conn, an analyst and crime scene investigator for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation’s northern region in Batesville.
Jones painstakingly walked Conn through photographs of the bullet-ridden red 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix, establishing her expert opinion that the car was fired upon in a moving trajectory by projectiles that came from behind — in other words, what could have been a moving car from which shots were fired out the passenger side window.
“All of this doesn’t tell you who did this, does it?” Horan said in cross-examinations.
“That is correct,” Conn said.
The jury was dismissed and ordered by the judge not to talk to anyone about the case and to avoid news accounts of the trial.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
