The joint trial of four defendants charged with one murder and three counts of attempted murder will begin on Monday morning in the Leflore County Courthouse.
Fourth Circuit District Judge W. Ashley Hines will preside.
Facing charges in the case are Michael Holland, Armand Jones, Sedrick Buchanan and James McClung, all in their 20s and all of Greenwood.
Tim Jones and Trish Rodgers are prosecuting, and each defendant has his own defense attorney.
The four men are accused in the murder of D’Alandis Love of Greenwood, who died in a fiery car crash after being shot on Aug. 17, 2015, near the intersection of U.S. 82 West and County Road 127 near Itta Bena.
A Leflore County sheriff’s deputy reported a car burning in the field near that intersection around 12:15 a.m. that Sunday. Deputies arriving on the scene found Love, who was pronounced dead there, and three wounded men.
The car had been repeatedly fired upon by someone in another vehicle, according to witnesses. The struck vehicle left the roadway, crossed a field and crashed into a ditch, where it went up in flames.
Perez Montrell Love of Greenwood, a cousin of the murder victim, was injured in the shooting and subsequent crash, as were Kennoris Cortez Stigler and Kelsey Jennings, also of Greenwood.
Love was shot in the head, but the bullet did not penetrate his skull, according to an interview with Sheriff Ricky Banks at the time. He suffered a broken shoulder and leg. Stigler received unknown wounds described as life-threatening. All three were taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Between Aug. 24 and Oct. 13, the Sheriff’s Department arrested and charged six suspects in the crime, including the four on trial.
One suspect, David Reedy, was arrested and initially charged with murder but was not indicted.
Another, Jacarius Keys, 21, of Greenwood, was charged with murder and indicted but was killed in a December 2016 shooting that occurred around Main and Palace streets. At the time, Keys was out on bond awaiting trial in the D’Alandis Love case.
Two of the defendants to be tried starting Monday were arrested and charged in the shooting death of Keys.
According to Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore, eyewitnesses at the scene of Keys’ death told police they saw five or six people, all wearing hoodies, running from the scene following the shooting.
Attorneys for at least two of the defendants filed motions to exclude statements and/or videotapes of Jacarius Keys from being introduced as evidence, claiming that Keys’ testimony was the only evidence linking their clients to the crimes and characterizing Keys’ testimony as hearsay that cannot be cross-examined to establish its veracity since he is deceased.
Motions were also filed with the court requesting exclusion of any reference to Keys’ murder from being introduced in court. Any such mention, attorney James Littleton of Greenwood argued on behalf of his client, McClung, would only “attempt to inflame the jury.” That motion suggested that Keys be referred to as “unavailable.”
A long list of potential witnesses have been subpoenaed for the trial, including officers from the state’s crime lab and medical examiner’s office, Leflore County Sheriff’s Department officers and the victims who were injured in the incident.
Motions to sever, or to break the case up into individual trials for each defendant, have also been filed, arguing that trying all four defendants jointly could be unfair to a defendant if evidence against the others is extreme and evidence against him is not.
Hines has denied those motions, saying that severing the cases is not necessary for any of the four to receive a fair trial.
Motions to exclude prejudicial evidence and a motion to exclude testimony or any reference to gang affiliation have also been filed with the court.
Hines will decide what can and cannot be presented in the trial and will give the jury special instructions related to its responsibilities in the joint trial in which verdicts for all four defendants must be fairly determined.
Court convenes at 8:30 a.m.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
