COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) -- The prosecution and defense made it clear from the start of Day 3 in the Branden Denson murder trial how they are going to approach their cases.
The prosecution claims Denson was a drug dealer who was shot to death as five men plotted to steal a large amount of marijuana from him.
The four men charged with the murder claim they had nothing to do with it. The defense alleges the shooter was the state’s star witness.
That sums up Wednesday's opening statements.
Tommie Mullins, Dover Coppins, Johnathon Swift, and Tyree Smith appeared cool and collected as the state built its case.
Acting DA Sheneka Terry told the jury that Denson was shot to death while he sat in his Jeep Wrangler in the Buena Vista Road Pizza Hut parking lot on April 6, 20-18. And the evidence will show Coppins was the trigger man.
Defense attorneys told the jury the evidence will point to the state’s star witness and his girlfriend as the people responsible for Denson’s murder.
Eric Spencer took a plea deal Monday and will testify later in the trial, which could take up to two weeks. Spencer was facing life in prison before the plea deal worked out by his attorney, Susan Henderson. Under the agreement, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 25 years on probation. Spencer will get credit for the nearly four years he's been in jail, making him eligible for release in about six years.
Defense attorneys told the jury that Spencer cut the deal because he is facing manslaughter charges in another homicide.
“The sneaky snitch," Coppins’ attorney Shevon Thomas II said of Spencer. "This case is about a sneaky, story-telling stitch.”
Mullins's attorney, Stacey Jackson, offered jurors another theory.
“Eric Spencer’s fingerprints were found at the scene on the car," Jackson said. "Eric Spencer’s girlfriend rented the car from Enterprise. And helped Eric Spencer commit this crime.”
That's not what happened Acting District Attorney Sheneka Terry said in her opening statement. She said Spencer told police what happened in that parking lot.
"He tells the detective exactly what happened that night," Terry said. "And as I said this is an overarching outline.”
The first state witness was Denson’s mother, Marcia Denson, who told the court that her son left the house that night with 16 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. And he was going to meet Mullins.
One juror has already been dismissed. A tearful young woman told Judge David Emerson she has a panic disorder and after three years it resurfaced today. That leaves just one alternate for a case that could last up to two weeks.
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