Wednesday, April 23, 2003
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Wednesday, April 23, 2003 |
Murder defense: Cops shouldn't have chased meBy JOHN MUNFORD
A high-speed chase through Fayetteville that resulted in a deadly crash and the death of a pet doctor on his way home from work would never have happened if police had not chased twin robbery suspects, a defense attorney told a Fayette Superior Court jury Monday. Attorney Lloyd Walker told jurors in the murder trial of Marvin Edwin Mitchell, 23, of Jonesboro, that it was the police chase following a robbery at Ingles Supermarket that led to the fatal crash at Jeff Davis Drive and Ga. Highway 85 a year ago. Mitchell is accused of murder for committing the crimes that led up to the fatal auto collision with an innocent bystander's vehicle after he and his twin brother allegedly fled the scene of the robbery while being pursued by police officers. Police have said Mitchell's twin brother, Melvin, was driving the vehicle that collided with a Nissan Pathfinder driven by Jason A. Trotman, a Union City veterinarian, who later died from injuries sustained in the wreck. Marvin Mitchell is charged with three counts of felony murder, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of kidnapping and one count each of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Melvin Mitchell also faces the murder and armed robbery charges in addition to several traffic-related charges, but is not being tried at this time. A Fayetteville grocery store employee testified in court Monday that a masked gunman leaped over a counter and forced her to hand over cash from the store's safe just before the store closed on Easter Sunday almost a year ago. "He put a gun to my chest and said to 'Give me your money,'" said Teresa Garner, who was the front end manager at the Ingles grocery store on Ga. Highway 92 south at the time of the incident. Garner said the masked gunman told her to hand over all the money from the store's safe. She said the money was loaded into a black fabric bag the gunman produced, and the store's daily deposit which was inside a clear white and green bag was also put into the gunman's bag. Assistant District Attorney Dan Hiatt said in his opening statements that police found the money bag in the Mitchells' vehicle along with the guns used in the robbery and the masks they wore while in the store. Garner said after she assisted the gunman with the safe, he forced her to leave the office area and to lie down on the floor, Garner said. Garner also testified that a second masked gunman entered the store at the same time as the other gunman and took control of the employees who were inside. Prosecutors also plan to show the jury videotape of an alleged confession Marvin Mitchell made to police after the incident. Defense attorney Lloyd Walker, in his opening statements, asked the jury to consider his client's frame of mind since that interrogation occurred several hours after the motor vehicle crash.
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