Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Grand jury to hear Ingram murder case By JOHN MUNFORD jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com A judge declined a request Tuesday morning to drop a murder charge against a Fayette man who is accused of killing his cousin in a struggle at a north Fayette County home earlier this month. Fayette Magistrate James A. White ruled there was enough evidence for a grand jury to determine if Tommy Ingram, 51, of 128 Homers Place, Fayetteville, can be brought to trial on malice murder charges. Ingram’s defense attorney, Michelle Lundy, argued that he suffered visible wounds which show he was defending himself when he stabbed Terry Durham in the late evening hours of Friday, April 2 at 133 Butler Rd. Detective Phil McElwaney of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department testified that Ingram admitted to stabbing Durham, 43, of 292 Longview Rd., but Ingram claimed it was in self-defense. Ingram said he got the knife during the struggle from the top of an entertainment center in the living room of the residence, McElwaney said. Another witness who was at the scene said Ingram retrieved the knife from an organ bench after Durham briefly left the residence and that Ingram waited for Durham in a hallway of the residence just before the deadly altercation, McElwaney said. That witness, a woman who also lived at the residence, said she did not see the stabbing occur, McElwaney said. She originally told detectives that she saw Durham hit Ingram with the pipe first, but at a later interview she couldn’t recall details of the fight, McElwaney said. The preliminary autopsy from the GBI indicated that Durham died from a knife wound that penetrated his heart, McElwaney testified. McElwaney also said he noticed that Ingram suffered from a head injury and a wrist injury while he was being interviewed by detectives. McElwaney said Ingram told him he was trying to keep Durham and another man, Michael Charles Phillips, away from a bedroom in the house where Danny Stinchcomb and another woman were. “Mr. Ingram was trying to keep him from getting there to respect Mr. Stinchcomb’s privacy,” McElwaney said. There was also evidence that Stinchcomb owed Phillips $30, but Phillips insisted he was not there to collect the debt and instead he had just taken Durham there to collect his belongings. A witness who was at the house said Phillips had been at the residence 10 to 15 minutes before asking where Stinchcomb was, McElwaney said. Phillips was originally charged with murder along with Ingram because witnesses said he ordered Durham to charge Ingram, police said. The charges were later dropped after some witnesses changed their stories, police said. The murder weapon, a knife, was found near a dumpster outside the house with assistance from Ingram, McElwaney said. Deputies also took custody of a pipe they thought Durham had used in the assault, but they later found out they had the wrong pipe, McElwaney said. Detectives went back out to the location several days after the incident and found what they believe was the weapon used by Durham in the altercation: a two-and-a-half-foot-long white plastic PVC pipe that was found outside the home and close to Butler Road, McElwaney said. “We are unsure at his time how the pipe got out of the house,” McElwaney said. One person who was in the room when the scuffle between Durham and Ingram took place told detectives he didn’t pay attention to the fight because the two cousins fought routinely, McElwaney added. At the conclusion of Tuesday’s hearing, Lundy argued that the state had not proved the element of malice. “If there is no showing of malice this charge cannot go forward,” Lundy said. Judge White replied that he could not dismiss the murder warrant because the state had submitted enough evidence to meet the probable cause requirement. Whether or not Ingram acted in self-defense is for a jury to decide, White said.