Retrial begins in Mount Olive murder case
By Gary Popp
Published in News on November 16, 2011 1:46 PM
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News-Argus file photo
Windsor Devone Ingram, right, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Tomorris Njai Raynor, talks with his lawyer, Charles Gurley, during his first trial in January, which ended in a mistrial. He is back in Wayne County Superior Court this week to be tried again.
Opening arguments began Tuesday in Wayne County Superior Court in the first-degree murder trial of Windsor Devone Ingram, who is accused of killing Tomorris Njai Raynor outside of his Mount Olive home four years ago.
Ingram, of Goldsboro, was prosecuted in January but the case ended in a mistrial after a jury could not come to a verdict, putting Ingram and his attorney, Charles Gurley, back in the courtroom this week.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Bedford is handling the prosecution and will try to convince the jury that Ingram shot Raynor to death in September 2007.
If found guilty, Ingram could be sentenced to life in prison.
Ingram, then 20, turned himself in five days after Raynor was killed. He has been held in the Wayne County Jail for four years.
Raynor, 34, was gunned down in the front yard of his home at 105 S. Kornegay St. A small plastic bag containing an off-white, rock-like substance, believed by investigators to be crack cocaine, was later found in his right hand.
The primary witness in the case is Raynor's cousin, who was 11 when she allegedly saw the shooting.
The girl, now 15, took the stand Wednesday.
Appearing timid and uncomfortable, the girl was unable to clearly identify Ingram as the man who fired around seven shots in front of the home she shared with the victim.
Mrs. Bedford called several Mount Olive police officers to the stand Tuesday afternoon, including then-Chief Ralph Schroeder, who now works as a bailiff in the Wayne County Courthouse.
During the first trial in January, Ingram denied being in Mount Olive the day Raynor was killed or ever having met the victim. Prosecutors were unable to produce a witness to physically point out Ingram as the shooter, although several witnesses said he was present at the scene.
Superior Court Judge Robert F. Floyd of Robeson County is presiding over the case.
Testimony was to continue this morning.