Trial begins: Defendants Jennings and Ellis face life sentences if convicted
By John Joyce
Published in News on September 4, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Travis James wipes away tears in Wayne County Superior Court as he describes how his friend, Kevin Bell, died in his arms after being shot. Testimony began Wednesday in the trial of Stephon Deandre Jennings, 19, and Javonta Marquez Ellis, 17, who are charged with Bell's murder.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Carolyn Bell, left, mother of the victim, and Charles Bell, brother of the victim, shed tears in the courtroom during the trial on Wednesday afternoon. Kevin Bell was shot outside a home on Slaughter Street in June 2012.
Javonta Ellis
Stephon Jennings
Travis James wiped tears from his eyes as he detailed for a Wayne County jury the last few moments of his friend, Kevin Bell's, life -- how he held him in his arms several minutes after a shot rang out on Slaughter Street June 14, 2012.
James was the first witness called by Assistant District Attorney Mike Ricks in a murder trial that, if the state proves its case, could see two Goldsboro teenagers jailed for the rest of their lives.
Stephon Deandre Jennings, 19, and Javonta Marquez Ellis, 17, are responsible for Bell's death, Ricks said.
James, an eyewitness to the shooting, gave his account of just what happened the night Bell died.
He told the court that he, Bell and another man, Brandon Leach, were standing outside an apartment in the 900 block of Slaughter Street just after midnight June 14, 2012, when two men approached them from Lincoln Drive.
The men walked by and greeted them before, a moment later, turning around and saying, "Y'all know what it is. Give it up."
One of the men then pulled a gun from his hip and said, "Give it up," as a shot rang out.
Ricks said the bullet went through Bell's arm, into his lungs, and then passed through his heart.
James testified that he, Leach and Bell ran in different directions.
James ended up in his sister's residence just across the street and told her to call 911.
"They're trying to kill us," he said he told her.
James then testified that he ran back outside and ran up Slaughter Street calling (Bell's) name -- that he got to the end of the street and turned around and as he came back down the block, he noticed Bell lying on the ground.
He lingered for few minutes and James held his head.
Ricks asked if Bell died before the ambulance arrived.
James, fighting back tears, simply said, "Yes."
But James' testimony was not the only emotional moment that unfolded in Courtroom One Wednesday.
When Ricks displayed crime scene photographs on an overhead projector, the victim's family had to be led out of the room.
Charles Bell, the victim's brother, sobbed.
"I just couldn't see my brother lying on the ground like that," he said.
And the men's mother, Carolyn, was inconsolable.
"He was just about to go on vacation," she said later, speaking outside the courthouse. "He was leaving the next day."
James was the only witness who provided testimony Wednesday.
A second, Goldsboro police Sgt. LeAnn Rabun, was called to the stand, but as Ricks asked his first question, defense attorney Mary Darrow, who is representing Jennings, objected.
She, defense attorney Charles Gurley, who is representing Ellis, and Ricks approached the bench, but Ms. Darrow spoke loudly enough to be heard -- saying she would move for a mistrial if Ricks continued. Ricks withdrew his question and said he was done with the witness.
Superior Court Judge John Nobles excused the witness and the jurors and, once the jurors were out of the room, Ms. Darrow motioned for a mistrial based on Ricks' having asked the last witness a question on a matter the attorneys and judge had previously agreed would be off limits.
Nobles denied the motion, stating that no names were mentioned either in the question Ricks asked or in the officer's answer, therefore the jury had not been prejudiced.
Testimony in the case was expected to continue this morning.