Anthony Reid, the defendant, testified that he lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and admitted that he had previously been convicted for possession of cocaine with intent to sell. On the day of the shooting, Defendant had been out of jail for approximately five months. He and his half-brother, O'Neal Sanford, and a man named Orlando Malone had decided to come to Cleveland to visit a friend and sell drugs, specifically, crack cocaine. Defendant had approximately $250.00 worth of crack cocaine in his possession when they arrived in town. Shortly thereafter, they met some local girls who "wanted to drink or kick it" with them. Defendant testified that he and Malone were mainly interested in "getting drunk" and "having sex" at that point. The women asked Defendant and his companions to follow them to a grocery store near the apartment building at 580 Dooley Street, where the men proceeded to spend two and one-half hours talking with the women in the parking lot and selling drugs to passersby. Defendant noticed the crowd of people standing on the balcony of Williams' apartment, but they did not engage in any conversation.

After Defendant and his companions returned from renting a motel room at the request of the women, Malone went up the stairs near Williams' balcony "to get the females" who were waiting in an apartment nearby. On his return, he stopped to talk to Williams and his friends about something. Defendant testified that he did not know what the conversation was about and that no one appeared angry afterward. Defendant admitted that, at this point, he and his friends were intoxicated. Malone wanted the women to come to their motel room, but they told him they needed to make a phone call first. While the men waited for the women to return, Malone went back to ask the people at the Williams' apartment for a beer. When he came downstairs empty-handed, Sanford went back up the stairs with him. It started raining, so Defendant went upstairs also. When he reached the top stair, he heard arguing. Then "someone got pushed and a gunshot went off," so Defendant ran back downstairs to the car to "get out of the way."

Defendant testified that he had some difficulty getting the car to start. By the time he did, Sanford and Malone had jumped in the car with him and they all drove away. Defendant was frightened because he was on probation and was supposed to stay out of trouble. When the police spotted them and tried to pull them over, Defendant "mashed" the accelerator in an attempt to escape. Sanford ducked down, and Malone wrapped the guns inside of his shirt. Malone instructed Defendant to pull over to the side of the highway so he could throw the guns out of the car, and Defendant complied. When Defendant finally stopped the car, he tried to get away on foot, but the police caught him and arrested him.

Defendant further testified that, to the best of his knowledge, Malone and Sanford did not rob anyone of anything on May 22, 1998, and, furthermore, Defendant did not know that Malone and Sanford had guns with them that day. Defendant also testified that he did not have a gun, he did not shoot anyone, and he did not rob anybod

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 

Tennessee DUI Attorneys    DUI Lawyers