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Witness versions vary in city slaying trial
Murder trial goes into second day
UPDATE: The Toronto Eura trial ended in a mistrial this morning after one of the jurors recalled reading about the case beforehand. After the juror expressed doubt that she could be fair to Eura, Judge Gordon Willis declared a mistrial and set a new trial for Sept. 9 and 10.
--Keith Epps
Date published: 6/24/2009 BY KEITH EPPS The man who was with Jamair Ellis when he was killed early Jan. 6 yesterday identified Toronto Eura as the killer. Jeffrey Willis, Ellis' best friend, testified that Eura was the one who fired five shots into Ellis during a dispute over a woman in the Forest Village Apartment complex parking lot. Willis was the most damaging witness against Eura during the first day of his first-degree murder trial in Fredericksburg Circuit Court. Commonwealth's Attorney LaBravia Jenkins and prosecutor Andy Cornick are expected to wrap up their case today. According to prosecution witnesses, Eura was in Forest Village that night visiting his cousin Ebony Boone. Two other people were with them. As the group was leaving Boone's apartment about 1:25 a.m., Ellis, known as "Joby," drove up behind Boone's car. The witnesses differed on what happened then, but Willis said Ellis and Eura got into an argument over 21-year-old Shaunice Weldon. Weldon used to date Ellis and was heading to a motel with Eura that night. Ellis was shot while sitting in the driver's seat of his vehicle. Willis somehow drove him to Mary Washington Hospital from the passenger's seat; Ellis was pronounced dead at the hospital. Meanwhile, Boone drove Eura and the others to a motel in Garrisonville. Video surveillance showed Eura and Weldon going into a room. Boone and Weldon both testified yesterday that Eura was with them at the apartment complex that night. But both claimed they never saw Eura with a gun or arguing with Ellis. Brian Anderson, the other person in Boone's car that night, testified that he didn't notice anything unusual. "I was high that night," he said. "I wasn't really paying attention to anyone." A couple of prosecution witnesses admitted yesterday that they were less than honest with the police. Boone said she lied "three, four or five" times, while Anderson said he was still high when the police interviewed him. Detective Mark Purcell interviewed Eura shortly after arresting him. In the videotaped interview, Eura denied shooting anyone or even being at Forest Village that night. He said he was watching the movie "Hancock" with his wife in Dumfries at the time of the slaying. Eura is also charged with using a firearm in the commission of a felony, possessing a firearm as a felon and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He is being represented by attorney Cary Bowen. Security was heavy at the city courthouse, with numerous uniformed officers and sheriff's deputies on duty outside the building.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 6/24/2009
What?
(posted by
tuggboat
, June 24, 2009 6:57 pm)
I keep a gun so that if my life intersects with the lives of these
morons I will not be in the obituary. God bless the constitution!
Wonder how HIS WIFE
(posted by
JaneyK
, June 24, 2009 5:03 pm)
Feels about the fact that he was going to a motel with another woman. That is the worst way to get caught cheating. GET A CLUE DUDE......don't get married if you ain't done playing. Now look what your hormones and ego have cost ya! Not to mention what it costed Ellis. What gives a man the right to kill another, especially over a relationship he shouldn't have been in in the first place. Lock him up and throw away the key. Idiot with a gun! What a combination.
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