LITTLE ROCK — A prosecution witness testified Wednesday that he and capital-murder defendant Christopher Lamar “Toppie” Rogers were part of a five-man group out to rob a Little Rock drug dealer who was shot to death during the holdup.
Rogers, 21, of Pine Bluffis the first of three men accused of capital murder and aggravated robbery in the December 2011 slaying of 25-year-old Greg Smith at a southwest Little Rock apartment complex to go on trial. Rogers’ former friend Rashun Lamar Goins spent almost two hours on the witness stand Wednesday on the second day of Rogers’ trial, first describing for jurors how Rogers helped organize the holdup that got Smith killed and then defending that claim to defense attorneys who say he is fabricating his story to satisfy authorities.
Prosecutors say the men planned to rob Smith of 2 pounds of marijuana, suggesting they were successful because no drugs were found.
Goins, 21, testified that Rogers had talked about “hitting a lick,” street slang for robbery, shortly before he and Rogers arrived in Little Rock. Goins said they met up with 25-year-old Mark “Muff” Goolsby, another codefendant, and Rogers and Goolsby picked up guns from a man at the Paper Moon nightclub before they drove to the Squire Court Apartments on Geyer Springs Road.
Goins said the men, driving a gray Dodge Charger belonging to Rogers’ girlfriend, parked next to Smith’s Chevrolet Cobalt and waited for Smith to go to his car. At one point, the three got out of the Charger to peek in the window of the apartment where Smith was visiting a friend, Darrell Temple, Goins testified, describing how Goolsby and Rogers talked about kicking in the apartment door to rob Smith.
Goins said he didn’t see the shooting, testifying that he bolted from the Charger when the bullets started flying. He ran from the apartments but was able to flag down another co-defendant, 19-year-old Stevie Darnell Rogers, Christopher Rogers’ cousin, who had been at the apartment complex in a different vehicle.
All four men reunited a short time later at Paper Moon, Goins said, noting that Goolsby had been shot in the hand. Goins said he and Christopher Rogers drove the Charger, now bullet-riddled and blood-spattered, back to Pine Bluff, where the car’s condition attracted the attention of police, which led to Goins’ arrest.
Challenged by defense attorney Gina Reynolds, Goins acknowledged that he hadn’t always been truthful with investigators and that he gave four interviews before fully disclosing what he knew about the shooting. He testified that he did not know who started the shooting, only that the gunfire started when Rogers got out of the vehicle. But Goins admitted that he had initially told police that Smith was the first to fire.
“I don’t know who shot first at all,” Goins said. “I just know there’s a lot of gunshots.”
The defense has tried to portray Smith as a drug dealer who misinterpreted an attempt to buy marijuana as aholdup, suggesting that Smith was particularly paranoid that night because someone had just stolen 98 pounds of marijuana from him - possibly worth $98,000. But Goins rejected the idea that the men wanted to buy marijuana from Smith. The plan was always to rob Smith, he said.
“You know they were going to buy weed,” Reynolds said.
“He [Rogers] said hit a lick,” Goins said. “It was always hit a lick. It was never about buying weed.”
Goins is testifying in an arrangement with prosecutors who dropped the capital-murder charge against him and let him plead guilty to robbery, reduced from aggravated robbery, in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.That sentence will be cut in half for his testimony against the other three men. Prosecutors are seeking life sentences for them.
The defense also noted that Goins has qualified for a prison boot-camp program that could allow him to be paroled as early as next month.
Also Wednesday, jurors were shown a text message retrieved from Rogers’ phone that prosecutors said amounts to him confessing to the charges. The message, sent about 14 hours after Smith was killed, describes a “shot up” car, a man being killed and “Muff shot n da hand.” Another text shown to jurors says someone “shot de car up” while a third says the sender was involved in a “shoot out sum BS happened.”
The case is expected to go to the jury today. Proceedings resume at 9:15 a.m. before Circuit Judge Barry Sims.
Eric Lamon “Mon” Austin, 25, of Pine Bluff, identified in court as the man who supplied the guns used in the shooting and driving four of the defendants to the scene of the slaying, has not been charged. He is currently facing a cocaine-trafficking charge in Pope County stemming from his August arrest with Joseph Pettis, 26, and Johnny Murray, 39, both of Little Rock. Court filings say the three sold 9 ounces of cocaine to a police informant.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/07/2013