DUNCAN, Okla. - An Oklahoma judge ruled Wednesday that two teenagers charged with first-degree murder must face a trial in the shooting death of an Australian baseball player.
Prosecutors said a third suspect will testify against them.
Police and prosecutors said the boys targeted Christopher Lane, 22, in August as a way to overcome a boring summer afternoon. Chancey Luna, 16, and Michael Dewayne Jones, 18, were ordered to stand trial, while prosecutors said James Francis Edwards Jr., 16, will testify against them and be charged with a lesser crime.
The preliminary hearing for Luna and Jones was delayed last month after a witness asked to be represented by an attorney.
Edwards testified at the earlier hearing that he was rolling marijuana cigarettes in the front passenger seat when Luna fired the fatal shot from the back while Jones drove. Edwards testified that Luna and Jones both said they believed the gun used in the killing held blanks, not a live round.
Edwards said the teens later drove to a restaurant, where Luna and Jones argued. According to Edwards, Luna told Jones that he thought the gun only held blanks, not live rounds. Jones said he, too, thought the gun held blanks, Edwards said.
Prosecutors last month charged Edwards as an accessory after the fact. According to court documents, Edwards made a phone call from the Stephens County jail between Aug. 16 and Dec. 31 and asked someone to dispose of the weapon.
Edwards testified last month that he later learned the gun was disposed of, but he does not know where the weapon is. He is due back in court in May for a preliminary hearing on that charge.
Prosecutors have said they will drop the first-degree murder charge in exchange for him continuing to testify against the other two teenagers through the trial.
In other testimony Wednesday, another teenager took the stand but repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to keep silent when asked about his conversations with the suspects. Also, a Stephens County sheriff’s office dispatcher said she overheard Jones while he was in custody say that they tried to “kill others and kept missing.”
Heather George corrected her testimony when a lawyer for Jones pointed out that a typed statement she made immediately after the shooting read “shoot others but we kept missing.”
A gag order prevents lawyers and others from discussing the case outside court, and two lawyers for Luna were charged with contempt of court shortly after Wednesday’s hearing. Prosecutors said Jim Berry and Howard Berry broke the gag order last month when they spoke with the media outside the courtroom. They have both pleaded innocent.
Family members for all three teenagers left without comment after the ruling. Before the court hearing, Jennifer Luna, Chancey’s mother, said she felt betrayed by Edwards, who she said once lived with her and who she treated like a son.
“I was mad. I was heated,” she said when she learned Edwards was testifying against her son. Luna said she believes both her son and Jones are innocent.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 03/13/2014