A 22-year-old Little Rock man accused of killing another man during a drug deal turned robbery fired his gun only to save himself, the defendant's lawyer told a Pulaski County circuit judge Thursday.
Edwin Kejuan Warren is pleading self-defense to capital murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault, attorney Bret Qualls said during a bail hearing.
Warren is accused of fatally shooting 19-year-old Jaxson Guinn and threatening Wesley Ball with a gun in June 2013 at the intersection of 27th and Battery streets in Little Rock.
Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence. He is scheduled for trial in February.
Police said Warren, Guinn and Ball had been in Guinn's red pickup, which Guinn was driving before the shooting.
After being shot, Guinn managed to drive the truck to the 2500 block of South Schiller Street where police were called, according to testimony. A woman known only as Felicia was also said to have been in the pickup, but police never have been able to find her.
Warren told investigators that he had gotten out of the truck because Guinn's demeanor was making him nervous. Warren said he moved around the vehicle and was talking to Guinn through the driver's window, detective Mark Knowles testified at a bail hearing for the defendant.
Warren told investigators in an interview the day after the shooting that he drew his gun only after Guinn hit him while wearing brass knuckles and displayed a knife, the detective said. Warren showed police a scratch on his finger that he said came from being struck by Guinn, Knowles said.
Warren said the gun fired twice during the struggle because Guinn tried to take the pistol away from him.
He told police he then picked up two nearby children and carried them to safety before fleeing through his grandmother's home, Knowles told the judge. Warren said he dropped the gun after running through the house, the detective testified.
Warren admitted to being a marijuana dealer and claimed Guinn and Ball had wanted him to sell drugs -- cocaine and unspecified pills -- for them, Knowles said. A knife and knuckles were found in Guinn's pickup where he had been shot, the detective testified.
Deputy prosecutor Hugh Finkelstein scoffed at the self-defense assertion, saying there's no evidence Warren was ever in danger.
Two 9mm shell casings were found at the curb on 27th Street, confirming a bystander's account that Warren had fired into the driver's side window, the prosecutor said. Since he was outside the truck, Warren could have safely gotten away from Guinn, Finkelstein said.
"He could have easily walked away," Finkelstein told the judge. "All he had to do was turn and go."
Warren's account of the shooting also doesn't jibe with the bystander's version of events because she didn't mention seeing Warren run off with any children, the prosecutor said.
His story also does not account for blunt-force facial injuries Guinn suffered. Ball told police he thought Warren had pistol-whipped Guinn in the head before shooting him, Finkelstein said.
Warren's story also does not explain why police found a live 9mm round in the driver's floorboard of the pickup, the prosecutor said.
The bullet was made by the same manufacturer of the shell casings found by police, and it matches Ball's account in which he describes Warren announcing his intentions to rob the men by "jacking" a round in his semi-automatic pistol, Finkelstein said. Jacking is slang for chambering a bullet in a gun while ejecting the previously chambered round.
Ball also told police that Warren arranged the meeting with him and Guinn in front of his grandmother's home, but when the men got into the truck together, he had them drive elsewhere, saying he did not want to engage in drug dealing outside the woman's Bainbridge Drive home, the prosecutor said.
Ball also said that Warren had grabbed some of the men's drugs out of the pickup after shooting Guinn, the prosecutor said.
Qualls, the defense attorney, questioned Ball's credibility, noting that Ball had admitted taking illegal pills out of Guinn's pocket and throwing them over a fence before police arrived.
Warren, who has no prior criminal record as an adult, has been held without bail since his arrest the day after the slaying. The judge set his bail at $350,000 with the requirement he submit to electronic monitoring if released.
Metro on 09/19/2014