An off-duty Little Rock police officer saw a man in pink -- presumed to be murder defendant Darean Deshun Moore -- being chased by a gun-firing sport utility vehicle in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant Aug. 29, 2020, just before discovering the body of the man Moore had killed, a Pulaski County jury heard Friday as Moore's defense began presenting its case in the first-degree murder trial.
Another defense witness also described seeing a man in pink being taunted and cursed by a group of men outside the eatery shortly before 25-year-old Kentarius Montrell "Peanut" Scott was fatally shot.
Neither could say the man was Moore, but the 22-year-old Memphis man was known to have been wearing a distinctive pink coat that night. Police found a pink coat in a trash can near the restaurant.
Moore counters that he fatally shot Scott in self-defense after the older man accosted him and refused to back down in a confrontation that grew out of a dispute between the men, with Scott stepping on Moore's feet and scuffing his shoes inside the sports bar and restaurant.
Prosecutors contend the killing was murder because Scott didn't pose a significant enough threat to justify Moore's use of deadly force. Further, they said, Moore -- who was standing next to his brother's car -- didn't have to shoot Scott because he could have easily gotten away without getting hurt.
Moore's lawyers began presenting evidence Friday to the nine women and five men on the jury. The public defenders have not said whether Moore will testify but told the judge they expect to call at least two more witnesses when the trial moves into its fourth day at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Scott was at the restaurant with a group of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity members -- "line brothers" who pledged the Philander Smith College frat together. They were Twin Peaks regulars known as the Nupes and had come that night to watch the covid-delayed NBA playoffs. Moore was not a member but had come along with his brother who was.
A dispute arose between Scott and Moore over Scott stepping on Moore's shoes -- Nike Air Force 1s -- in the restaurant just before the group left. Prosecutors have described the incident as accidental and Scott as apologetic, while the defense maintains it was a deliberate provocation by Scott. Outside the club, the two engaged in some type of confrontation that ended with Moore shooting Scott before fleeing.
Defense witness Nicholas Smith, now a state trooper, was working security for the restaurant on North Shackelford Road the night Scott was killed.
Smith told jurors the restaurant had been busy but disturbance-free that night but concerns over a potential fight in the parking lot brought him outside the eatery twice. He said he started his shift at 10 p.m., about 90 minutes before Scott was killed.
Smith told jurors the first time he went outside he saw nothing unusual, but when he was called back out some time later he walked out to a "chaotic" scene, a silver SUV chasing a man wearing pink with someone in the vehicle firing a gun. The SUV's windows were too dark to see who was inside and the vehicle fled the parking lot, Smith said.
Smith said he called police and began looking for witnesses, trying to figure out what was going on, when he saw Scott's body.
Smith had been called outside by Twin Peaks barback Oscar Valencia, 30, who said he'd been on the restaurant’s patio and had heard people yelling, followed by what sounded like a pair of gunshots.
Valencia said he saw a man in pink running away from where the sounds were coming from with a silver sedan following. Valencia told jurors he'd heard another set of gunfire, at least 12 shots following the first two.
The first time the officer was summoned to go outside, it was by Jill Riley Holman, an elementary school teacher who was working as a driver for the DoorDash delivery service that night.
Holman testified that when she drove up to the restaurant, she saw a group of young men leaving, telling jurors the men appeared to be in good spirits and having a good time. But by the time she parked, things had changed, Holman said.
"Something was off," she said.
A group of seven or eight men were following a man wearing pink, yelling curses and racial slurs, she told jurors, describing the scene as "uncomfortable [and] intimidating."
"I really felt like something was wrong ... something was about to happen," Holman said, describing how she went into Twin Peaks to alert the police officer working security.
Holman said she did not know a man had been killed at the restaurant until the next day. She said she called police when she found out.
Friday began with a significant ruling for the defense. Circuit Judge Leon Johnson ruled Moore's lawyers could tell jurors that a .380 pistol had been found by police in Scott's pickup.
The gun's matching magazine, full of bullets, had been found in Scott's pants pocket after he was killed. But showing jurors the gun was as far as the defense can go, the judge said, barring the lawyers from making any connection between the weapon and the magazine.
Prosecutors Tracye Mosely and Reese Lancaster objected to the disclosure as irrelevant, given that there is no proof Scott had a gun when he was killed and that the vehicle was several yards away from where he was shot. They argued further that Scott and Moore had never met before that night and there is no evidence Moore could have known Scott had access to a gun.
The judge rejected defense attorney Colleen Barnhill's argument that she should be allowed to go further than just telling jurors about the firearm. She wanted to tell jurors the gun had made Scott more aggressive that night because he knew he could get the weapon if he had lost his fight with Moore.
CORRECTION: Defense witness Oscar Valencia, a barback at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Little Rock, testified Friday during the first-degree murder trial of 22-year-old Darean Deshun Moore of Tennessee that he was on the restaurant’s patio when he heard two gunshots followed by people yelling. Valencia also testified that he saw a man wearing pink being chased by a silver sedan that was shooting at the man, presumed to be Moore. A previous version of this story mischaracterized Valencia’s testimony.