During opening statements, Montgomery County assistant prosecutor Tony Schoen said Watson told the three men, “Don’t move” and then allegedly took a gun from his pocket and opened fire on all three.
Schoen told jurors who they could expect to hear testimony from during the trial in Judge Barbara Gorman’s courtroom. Watson faces six counts of felonious assault and two counts of murder.
“You’re not going to get to hear from Martell,” Schoen said. “It’s not because Martell doesn’t want to be here; it’s not because we can’t find Martell. It’s because Martell didn’t survive that day.” Gray’s body was found with six bullet wounds, according to Schoen.
Schoen said Bodine and Wood both identified Watson in photographs, but that only Bodine signed his name to it. Schoen said Wood, while still in the hospital, signed a form that said he would not participate in the prosecution of the crime. Schoen said Wood did point to Watson’s photo, but did not circle it or sign his name.
A cell phone and ammunition were found with Watson when he was arrested at the McDonald’s on Main Street in Dayton, Schoen said. The prosecutor also said Watson denied owning the phone, but that phone records included calls from the area of the homicide and calls to Watson’s wife.
“The state will prove all the elements of all the offenses charged in the indictment, beyond a reasonable doubt,” Schoen said. “I will ask you to bring justice to these victims.”
Defense attorney J. Allen Wilmes told the jury that the state must “take the road map and go somewhere” and that if they don’t get there, they haven’t proven the case.
“The state does not have a gun,” Wilmes said. “They don’t have a motive, either. Maybe they don’t have to have a motive … but it certainly helps us understand whether or not he’d shoot someone.”
Wilmes said there’s evidence that shows possibility, but doesn’t approach no reasonable doubt and that the case has “so many loose ends.”
The jury in the Coleman case picked a foreperson Monday afternoon but did not begin deliberating after getting the case from Judge Mary Katherine Huffman.
Coleman, of Dayton, was accused of strangling ex-girlfriend DeMisha Mattison to death in May 2011 and leaving her body in the residence with their 2-year-old son.
A Montgomery County grand jury indicted the 26-year-old Coleman on charges of murder, rape, attempted rape, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. The prosecution rested Monday morning before the defense put on its case, including testimony from Coleman himself. In closing arguments, prosecutors reiterated that Coleman’s DNA connected him to the crime.
Mattison, 27, died May 6, 2011, and a friend found her body just before noon. Mattison’s son was in the house.
In May, fugitive task force team apprehended Coleman was apprehended in Cincinnati. He was wanted since a warrant was issued for his arrest Feb. 7.
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