Depending on the outcome of a couple pending motions, the Elbow Room murder case will go to trial this week, the final week of the current Lowndes County Circuit Court session.
Daniel Paul Copple, 44, of 31725 Kingly St. in Lucerne Valley, Calif., was arrested and charged in February with two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault for separate incidents.
According to numerous sources, the plan is for the potential jury members to be at the Lowndes County Courthouse Monday for the jury selection and the trial to begin.
According to court documents, Copple is accused of going to the Elbow Room Lounge, a downtown Columbus bar located on Second Avenue North near Fifth Street North, in the early morning hours of Feb. 16 and entering an altercation with Mark Caudill, 33, of Birmingham, Ala. Court documents state Copple “engaged in a struggle with Mark Caudill when shots rang out and Caudill was shot.”
According to previous news reports, Caudill pulled a handgun on Copple, who wrestled the weapon away. James Bennett Mann II, 42, of 418 Second Avenue North in Columbus, tried to intervene and also was shot multiple times. Caudill died almost instantly while Mann died later that day at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.
Copple left the scene and was apprehended by police with a firearm within the 100 block of Fifth St. North, court documents state. He was later transported to the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center where, according to court documents, Copple told investigators and jailers, “I killed the mother f*****. Yea I shot him.”
One of the aggravated assault charges stems from the incident at the Elbow Room where Copple is accused of pointing a gun at bartender Michael Ward.
The other aggravated assault charge took place a few hours earlier on the night of Feb. 15 when Copple allegedly hit a pedestrian, Carl Edward Allen, of 2109 Seventh Street South in Columbus, with his white Ford F-150 near the intersection of Third Avenue North and Eighth Street North.
District Attorney Forrest Allgood for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi, the prosecutor for the case, said Friday that he is trying to bring the case to trial, but the defense made two motions that could hold it up. The current plan is to try Copple for all four charges at once, but the defense filed a motion asking to have separate trials for the incident in the Elbow Room and the alleged hitting of a pedestrian. A second motion was filed by the defense asking to restrict the use of “inflammatory” photos of the victims. Copple previously requested a fast and speedy trial.
According to court documents, Copple claims self defense in the incident. He also claims a prejudice against him for spelling his home city wrong on a document. An indictment spells the city as “Loser Valley” when it is correctly spelled “Lucerne Valley.”
“This is not a typing error,” Copple states in a letter that was filed in the case. Copple was an independent contractor working at Severstal at the time of the incident, news reports stated.
In one of two side plots for the case, Steve Wallace is serving as Copple’s defense lawyer. In the recent local district attorney election, Allgood defeated Wallace to keep his position.
Another candidate from the recent local elections also has ties to the case. One of the victims in the case, Mann, was the fiancé of Susan Robinson, who was a candidate for Lowndes County Chancery Clerk but lost to incumbent Lisa Younger Neese.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.