A witness in a Lowndes County capital murder case was cross-examined for about 30 minutes in court Tuesday when his testimony did not match four previous statements he had given to police.
Derrick Bankhead, 39, and Michael Ross, 36, are both charged with capital murder in the death of Eddie Bankhead, who was shot in his home on College Street on July 11, 2011. Eddie Bankhead, 35, had a severe physical disability that restricted him to a walker.
In Bankhead’s trail, which began Tuesday, Ross testified he and the defendant, along with two other suspects drove to the victim’s house on July 11, 2011, with the intent to rob Eddie of cocaine. Ross testified he remained in the car while the other three suspects went to Eddie’s house to rob him. It was only after the robbery that Ross learned Eddie Bankhead had been shot.
But defense attorney Mark Williamson pointed out Ross had never mentioned a robbery in statements made to the police between July 2011 and February 2014.
“Is anything in (the first statement) even close to that?” Williamson asked.
Ross admitted there was not. Instead, Ross told police they had planned to go “get” powdered cocaine from the victim without specifying an intent to rob the victim.
Derrick Bankhead’s trial continues today. Though it is a capital murder trial, District Attorney Scott Colom said Bankhead does not face the death penalty because he was found to be intellectually disabled.
Circuit Judge Lee Coleman is presiding over the case. Ross is set to face trial in Lowndes County Circuit Court in November.
On Tuesday, Ross testified that Eddie Bankhead was shot in the commission of an armed robbery that Derrick Bankhead had planned. He said Derrick planned to steal cocaine from his cousin by going to his home on the pretext of buying it. Derrick would ask to buy more and get the door open for two armed suspects to run in and steal the cocaine. Ross said he stayed in the car and drove the others away after the robbery. He said he did not know until after the robbery that Eddie Bankhead had been shot.
Ross testified that at the time he’d given statements to police, he had omitted mention of the robbery to keep from incriminating himself further.
Two other eye witnesses to the shooting testified, including victim’s friend Robert Fowler and victim’s girlfriend Rennie Gibbs. Both Fowler and Gibbs testified that they had been in Eddie Bankhead’s home the night of the shooting.
Gibbs said she had witnessed Derrick arrive less than a minute before two armed men with bandannas over their faces came into the house and pointed guns at the three occupants.
Fowler said one suspect had pointed a gun at him.
“He looked at me and said, ‘N*****, you already know what this is,'” Fowler said.
Fowler then said he heard two gunshots. Gibbs ran out the back of the house and the suspects fled the scene. Fowler then tried to get the victim to the car to take him to the hospital, he said, which is where first responders to the scene found them.
The state on Tuesday also questioned Lance Luckey, the Columbus Police Department officer who first arrived at the scene, as well as Columbus Crime Lab director Austin Shepherd and Mark LeVaughn, a medical examiner with the State Crime Lab in Pearl.
Before the state called witnesses, the court excused one juror after three witnesses reported she had touched the defendant’s mother on the shoulder “in a reassuring manner” as the jurors left the courtroom Monday.
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