A trial for a Columbus man charged with murder began Wednesday in Lowndes County Circuit Court.
The jury seated in Judge Lee Howard’s court heard opening arguments and listened to testimony from state witnesses Wednesday afternoon in the trial of Randall Cooper Jr., 22, who is charged in the December 2013 shooting death of Virgil Harris, 23.
Cooper reportedly shot Harris with a .40-caliber handgun as the victim was getting out of a vehicle at 21st Street North in the early morning hours of Dec. 20. He’s accused of shooting Harris several more times as the victim lay on the ground.
The vehicle’s driver, Vureha Lovelace, testified on Wednesday that she had agreed to give Harris, who was sitting in the front passenger’s seat of her two-door Monte Carlo, a ride to Sandfield. Two other men, Cooper and Tevin Harris, were riding in the back seat.
Lovelace said the victim began “talking crazy” and “wilding out” during the ride, yelling and using profanity toward others in the vehicle before insisting she let him out on 21st Street North. That’s when Cooper allegedly fired the first shot, which shattered the car’s passenger’s side window, then leaned over the front seat and fired several more rounds.
Lovelace said she exited the car to check on the victim when Cooper got in the driver’s seat and started to flee. She said she got in the car and went with them as far as Propst Park, where she said Cooper and Tevin Harris stopped the car and fled on foot. She said she then drove back to the shooting scene and talked to police.
According to Lovelace’s testimony, the two men had shot dice together at her brother’s apartment on the night of Dec. 19, and she had seen earlier that Virgil Harris was carrying a .380-caliber pistol. She said, though, that she had not seen Cooper and the victim get in an altercation and Virgil Harris had not threatened anyone with the gun while in her car.
During opening statements, assistant district attorney Scott Rogillio told the jury that ballistics evidence and witness testimony would show that Cooper deliberately shot and killed Virgil Harris while his own safety was under no threat.
“There’s no question that (Cooper) shot him,” Rogillio said. “Your decision will ultimately come down to, ‘Is it murder?'”
Cooper’s attorney, Steven Carl Wallace, is framing a self-defense argument for his client. He says Cooper was frightened due to the victim’s behavior and felt his safety was clearly threatened.
“All we want is for the truth to come out,” Wallace told the jury. “There’s a little more to this than someone deliberately killing someone.”
The trial was slated to continue today.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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