In Monday’s portion of the murder trial of Marlon Williams, testimony centered on two things: blood and bullets.
Williams faces charges of first degree murder, first degree attempted murder, discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury relating to an Aug. 26, 2006 incident in which he allegedly murdered his grandfather and seriously wounded his grandmother.
He was apprehended on June 30, 2010 at a Shell gas station in Lafayette, Calif., 15 miles east of Oakland.
Lt. Alana Liberty, then a detective with the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office, was part of the crime scene unit for the incident and took the witness stand for the entire day’s period of testimony, and will retake the stand today.
Assistant District Attorney John Newby led the direct examination for the prosecution, confirming through Liberty and entering into evidence each bullet shell recovered and each instance of blood swabbed from the scene.
Picture after picture of Robert and Mildred Bryant’s 2004 Chrysler Pacifica flashed on the projector screen in the Lenoir County Superior Court room. Jurors, observers and members of the court saw blood splattered, streaked and smeared across the interior doors and seats of the minivan, as well as spots from front to back on the outside.
At the outset of the investigation, detectives said Williams arranged to meet with his grandparents at Wayne Chapel AME Zion Church on Rouse Road, and a gunfight ensued thereafter.
Liberty testified she recovered seven 9mm shells on the ground outside the vehicle, one in the driver’s side floorboard and one between the windshield and the dashboard.
She said she found nine .22-caliber shells as well, with the majority of those inside the minivan. Inside the cab, she found a loaded .32-caliber pistol under the driver’s seat with no blood on it. No .32-caliber shells were found at the scene.
Behind the front passenger seat was a gun case for a Walther pistol, which was found on Robert Bryant’s body at the hospital and turned over to law enforcement.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Tom Sallenger asked why a number of other items picked up at the crime scene weren’t processed by the State Bureau of Investigation lab, including a comb containing hair and a Mountain Dew bottle found on the driver’s side back seat of the Pacifica.
Liberty said the comb that was recovered appeared old and dirty, but was sent to the SBI. She said it wasn’t analyzed because she was told there weren’t follicles remaining on the hair.
As to the rest of the items, Liberty said she didn’t recollect why they weren’t further examined, or the SBI declined to investigate further on an item for its own reasons, including the Walther pistol found on Robert Bryant.
Newby said Monday he plans to call to the stand LCSO Capt. Chris Russell and four analysts from the SBI, who will testify as to fingerprints, blood, DNA and ballistics.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.
