Update: The judge permitted the jury to go home at 3:40 p.m. Thursday. Deliberations are expected to resume at 9 a.m. Friday.
BLOUNTVILLE — A man on trial in a Sullivan County court this week for his alleged role in a 2005 Kingsport robbery and double murder and a Piney Flats-based cocaine distribution ring was in Baltimore and is innocent, or he wasn't in Baltimore and should be found guilty as charged.
These were the positions the prosecution and defense expressed during closing arguments Wednesday morning in the trial of Jawaune Massey, 36, in Sullivan County Circuit Judge Jerry Beck's courtroom.
Massey has been on trial since Aug. 13 on two counts each of premeditated and felony first-degree murder and one count each of especially aggravated robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, criminal conspiracy to possess more than 26 grams of cocaine with intent to sell or deliver, possession of over 26 grams of cocaine for resale, and maintaining a dwelling where controlled substances are used or sold.
The murder and robbery charges stem from the Nov. 18, 2005, robbery and fatal shootings of Jeffrin Nolan, 27, and Terrance Alexander, 21, inside the former Solé candle shop at 828 Myrtle St. in Kingsport. Nolan suffered two gunshots to the back of his head and was pronounced dead at the scene, while Alexander suffered a single gunshot to the back of his head and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The drug charges stem from Massey's alleged involvement in a cocaine distribution ring headed up by his half brother, Osheene Massey, who has previously pleaded guilty to a laundry list of charges.
In the state's first closing argument, Sullivan County District Attorney Barry Staubus asserted the state has proven Jawaune Massey maintained a presence in Osheene Massey's Piney Flats residence, 404 Holly Point, and that he helped Osheene Massey and Leslie Ware Jr. plan the robbery of Nolan using Octavia Brooks as a "decoy" and with the intent to kill Nolan.
He contended it was Jawaune Massey who, along with Ware, forced Nolan and Alexander at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor of the candle shop's back room before they were shot. Afterward, Jawaune Massey argued he should get to keep Nolan's gun along with "his share" of Nolan's cocaine and cash, he contended. And finally, Staubus said it was Jawaune Massey who took his cut of Nolan's cocaine and cash -- he wasn't allowed to keep the gun -- and fled to Baltimore, where police located him in 2009.
Staubus also argued the state had proved Jawaune Massey had been in Piney Flats and Johnson City, selling, delivering and distributing cocaine along with his brother and their "associates" before the robbery.
In defense attorney Douglas Payne's closing argument, he asserted the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jawaune Massey committed any of the crimes charged, or that he was not in Baltimore during the time frame in question.
Noting that Jawaune Massey cannot be convicted based upon the uncorroborated testimony of witnesses deemed "accomplices" as a "matter of law," Payne said, "It is our contention that each one of the witnesses who came in, and who got up on the stand, had knowledge of everything that was going to take place, aided and abetted one another, and are therefore accomplices in this case."
The judge had previously instructed the jury that they should consider some of the state's witnesses to be "accomplices" in either the drug conspiracy, the robbery and murders, or all three. It was left to the jury to decide whether some of the witnesses were accomplices to any of the crimes.
Payne argued Osheene Massey was the one who planned and carried out the robbery, and that he, Brooks, Clyde Green, Brian Beco, Crystal Arnold and Thelma Gardner subsequently were "smart" enough to concoct a story that put the blame on Jawaune Massey and minimized their own involvement. Brooks, Green, Beco, Arnold and Gardner were among the state's witnesses.
In the state's final closing argument, Sullivan County Deputy District Attorney Gene Perrin told the jury, "Either he is guilty as charged of the crimes brought against him, or he was in Baltimore."
Perrin advised the jury that if they believe the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jawaune Massey wasn't in Baltimore, they should find him not guilty, telling them, "It's really that simple."
Perrin noted the state was not required to prove who fired all three shots. Directing the jury to a legal instruction they received regarding "criminal responsibility," Perrin contended that Jawaune Massey and Ware were both in the shop that day and are each "criminally responsible" for the other's conduct.
The six-man, six-woman jury began deliberating just before 11:30 a.m. The process halted about 1:10 p.m. after they asked and were permitted to listen in the courtroom to the recorded testimony of Arnold and Casey Chambers, the latter a witness who lived near the candle shop and identified Jawaune Massey among the people she saw going toward and coming from the candle shop on Nov. 18, 2005. Deliberations resumed at approximately 3 p.m., and the jury went home just before 5 p.m.
Deliberations are expected to resume at 9 a.m. today.