Josquin Jackson
The California agent for a promising Chattanooga rapper on Tuesday afternoon identified Dexter Talley and Alonzo Grace as two of five men who burst into a Highway 58 area duplex and robbed and then shot him and Robert "Brikk" Brown.
Josquin Jackson said he was shot several times and he survived by "playing dead" in the incident at 3929 Webb Oaks Court on March 28, 2009.
Talley, 31, and Grace, 43, are standing trial for felony murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery in the courtroom of Judge Rebecca Stern.
Julian Maurice Smith, Jr., 23, is also charged in the case and is set to go to trial on June 18. No others have been charged - including a man described as tall and with braids who Mr. Jackson said was ordering the others around and who said that he and Brikk were about to be killed.
Mr. Jackson said he watched as Brikk struggled with one of the men, then was shot in the chest. He said he clutched his chest and fell to the floor near the front door. He was dead at the scene.
Mr. Jackson said he was first shot in the head. He said it grazed his head because he ducked. He said after he struggled one of the robbers walked up and shot him in the face. He said the bullet went into his mouth, knocked out a tooth and lodged in his neck, where it remains.
The witness said Grace was the robber who was taking items from him, including his watch, cell phone, ring, necklace and wallet. He said he had $800 in his wallet and from $300 to $400 in his pocket. He said Grace fired one of the shots at him.
He said it was Talley, who was a longtime friend of Brikk, who had come to the duplex earlier, then left. He said Talley called saying he had left his cell phone there. He said Talley soon arrived and was followed inside by five other guys. He said he was looking through a couch for the cell phone and Brikk answered the door. He said he heard a gunshot and saw Brikk holding his hand and wincing in pain.
He said Talley was handed a gun by one of the other men who entered the room - all with guns themselves. He said Brikk asked Talley what was going on and he wouldn't answer, averting his eyes from him.
Mr. Jackson said Brikk was such good friends with Talley and had known him so long that he had given him a shout out" on one of his songs. He said when Talley first came to the duplex he got NFL football player Terdel Sands on the line and talked with him, then handed the phone to Brikk.
He said he had met Talley a couple of nights earlier. He said the duplex was occupied by Brikk's friend, Harold Calloway. He was in Fort Payne, Ala., at the time of the shooting.
The witness said as he lay on the floor he watched the robbers run up the stairs and check out other rooms downstairs, then leave. He said he got up to check on Brikk. He said he was still alive, but breathing slowly. He said he then went out through the garage. He said a crowd was outside and he feared that some of the robbers might be there. He said he spoke with someone in the crowd about checking on Brikk, and the person told him he was the one who needed checking on. He said a man agreed to drive him to the hospital after the man's girlfriend begged him to. He said at the time he was bleeding from the head and mouth.
At the hospital, he said he told detective Karl Fields that one of the robbers he knew as "Deck." He said the detective responded, "Dexter Talley?" He said he did not know his full name, but he said he picked him out of a lineup.
Mr. Jackson said he was carrying large sums of money with him at the time. The jury was shown a bag of cash that was in his leased black Hummer outside the duplex, parked next to the silver Mercedes that Brikk was driving.
He said he, Brikk and Travis Moore had just come from a radio tour that began in California and included Las Vegas, Denver, Atlanta and other cities. He said Brikk had done a song with rapper "Lil Wayne" that was popular. He said they sold so many CDs that they got more pressed while they were in Atlanta.
He said their next stop was due to be New York City. He said the night before the shooting he was in Atlanta with Brikk and Travis. He said he had wanted to head straight for New York, but Travis said he had to get back to Chattanooga for a birthday party.
He said he spent the day of the shooting at a downtown hotel, then met Brikk at a Waffle House for dinner about an hour before the shooting.
Under cross-examination, he said a couple of nights before the shooting that Calloway had arranged for them to meet a couple of girls. He said they went to the address, but found that they were "too young" and left. He said Brikk was attracting a lot of females on Facebook and other outlets.
Mr. Jackson said he now works as an administrator for the Veteran's Administration and for a catering firm.
Sgt. Heather Stone Williams said on July 9, 2009, she was called to King's Automotive on Campbell Street and an individual gave her a watch that had been taken in the holdup. It was Mr. Jackson's watch.
Duplex at the time of the shooting