2 Witnesses To A Murder Refuse To Testify At Jury Trial

  • Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Two men who prosecutors say witnessed a murder in Hixson on Jan. 31, 2014, on Wednesday refused to tell their story to a jury.

Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman ordered Andrew Biro and Jacob Tyler "T.Y." Keel to answer questions from prosecutor Lance Pope, but they both refused.

Biro had said during testimony in General Sessions Court that Christopher Levi Parker threatened to kill anyone who "snitched" on him just after Robert "Robbie" McClure was shot in the head and fell dead to the floor of his trailer residence.

The prosecutor proceeded to play Biro's account that he gave in a preliminary hearing. He told of Parker having a beef with McClure and of he and Keel walking with him up a hill to McClure's trailer. He said McClure let them in, then took a seat on a couch. He said Parker then began to question McClure and both stood at the same time.

Biro said at the earlier hearing that Parker then pulled out a handgun. Biro said he told him, "Please chill, Chris, chill." Biro said, "I just tried to talk him down."

But he said Parker pulled the trigger and McClure slumped near the front door. The trio then left.

Biro said he called his mother and they called 911 while driving from the scene on Hixson Avenue off Norcross Road.

Biro said as he walked toward where his mother was to pick him up that Parker warned that if he talked "I will shoot you and kill you."

The first officer at the scene said the victim was lying in a pool of blood with a large dog nearby.

A crime scene technician told of having to go in a rear door for fear of the dog. He said the pit bull was finally ushered into a rear bedroom and Animal Control came for it.

Joe Montejo told of finding a 9mm shell casing inside the trailer. It was testified earlier that Parker had stolen a 9mm Springfield semi-automatic handgun from a downtown motel the night before.

A TBI Crime Lab specialist said no gun residue was found on Parker's hands, but he said some residue from gunfire was on a jacket taken from him.

A fugitive officer told of capturing Parker in a vehicle driven by his mother soon after the murder.

Kim Fisk, who was Parker's girlfriend for a year prior to the slaying, was asked by defense attorney Andrew Basler if Parker was strung out on drugs. "We all were using meth heavily," she said.

She said after she learned that police were looking for Parker on the TV news that she told him to leave her house in Middle Valley. She has since gotten married.

The case is expected to go to the jury on Thursday afternoon.

The state is seeking a conviction for first-degree murder.

 


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