The girlfriend of a Chattanooga teen who was gunned down on his front porch testified Tuesday that she found him with a bullet wound to the chest after hearing a volley of shots fired at their Lupton City home.
Jeremy Reynolds, who served time in prison for a prior murder, is standing trial for first-degree murder in the courtroom of Judge Barry Steelman.
Defense attorney John McDougal said the state's case is based on suppositions and it would not be able to put Reynolds at the murder scene on May 5, 2013.
Harley Stokes said she heard the music from Wendell Washington's vehicle when he arrived at 3687 Northrop St. shortly before 11 p.m. She said when she went toward the front door she saw his face briefly in the glass, then she heard voices. She said she could not make out what was said.
Ms. Stokes acknowledged that Washington sold marijuana and pills and was driving a newer-model Camaro. She said none of the drug sales were at their house, which was guarded by three dogs, including a pitbull. One dog was chained at the front, another at the back and the third was inside.
The witness said when she heard the shots she ran to get his mother, Diana Washington, out of bed. She said, "I tried to go out, but she wouldn't let me."
She said she did so after the shooting stopped, and she found him lying on the porch. She went to grab a pillow for his head.
Ms. Stokes told the jury, "He was still here. He was moving his head back and forth, but he was not able to say anything." She said when she moved his jacket she saw blood.
She said his mother got his gun off the porch near his body along with some money and pills and brought it inside. She said she put those items under a mattress.
Ms. Stokes said Washington owned four or five guns, noting they had been robbed earlier. She said, "They got everything."
Diana Washington said her son normally came home around 10:30 p.m. and she was asleep by then after working a 12-hour day. She said she rushed to the front door when the girlfriend awakened her when the commotion broke out.
Ms. Washington said, "I opened the door and heard gunshots. I slammed the door and pushed her to the floor."
She said, "When I opened the door I seen him laying on the porch gasping for his last breath."
She said there were shell casings on the floor and she got some of them and kicked others.
Ms. Washington said she took the gun, money and pills "because I was in a state of shock. I didn't know what to do."
Prosecutors said Reynolds showed up at the Erlanger emergency room a short time after the shooting. They said he was carried in by fellow gang members, who left quickly after placing him on a stretcher. He had been shot in the side.
He was in a white SUV - the same vehicle that witnesses said was at the shooting scene in Lupton City.
An ex-Marine, who lives near Northrop Street, said he was letting his dog out when he heard gunshots. He said about five minutes later he saw a white Mitsubishi run a nearby stop sign. He said it matched the vehicle in which Reynolds arrived at the emergency room.
Prosecutors said the gun used to kill Washington was traced to one taken from Gerald Jackson during a traffic stop after the Washington slaying. They said Jackson was ruled out as a suspect because he was in a prison in West Tennessee at the time of the slaying.
Washington was shot seven times.
In 2005, Reynolds and Kenneth Alexander were charged in the death of Harold Steve Freeman III on Sawyer Street.
Witnesses at a court hearing said the Nov. 28, 2005, murder in North Chattanooga was payback for a previous robbery.
Reynolds pleaded guilty to facilitation of second-degree murder on Aug. 29, 2008, and was given an eight-year sentence.