posted May 13, 2008
Prosecutors said gangs will be the focus of a trial starting Wednesday in which Michael "Mike Mike" Daniels is charged with ordering Timothy "Timboo" Evans to kill a rival.
Security is especially tight at the trial in the courtroom of Judge Rebecca Stern - with spectators required to go through a second level of metal detectors and with six officers in the courtroom.
The two defendants have antagonistic defenses, and they are strapped with stun devices to stop them from assaulting one another during the trial.
Prosecutor Neal Pinkston said Daniels was the leader of the Skyline Bloods at the time of the June 13, 2006 slaying on E. 48th Street.
He said the jury would hear testimony about all aspects of gangs as the state seeks to show that Daniels ordered the killing because he believed victim Adrian Patton had fired shots at the residence of Daniels' sister earlier that day.
He said Patton denied being involved in the earlier shooting and was going around that day trying to get that message across.
He said Patton was set up to arrive where Daniels and Evans - both armed with loaded handguns - were waiting. He said Patton pulled up in a vehicle, and Daniels tapped Evans, who then fired six shots into the victim.
Defense attorneys Jesse Dalton and John McDougal told the jury that many of the defense witnesses had told various stories of what happened at the murder scene.
Attorney Dalton said the prosecution was trying to "play on your fears" by emphasizing the gang angle.
Prosecutor Pinkston said the Bloods were formed in California near Pyru Street. He said Daniels had Bloods and Piru tattoos.
The indictment says Daniels was the "young gangster" and Evans the "baby gangster" who followed his orders.
It says at the murder scene that Daniels lured Patton to 48th Street and spoke to him when he arrived, while Evans waited several feet away. It says Daniels then slipped away in the crowd, tapped Evans and said, "Handle this s---, Piru Blood."
It says Daniels later told Officer Edwin McPherson, "I have a hundred soldiers that can bring this city down."
The indictment says Daniels displayed gang signs while in General Sessions Court.
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