Lee County District Judge Russell K. Bush decided after a preliminary hearing on Wednesday that enough probable cause exists to send the case of accused Auburn triple-murderer Desmonte Leonard before a grand jury. The hearing was the first courtroom appearance for the 22-year-old Montgomery man who allegedly shot six people at University Heights on June 9, killing three of them.
The prosecutor, Lee County District Attorney Robbie Treese, brought Auburn Police Division Detective Jude C. Hackett to the stand to testify on the detectives' findings both at the scene and through questioning of witnesses. A defense-called witness, Tchonda Stephens, also answered questions from both sets of lawyers.
Hackett reconstructed the evening, answering questions from Treese and the defense attorney Jeff Duffey. Hackett said the night began on the police end at 10:03 p.m. when the first of several 911 calls were received. Officers were dispatched at 10:04 and arrived on the scene at 10:06, around the same time Hackett said he arrived.
Upon arrival, he said he saw emergency services already there, as well as the multiple gunshot victims. From witness statements, Hackett concluded that a first fight broke out between Auburn football player Deangelo Benton and the suspect in the apartment of Stephens' sister, who was hosting the party. Stephens said it was because Leonard was approached by Benton who said Leonard was "looking at him crazy."
Stephens said of Leonard's reaction, "He said nothing. It made (Benton) more angry because he killed him with silence."
According to the tape from the apartment security camera, a group of Benton's teammates then took him outside to calm down. Leonard and Stephens then came outside and when Benton saw them, Stephens said he was "so drunk" that he got even angrier and yelled a death threat at him, swearing on a family member that Leonard would die that night.
A fight then broke out between friends of Leonard and Benton and at around 10:07, the camera shows Eric Mack and John Robertson being shot.
Bush decided that the evidence lends probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the act of the shooting, and the case will go to a grand jury.
Defense attorney Susan James and Duffey pointed out that the defense has only identified Leonard through one person (Vines) picking his mug out of a line of pictures.
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