Desmonte Leonard was found guilty of capital murder on Tuesday, Oct. 7, read more here: Desmonte Leonard guilty of capital murder
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Jurors in the Desmonte Leonard murder trial heard closing arguments Monday afternoon, Oct. 6.
Leonard is charged with the capital murder of DeMario Pitts and Auburn football players Ed Christian and Ladarious Phillips. He is also charged with the attempted murder of Deangelo Benton and Turquorius Vines, first-degree assault of Auburn football player John Robertson and second-degree assault of Auburn football players Xavier Moss and Eric Mack.
Lee County Assistant District Attorney Kisha Abercrombie told jurors that self-defense did not apply in this case after going through the events of the night and pointing out witness the jury heard from on a surveillance video.
Abercrombie also went over the standard that jurors should apply when considering a self-defense claim under the stand your ground law.
"It's become a little bit more convoluted in the past couple of years," Abercrombie said.
She pointed out that Leonard admitted to shooting and did not have a conceal carry permit which should invalidate his self-defense claim.
"This defendant (Leonard) testified there were three occasions that night he went out to his car--he could've of left," Abercrombie said.
Abercrombie also tried to poke holes in Leonard's account of what happened.
"Not a single witness has testified that they've seen this defendant on the ground getting kicked," Abercrombie said.
Susan James, Leonard's defense attorney, told jurors that partygoer Austin Vaughan testified he saw someone who looked like Leonard, "hit the ground."
James also tried to cast doubt on Vines, the prosecutions key witness, pointing out that Vines is charged with an unrelated attempted murder and he was only testifying to win favor with the prosecution.
Vines testified previously for the prosecution and claimed Leonard pulled out a gun in the clubhouse and threatened to kill somebody.
James quoted recordings of phone calls Vines made from Lee County Jail jurors had heard previously.
"'If they don't drop it I ain't testifying and Desmonte will go free,'" James said quoting Vines.
A theory of another possible shooter was also brought up by James.
"In this day in time can you imagine out of 100 people--do you believe that there was only one weapon out there that night," James said.
James tried to raise doubt about the case the prosecution brought.
"They're asking you to convict (Leonard) and then they're asking you to give him death--there's no room for error," James said.
Lee County District Attorney Robert Treese gave the rebuttal for the prosecution.
"From the moment this case began it's never it's never been a 'who done it,' but a 'what is it,'" Treese said.
Treese reiterated to jurors what the self-defense law requires.
"Under the law, what is required to use deadly force is not a subjective fear, not what a person feels, but what a reasonable person believes is a deadly force," Treese said.
Treese also tried to cast doubt on the defense's claim Leonard suffers from hyper-awareness of his abdominal region due to a gunshot wound received in 2008, calling it, "super-scaredy belly disorder."
Leonard stood around with a grin on his face watching a fight between Vines and Pitts against his friend's Jeremy Thomas and Chris Traywick before pulling out his gun, according to Treese.
"It doesn't matter how big they are, 300 pounds doesn't work against a .40 [caliber]," Treese said.
Jurors will begin deliberations on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
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