Jury deliberations underway in Demetrius Jackson capital murder trial

Yahoo

31-01-2025

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Jurors in the capital murder trial for 23-year-old Demetrius Jackson heard closing arguments Friday morning in judge Shanta Owens courtroom.
Jackson is one of three men accused in the 2020 shooting at the Riverchase galleria in Hoover that led to the death of 8-year-old Royta Giles Junior and the injury of three others. The two other men, King Williams and Montez Coleman pleaded guilty to reckless murder in the death of Giles Jr. as well as three counts of second-degree assault and are currently serving prison sentences.
On the afternoon of July 3rd, police say Jackson was involved in an argument with a group of people in the food court when the shooting began. Dr. Greg Davis, the chief medical officer for Jefferson County testified on Thursday that Royta Giles Junior died as a result of an injury to his brain from a gunshot wound to the head. Jurors learned that three other bystanders were injured during the shooting inside the mall on July 3rd.
During closing statements, Deputy District Attorney Julie McMakin told jurors that 'everyone who shot was wrong' and 'everyone who was wrong is responsible.' She said the reason all three shooters – including Demetrius Jackson – are responsible for the death of Royta Giles Junior and the injury of three others is because of 'accomplice liability'.
During the trial Hoover police testified that while the 8-year-old was hit with a 9 mm bullet, the gun Jackson used was a 40-caliber weapon. Before delivering instructions to the jury, Judge Owens stated that both the defense and the prosecution were in agreement that King Williams had been in possession of and fired a 9 mm pistol, while Demetrius Jackson had possessed and fired a 40 caliber pistol. The prosecution said Jackson fired six rounds.
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During closing, defense attorney Victor Revill took issue with the prosecution's 'accomplice liability' argument which he referred to as 'let's just charge everybody'. He remarked that while the death of 8-year old Giles Jr. was indeed a tragedy, his client Demetrius Jackson was not to blame. He said Jackson did not kill anybody, and only shot back in self-defense.
Revill argued that Jackson had the right to defend himself after being fired upon by Montez Coleman inside the mall. On Thursday, firearms expert Damon Cooper held up the AR style semi-automatic pistol with one unfired round in the gun that Montez Coleman is accused of using during the shooting incident.
He said Jackson had never met Coleman, and there was no evidence the two had ever talked with one another. Revill argued that his client was put in an impossible situation and when fired upon while in a public area, he was entitled to defend himself.
He added that the state had the burden of proof to prove that Jackson did not have the right to defend himself. During rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney Shawn Allen said that within three minutes on that Friday afternoon, 13 bullets were fired injuring three people and killing a little boy.
He took issue with the defense teams' claim that Jackson was acting in self-defense, he said the self-defense law is not you get to shoot someone and say you were acting in self-defense, that it has to be justified and there are certain qualifier that have to be there to meet the legal definition.
He told the jurors that Jackson fired his gun six times:
'Make no mistake, he was trying to kill Montez Coleman.'
Allen showed the jurors a video taken from inside the mall that showed Jackson standing; he said he was waiting for what was about to unfold instead of walking away and after firing six rounds, he ran from the scene.
Allen told the jury that Demetrius Jackson is guilty of capital murder since he and two accomplices caused injury leading to the death of Royta Giles, that all three acting as a group caused the death.
Right now the jury is deliberating on a verdict that will be one of four things; guilty of capital murder, guilty of reckless murder, guilty of reckless manslaughter, or not guilty.
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