Email
Print
Friends testify against murder suspect
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 17, 2009
Two friends of the defendant in a first-degree murder trial testified that he admitted the crime to them.
Cary Phifer testified Friday in the trial of Al Antonio Bellamy of Statesville.
Bellamy is charged with killing Jimmy Matreece Walker on Oct. 31, 2004, in retaliation for Walker participating in the robbery of Kenny Oakley, a friend of Bellamy's.
Phifer said Bellamy admitted to killing Walker in the aftermath of the robbery and kidnapping of Oakley.
"He said he might have got one of them," Phifer said in court Friday.
Walker's body was found lying in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy on Turnersburg Highway, about a quarter of a mile away from the scene of the robbery.
Bellamy, he said, took him, his brother Courtney and nephew, Antonio McNeal, to the CVS parking lot to show them Walker's body.
Phifer said he didn't tell anyone about the conversation or what happened that night for more than three years.
Phifer said he told investigators about the conversation during a federal drug conspiracy probe involving his brother.
Another friend, Jimmy Steele, who is serving a sentence in federal prison on drug conspiracy charges, said Bellamy admitted to the killing in November 2004 during a gathering at a home in Harmony.
"He said he called him over to the car and he shot him," Steele said.
Steele testified, under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Jason Parker, that he wasn't under any federal indictment when he first told investigators about this conversation in June 2005.
However, under cross-examination from defense attorney Robert Trobich, he said he did know he was being investigated.
"You knew the feds were coming after you," he said.
Steele said he did.
Trobich also questioned him about federal sentencing guidelines that allow for cuts in sentences if substantial information is provided on another crime.
"You were granted a downward departure based on substantial assistance," Trobich asked.
Steele replied in the affirmative.
Parker then asked if he provided information on other crimes, including drug activity. "That's what you most of your time cut," Parker asked.
"Yes," Steele answered.
The jury also saw a video, shot from the in-car camera of then Statesville Police Department Officer Jason Nance.
The video, which is more than an hour long, shows Nance responding to the Cowan Lane area, where the robbery occurred.
Nance then went to the Home Depot parking lot, anticipating the four suspects might be running that direction on foot.
He found Clarence Coleman Jr. of Charlotte in the parking lot and detained him.
While officers were out with Coleman at Home Depot and others were on the scene on Cowan Lane, they testified they heard gunshots coming from the south.
Shortly after the shots were fired, officers received a report of a body at the CVS and found Walker.
Ron Wyatt, a retired member of the Iredell County Sheriff's Office, testified about the investigation into the robbery and kidnapping of Kenny Oakley.
He told the jury that Coleman, two days after his arrest, admitted to being involved in the robbery.
Wyatt also testified to finding two weapons in the area — an assault-style shotgun and an assault rifle.
The trial will not resume until Thursday morning because of a judicial conference.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
