Trial starts for Columbia man accused in 2022 deadly shooting
Olivia Hayes
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The first witness in the jury trial for a deadly 2022 Columbia shooting took the stand on Tuesday.
The trial for Isaac J. Bryant started on Tuesday morning. Bryant is facing charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Demetrius Ware.
Eight women and six men were selected for the jury and heard opening statements by the defense and the state.
Bryant is accused of shooting Ware, 37, of Columbia, outside of a home in the 800 block of Grand Avenue in May of 2022. Police said Bryant drove by the home and shot Ware. Ware was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Prosecutors called the shooting a case of jealousy and said in their opening that they would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bryant was guilty using eye-witness accounts, testimony from responding law enforcement and phone records.
They said Bryant’s phone records would show him on Grand Ave. the night of the shooting and at various other locations connected with the case following the shooting. Prosecutors also explained that they plan to show the link between the gun used in the murder and Bryant.
The defense said that the state’s eyewitness gave inconsistent accounts of the night of the shooting and that she initially told the police she did not know what happened. Bryant’s defense said they will prove that no scientific evidence places the gun in Bryant’s hand.
His lawyers also plan to use surveillance footage from nearby to weaken the eyewitness’ identification of Bryant. They say it’s not possible to identify the driver of the car, nor is it able to confirm the car, leading them to pose the question of ‘how could the witness be able to from his rearview mirror?’
Bryant’s defense claimed that the phone data the state is referencing is not reliable and said police narrowed their investigation to focus only on Bryant once they named him as a suspect.
Two witnesses also took the stand Tuesday, including one of the first responding officers on scene that night and Quirteasha Brown-Wells, the state’s eyewitness.
Brown-Wells said she and Bryant went out for a few months and planned to see Bryant the day of the shooting, but she claimed she had no relationship with him on or around the day of the shooting.
Brown-Wells said while on the stand that Bryant was returning keys to her, but was not allowed in the house. She explained this was because she shares a child with Ware and he did not want Bryant around them. She also said she was not in a romantic relationship with either of the men at the time of the shooting.
Brown-Wells said she was in her kitchen when she first heard the gunshots, but didn’t think anything of them because it was common in the area. Ware had just left the home about two minutes later when she said she found Ware in the road, shot.
Brown-Wells explained that she identified Bryant in his rearview mirror after seeing him for about two seconds. She added that she knew it was him because he was supposed to be picking her up.
The courtroom started to heat up during the defense’s turn to question Brown-Wells. Bryant’s Lawyers referenced a deposition she gave to them on Sept. 28, 2022, about four months after the shooting.
In that deposition transcript, Brown-Wells was quoted as saying she was sexually active with Bryant at the time of the shooting and that they had seen each other almost every day of the week leading up to the shooting. She claimed on the stand that she was referring to Ware, but the defense specified Bryant in its question in the transcript.
She also said she did not know she was coming to the defense office to give a deposition. Brown-Wells was subpoenaed for that deposition and sworn under oath at the time. She also said on the stand that she did not have any memory of giving her deposition.
The trial is expected to go through the end of the week, with it set to resume on Wednesday morning.