‘I thought he was knocked out,’ witness to one-punch homicide testifies
Dwayne Moore was drinking beers outside his apartment building after work, like he does most days. He was chit-chatting with his neighbors, he remembered, when one came down the stairs from the second floor and hit 28-year-old Dennis Hodge Jr. with a punch that knocked Hodge off his feet.
“He fell backwards and hit his head on the macadam,” Moore testified Monday at a preliminary hearing at the Northampton County Courthouse.
“I thought he was knocked out,” Moore said. “I would have tried to help him if I knew CPR.”
Hodge was more than knocked out. His injuries caused bleeding on his brain, and he was pronounced dead that night at Easton Hospital.
The man who allegedly threw the blow was 26year-old Calvin B. Brown, who is accused of homicide in the June 26 assault. Though his attorney argued one punch isn’t enough to justify the weighty charge, District Judge Richard Yetter said that’s a question for another day, ruling enough evidence exists for it to advance to county court.
Brown is jailed without bail under homicide, an umbrella charge that encompasses crimes ranging from first-degree murder — a premeditated killing — to involuntary manslaughter, an unintended death caused by someone’s reckless or grossly negligent actions.
Defense lawyer Michael Walker urged Yetter to throw out the case, saying one punch isn’t enough to convict Brown. Walker said his client wants to clear his name, and plans to petition to be released on bail pending the case’s resolution.
“This is not who he is. This is not who his family is,” Walker said. “This is an unfortunate incident where they were arguing.”
Assistant District Attorney James Augustine said Brown punched Hodge without warning and without giving him the opportunity to defend himself, then fled the scene. But Augustine said he has not determined which grade of homicide he will seek a conviction for.
“At this time, we have to finish up a few things investigationwise before we make a decision,” Augustine said.
Police said they found an unresponsive Hodge in the parking lot of P&J Apartments in the 900 block of 25th Street in Wilson, his skin already blue and blood coming from his mouth.
On Monday, neighbor Sheraya Ross described Brown and Hodge as friends, who like her, lived on the second floor. But that day, Hodge’s girlfriend, Christina Santiago, was upset because she believed Hodge was cheating on her with Brown’s girlfriend, Ross said.
Ross said Santiago kept confronting Brown over her suspicions, and he kept putting her off. Santiago spat on Brown and splashed a beer on him, though he was telling her to “leave me alone” and that he wasn’t talking to her “because you’re drunk,” Ross said.
Ross said she remembers Brown screaming at Hodge over the girlfriend’s behavior.
“I just heard him say, ‘Get your girl. Get your girl,’ That’s all I heard,” Ross said.
Ross said she was upstairs when Hodge was injured, but came down to find Brown trying to comfort the prone man.
“He was talking to him, saying, ‘Yo bro, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you like that,’” Ross said.
Moore, the other neighbor, recalled it differently, saying he heard no argument and saw no signs of anger before Hodge was decked. Brown briefly went back upstairs, but soon returned, Moore said.
Brown “went by Dennis and said, ‘My bad,’ hopped in a car and left,” Moore testified.