Detective walks jurors through complicated shooting timeline
On the second day of the murder trial of a local man accused in a fatal shooting outside a former nightclub, the lead Hot Springs police detective guided jurors through a complex timeline Tuesday of the alleged shooter’s and victim’s movements.
McKinley Junior Williams, who turned 31 Monday, could face up to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder for the July 16, 2017, shooting death of Timothy Edmund Martin, 37, of Hot Springs, while he was sitting in his car near the former Boot Scooters club, 421 Broadway St.
Detective Scott Lampinen, the lead investigator on the case, testified for several hours and provided running commentary while the seven-woman, fiveman Garland County Circuit Court jury watched a video from the nightclub actually showing the shooting that occurred at around 1:14 a.m. and a compilation of videos from multiple businesses tracing the journeys of Martin’s Infiniti and a Dodge Challenger Williams was allegedly a passenger in.
Lampinen said he went to 25 or 30 businesses all along the alleged travel routes and obtained video from 15 different security cameras that were compiled into a video that showed the events in chronological order.
The alleged driver of the Challenger, Kirkland Eugene Litzsey, had testified earlier Tuesday and previously told police he drove Williams to and from Boot Scooters that night and to another nightclub, Rumors, after the shooting. Litzsey pleaded guilty on March 4, 2015, to hindering apprehension or prosecution in the case and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Under direct questioning by Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels, Lampinen said the video footage as well as cellphone records from Litzsey’s and Williams’ phones, which they also used to track their movements, matched the version of events Litzsey gave to police as well as accounts from witnesses on Rugg Street who saw the shooter flee the scene.
In particular, the video from Boot Scooters shows the Challenger twice drive past where the Infiniti was parked, with Martin sitting in the driver’s seat, and his friend, Deandre Collins, in the passenger seat, and both times the Challenger driver appears to hit the brakes right beside the other car.
A few minutes later, the video shows a man walking up to the passenger side of the Infiniti and firing a gun and then Collins is seen exiting the passenger side and running up to the front of Boot Scooters.
Under questioning by Williams’ attorney, Chief Public Defender Tim Beckham, Lampinen noted that one witness on Rugg Street described the shooter as wearing a hat. Collins reportedly returned to the Infiniti shortly after the shooting to retrieve something and Lampinen acknowledged he didn’t know what he grabbed. When testifying Monday, Collins had mentioned going back to look for his phone and grabbing a dark hat.
Lampinen later noted that only the one witness reported seeing a hat while the others all reported seeing the shooter with his head covered with something white or light-colored, possibly a T-shirt wrapped around his head.
Lampinen also acknowledged that in tracking their movements with their cellphones, they only tracked where Williams was before 1 a.m. and after 2 a.m., because he apparently turned his phone off during that time. During the time immediately after the shooting, they only had phone records of Litzsey’s movements.
Beckham noted that earlier testimony revealed Litzsey had been with another friend, Juwan Mitchell, until shortly before the shooting when they met up with Williams at Boot Scooters and later dropped Mitchell off at his car. Beckham noted earlier notes where Mitchell was reportedly wearing clothing similar to Williams.
Under redirect by Daniels, Lampinen said Mitchell was much smaller than Williams, like 5 feet, 3 inches, 130 pounds, “soaking wet,” with short hair, and “didn’t look anything like the description” given of the shooter by witnesses.
The trial is scheduled to continue today with Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro and Deputy Prosecutor Casey Richmond also representing the state and Judge Marcia Hearnsberger presiding.