Prosecutors began laying out their case Friday against two men charged with the December 1999 murder of an East Lansing woman.
Cornelius Alden Brown, 29, and Sam Jones III, 25, sat in 54-B District Court on Friday. Witnesses recounted the night of Dec. 15, 1999, when Shemika Rogers was shot five times while sitting in her vehicle in the parking lot of Homestead Apartments, 426 W. Lake Lansing Road.
Rogers, 26, died five days later due to a gunshot wound to the head.
If District Court Judge David L. Jordon rules that the prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence, Brown and Jones will be bound over for trial on murder charges. The two men could face life in prison.
Camille Denise Dabney, 26, also sat before Jordon during the preliminary examination hearing on Friday. Dabney is charged as an accessory to the murder.
Assistant Prosecutor Mike Ferency is expected to call at least four more witnesses when the hearing resumes at on Jan. 15 at 9 a.m. before District Judge David Jordon.
Attorneys for the three suspects maintain there is not enough evidence to convict their clients.
“Once all the proof is in, there will be no reason to charge my client,” said Jones’ attorney Kenneth Marks.
Frank H. Reynolds, Dabney’s attorney, said he believes there is not enough evidence to charge his client as an accessory.
“Their case is she gave a false statement to police and was therefore an accessory,” Reynolds said, adding that such actions do not rise to that level.
Prosecutors also may pursue an obstruction charge against her.
Much of the prosecution’s case Friday focused on Brown and Jones. One witness testified Friday the two men left Brown’s Lansing house shortly before a call came over a police scanner about a shooting in East Lansing.
Heather Fracier, an ex-girlfriend of “Al” Brown, said Brown and Jones left with guns after receiving a radio call over a cell phone.
“Sam grabbed a gun and it was silver and Al grabbed a gun and it was long,” Fracier testified.
Two witnesses testified earlier that they had seen someone running near the apartment complex with a long gun after they heard several gun shots fired.
Jason Savage and fiancé Kristen Borton, who lived at Homestead Apartments at the time, also said they saw a silver Ford Taurus fleeing from the scene.
Fracier testified Brown and Jones left that night in a similar car.
Later that night, Fracier testified Dabney came to Brown’s house to pick up his son and gave her a ride to her apartment between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Fracier also testified that if she was ever asked about the night Brown told her, “‘You don’t know anything.’ That was the response.”
When police questioned her the following week, Fracier said she lied and only told police about the night when she was subpoenaed in November. She was given immunity from firearm, drug and accessory charges for cooperating with that subpoena.
The three suspects were arraigned Dec. 22. Brown and Jones are being held in the Ingham County jail without bond. Dabney is being held on a $250,000 cash bond, which is expected to be re-examined today.
