Closing arguments begin in murder trial of Roderick Bates and Emmett Jones

photo Emmett "D Baby" Jones and Roderick "Poo Poo" Bates

Lawyers are presenting closing arguments this morning to the jury in a week-long murder trial of two Chattanooga men.

Roderick "Poo Poo" Bates and Emmett "D Baby" Jones, both 27, face a possible life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder and especially aggravated burglary charges.

Prosecutors Lance Pope and Amanda Morrison have argued that Bates and Jones went to the 1644 Greenwood Drive home of Reginald Clark, 37, after Clark and Bates had gotten into a dispute at the Fire and Ice nightclub on Market Street on Oct. 7, 2011.

Witnesses testified during the trial that they couldn't remember many details of the crime. But in the hours following Clark's death multiple witnesses told police that Bates and Jones came into the house and fired on Clark with handguns, killing him.

The jury will begin deliberations after closing arguments conclude.

For more see tomorrow's Times Free Press.

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