Ronald CosperA jury deliberated for more than five hours Monday and did not return a verdict in the felony murder and robbery case of Ronald Cosper.
During a three-day trial, prosecutors painted Cosper, 21, as the mastermind behind a robbery attempt that ended in Steve Mosley’s shooting death in July 2012.
“He’s a murderer,” Assistant District Attorney General Cameron Williams told the jury during closing arguments Friday. “You are sitting in the same room with a murderer.”
The prosecution’s key witness was Dustin Hayes, who testified Thursday that he drove Cosper to Mosley’s North Hawthorne Street home with full knowledge he was armed and meant to rob Mosley, 39. Cosper took a plea deal for facilitation to commit aggravated robbery, a lesser offense, last week. As part of that deal, he agreed to testify against Cosper, and during closing arguments Williams spent time defending that testimony.
“If he’s not telling the truth, the plea agreement is null and void,” Williams said. He also pointed to other testimony that he said corroborated Hayes’ account.
Mosley’s girlfriend, Cheryl Billups, testified that she saw Cosper and co-defendant Devante Stoudemire immediately after the shooting, when Hayes said they went back to check the scene. His neighbor said she heard a scuffle, which prosecutors say preceded the shooting. And forensic evidence, including gunshot residue on Cosper’s shorts and a fingerprint on Mosley’s door frame, also back up what Hayes said, Williams argued.
But Cosper’s attorney, Andrew Basler, said Stoudemire shot Mosley and then he and Hayes conspired to point the finger at Cosper.
“Ronald Cosper is not guilty. He wasn’t framed, but he was blamed by somebody who by his own testimony is a murderer,” Basler said.
Stoudemire is also charged with felony murder, and his case is pending.
Basler argued that Hayes couldn’t be trusted because the “sweetheart deal” offered by prosecutors gave him incentive to lie. Key details in his testimony, like the statement that he and Cosper did a drive-by to scope out Mosley’s home before the robbery, didn’t appear in his statements until last week, Basler said.
Basler also questioned the testimony of Mosley’s neighber, Marquita Swanson, who told jurors she heard a scuffle followed by three shots. That was not evidence of a robbery, Basler said. He instead encouraged the jury to consider lesser sentences, which would be possible if they determined no robbery had occured.
Jurors will return Monday morning to resume deliberations.
Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at cwiseman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.