Khyree Thompson
Verronta Page
Tabitha GarrisonKhyree Thompson fired two rounds into Reginald Ballard, showed no remorse, and then told acquaintances on a cold February car ride that he would "do his 20 years if they catch me," one of them testified Wednesday in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
On the second day of Thompson's murder trial, prosecutors called Verronta Page, who said he, Thompson and Tabitha Garrison planned to rob Ballard of $4,000 he received in tax returns.
Page said he and Thompson armed themselves with two handguns and got a friend to drive them to the Cascades Motel, where Garrison had instructed them to go through a series of text messages on Feb. 19, 2015.
When they arrived, she was sitting on a curb outside room 48, Page said. Earlier that Feb. 19 night, Garrison had left a party in Dayton, Tenn., with Ballard, who expressed his desire to "spend some money on her," prosecutors said. They booked the room together.
Garrison led them upstairs and knocked on the door. "[Ballard] says, 'Who is it?'" Page recalled. "Tabitha says, 'It's me.' She goes in, but leaves the door cracked just a pinch."
Taking the cue, Thompson rushed into the room, Page said, immediately pointing his 9 mm pistol at Ballard's face.
"Thompson was saying, 'Get the money, little homie,'" Page told jurors. "I get scared, spooked. I didn't want to do it no more. I could see them fighting for the gun, so I run out."
Page wasn't in the room when the shots were fired, but "it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he [Thompson] done."
"Did you ever fire your [.45-caliber pistol]?" prosecutor Cameron Williams asked.
"No," Page said.
Rex Sparks, a defense attorney for Thompson, previously told jurors to deeply examine everyone's motives for testifying. He questioned Page's involvement Wednesday, suggesting Page pulled the trigger, not Thompson.
"Isn't it true that you went in and shot Reginald Ballard in the chest?" Sparks asked.
"That is not true," Page said.
"You're not above lying to help yourself out?" he asked.
"No, sir," Page said.
"You say at the moment you have not cut a deal with the state," Sparks said.
"That is correct," Page said.
"But in fact," Sparks said, "once you testify today they will offer you a deal."
Page balked, saying he had never been in trouble before this incident.
Hamilton County records show he and Garrison face first-degree felony murder and attempted especially aggravated robbery charges in connection with Ballard's slaying. Although Garrison was also on the state's witness list, she didn't testify Wednesday. Their next court appearance is Nov. 28 before Judge Don Poole.
During his cross-examination, Sparks also asked about Ballard's condition when Page, Garrison and Thompson drove off.
"He was not dead, right?" Sparks asked.
"Correct," Page said.
"You left with your driver and took off," Sparks pointed out. "So we really don't know what happened in between that point and the early morning hours when the hotel owner found Reginald."
Prosecutors called witnesses Tuesday who said the shooting probably happened early on Feb. 20, 2015. A hotel manager noticed an open door to Ballard's room around 7 a.m. that day.
As if to address the defense's point, prosecutors then called James Metcalfe, a medical examiner for Hamilton County.
Metcalfe said Ballard was shot twice: once in the lung, once in the neck. Both shots went straight through the body. The chest shot was fired from six inches away, he said.
"Would it be correct to say the cause of death was internal bleeding from that gunshot wound to the chest?" prosecutor Andrew Coyle asked.
Metcalfe agreed, saying such internal bleeding could cause someone to die in one to two minutes.
Around 3:30 p.m., prosecutors said they were finished presenting their case and officially rested. Judge Poole told Sparks to confer with Thompson about whether he would like to testify as part of his defense.
The trial resumes today in Judge Poole's courtroom at 9:30 a.m.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson @timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.