Here's what prosecutors believe happened to Jeremy Clark:
On July 29, the 28-year-old went to JJ's Lounge on Glass Street. He chatted with a few friends, walked over to the driver's side of a white Dodge Challenger around 1 a.m., and was then shot to death by Adrian Nixon for allegedly murdering a rival gang member earlier that month.
Adrian Darnell NixonIt made sense, prosecutor Cameron Williams said Tuesday in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.
Clark was a validated member of the Gangster Disciples, he said. Clark was also the primary suspect in the homicide of Alex Freeman, a 28-year-old man shot to death on Woodmore Lane on July 5. Inside the vehicle Nixon drove on July 29, investigators found a brochure for Freeman's funeral. Plus, if Nixon's story was true, and another man had reached through the passenger window and opened fire on Clark that night, investigators would have found shell cases inside the car.
"Not outside on the ground," Williams said to Judge Clarence Shattuck. "Mr. Nixon states that someone pointed a gun through the passenger window, fired multiple shots, and that just does not jive with forensic evidence."
Shattuck ultimately sent Nixon's criminal homicide, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, and firearm possession charges to the grand jury. He also sliced Nixon's total bond in half to $250,000.
During the hearing, defense attorney Bill Speek argued prosecutors never proved his client's motivation.
"He is not a validated gang member," Speek said of Nixon. "It doesn't even make sense that he would drive in here and shoot somebody. There's cameras, people walking around. But the irony is, those cameras and people don't even say he did it."
Speek said the state called four eyewitnesses, and none of them could definitively say Nixon had a gun or fired it. One witness said he didn't see anybody in the front seat with Nixon, but he couldn't be sure.
Patrick Brown, one of Nixon's cousins, said he walked to JJ's Lounge that night, saw Nixon's car and walked over to say hello. When Clark, also known as "Blue" came up, Brown said he turned away to let them talk but stayed nearby.
There was no cussing, no arguing, Brown said.
"You're 18 inches from Mr. Nixon," Speek asked. "Did you see him with a gun in his hand? Did you see him act like he had a gun in his hand? Did you see Adrian Nixon shoot Mr. Blue?"
Brown said no to every question.
After the shots, Brown said he ran away and had a friend pick him up. When Williams, the prosecutor, asked who that friend was, Brown wouldn't say.
Nixon also left the scene, witnesses said.
Then, at some point in the next 24-hour window, Brown said he met with Nixon and that friend before heading into the Chattanooga Police Department's service center on Amnicola Highway. But his statements to police didn't match up to his testimony in court, Williams said.
"I'm glad I'm not sitting on a jury at this point," Shattuck said. "But what bothers me is, somebody reached through, shot, and there's no shells in the vehicle whatsoever. It bothers me, too, that [Nixon] didn't stay there and say, 'Look, look at my car right now. I had nothing to do with this.' I wish [Nixon] had stayed there. I wish Patrick had stayed there."
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.