Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Wednesday in the case of a Marine accused of fatally stabbing a Rice University basketball player behind a Northgate bar.
Testimony came to an end in the trial of Ronald Andrew Johnson Jr. on Tuesday morning after prosecutors closed their case and defense attorneys notified the court that they wouldn't call any witnesses -- choosing instead to hang their case on their cross-examination of the state's witnesses and the belief that prosecutors didn't sufficiently prove that their client is guilty.
Closing arguments will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday in the 361st District Court. Jurors must then decide whether Johnson's killing of Jonathan Bailey was murder or an act of defense.
Johnson's team of three lawyers has essentially ceded the fact that he stabbed Jonathan Bailey, as well as his twin brother Janson Bailey, during a fight outside the V-Bar in April 2007. They have suggested, however, that the stabbings were in defense of his "Marine brother," Michael Fuller, who they say was savagely beaten by the Bailey twins and their friends.
Janson Bailey suffered a punctured lung and a deep gash in his side from the stab wounds he received.
Defense attorneys displayed for jurors pictures of Fuller in a hospital bed with his eyes swollen shut the day after the fight. At least five friends of the Bailey twins testified that they hit or kicked Fuller in the face during the night of the fight.
Fuller would have been killed if Johnson hadn't stepped in, he told jurors on Monday.
Prosecutors have dismissed that explanation, suggesting that most of the beating Fuller received came after Johnson had already stabbed the twins. But no witnesses who testified during the five-day trial said they actually saw Johnson stab the two men.
Assistant District Attorneys Jarvis Parsons and Brian Blake spent Tuesday morning calling police officers who worked the crime scene in the aftermath of the stabbing. They showed a video of Johnson and Fuller stumbling away from the scene and displayed the two men's bloody clothes confiscated by investigators a few days later.
The stabbing came in the final of three fights -- only one of which involved Johnson and Jonathan Bailey. Janson Bailey and Fuller were the key actors in the two other fights, witnesses said.
According to testimony, Fuller and Janson Bailey first fought inside the V-Bar after Fuller thought Janson Bailey was "humping" his leg while he waited at the bar to buy a drink.
Fuller was kicked out of the bar, Janson Bailey followed him outside and they had another fight in the street, witnesses said.
After the second fight, Fuller thought his driver's license and debit card had been stolen. With Johnson at his side, Fuller chased down Janson Bailey as he walked to his car, Fuller testified.
Jonathan Bailey and a group of Janson Bailey's friends -- many of whom are muscular men -- then joined the fight.
No one other than Johnson has been charged with a crime related to the fights. Janson Bailey testified that he received a letter from the Brazos County District Attorney's Office a few months after the incident telling him that they had ruled out any charges against him. Fuller said in court that prosecutors offered him immunity prior to his testimony last week, but he turned it down because he didn't believe he did anything wrong.
Fuller said he still has double vision from the blows to the head he received that night but has served his fourth term in Iraq since the incident.
Janson Bailey has recovered from his stab wounds and now works as a teacher at Beaumont Westbrook High School.
Closing arguments were initially planned for Tuesday afternoon but were pushed back because of issues with the charge provided to jurors.
"I don't want you all to get this case late in the afternoon," District Judge Steve Smith told the jurors. "I want you to be fresh when you hear the arguments. This is an important case for everyone involved."
RSS
Mobile
Daily Emails
Twitter
Facebook
