Jury to decide fate of Chester teen Friday

Winnsboro, S.C. — After three days of testimony, a jury of ten women and two men will decide whether or not to convict 19-year-old Chris Moore of murder.

Moore is charged with the murder of Chester city councilman Odell Williams, 69.    Williams was shot in the head on November 4, 2014 while he was pursuing Moore and four others after they had parked suspiciously outside of his business.

According to deputies, the five co-defendants had been sitting around smoking marijuana, and decided to grab their guns and rob a person who owed them drug money.   The person they intended to rob wasn't home, so they walked back to a pickup they had parked outside Williams' concrete business.

Williams followed them as they left, and once the suspects knew they were being followed they took off, making several turns and racing through Chester, running a stop sign, and flying over railroad tracks.  Several co-defendants said they were going very fast, possibly up to 70 miles an hour, yet Willliams continued to chase them.  All of them denied having any idea who was following them in the car.

Moore and co-defendants testified that Williams fired at them first. Moore took the stand Thursday and said he fired back only to protect himself.

"I thought my life was in danger, so I shot back," Moore said.   All five people in the fleeing truck were armed with guns.  Moore had an assault rifle with a 30-round clip.

At one point he got out of the truck, fell into the road and said his gun went off accidentally.  Then as he saw Williams was still coming toward him in his Cadillac, he opened fire while running away.

Moore said he was firing the gun behind his back, not aiming at the car.  Yet six bullets struck Williams' car, and one hit him in the head, killing him.

Earlier Thursday, prosecutors played a video clip of an interview a Chester county sheriff's detective did with Moore from jail after he was charged with murder.

At the time, Moore told the detective he had nothing to do with Williams' death.

"I swear, I swear, I swear I was not even there. I know nothing about this," you can hear him say during the interview.

Only minutes after the tape was played for the jury, Moore took the stand in his own defense and said just the opposite.  He admitted lying to police because he was scared.

"I didn't want a murder charge," he said.

The trial was moved from Chester to Winnsboro because it was such a high profile case.   The jury has heard from all but one of the five people in the truck the night of the shooting.

Forensic experts, deputies, sled agents, and neighbors who heard shots have also testified, along with members of Odell Williams' family.

Moore could spend life in prison if he's convicted of murder.  Before the trial began, his defense lawyer William Frick filed a motion claiming that Moore's actions fell under the state's 'stand your ground" law because he fired at Williams to protect himself.  Circuit judge Paul Burch denied that motion and allowed the trial to continue.

Sheriff's deputies have alleged that all five suspects are known gang members.   This week, Frick also asked that the word "gang' not be used during the trial.

The judge granted that motion, and the jury did not hear about gangs, gang names or affiliations.

Cox Media Group