CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A judge said he would not dismiss the second-degree murder charge against Kenan Gay Thursday morning, and that it would be up to the jury to decide in the Dilworth bar murder trial.
Judge Don Bridges said Wednesday that he would take the night to decide on the charge after prosecutors wrapped up their evidence against Gay in the 2012 death of Rob Kingston, 30.
On Thursday, Elizabeth Wicker Gay was the first on the stand for the defense. She broke down while talking about Kenan. "We share a passion for life," she said.
Wicker Gay described the moment when Kingston approached her in the bar.
"The hairs on the back of my neck just stood straight up. I was very uncomfortable," she said about the advances of Kingston. "He tried to kiss me. I just froze. I was in a complete state of shock."
Wicker Gay tearfully said she did not see what happened outside Ed's Tavern before Kingston was hit. "I was just standing there shaking. I could barely stand up," she described.
On Wednesday, prosecutors called two more witnesses who testified that they saw Gay push Kingston out of Ed's Tavern and onto Park Road just after 10:30 p.m. on March 3, 2012.
A woman and her husband told jurors separately that they were standing outside Ed's Tavern when they saw two men they did not know — Gay and Kingston — come out of the bar and that Gay pushed Kingston into the road, where he was hit by a car moments later.
Kingston's blood alcohol level was later found to be .29 — more than three times the legal limit — and one of the witnesses said he saw Kingston "stumble" into the road — a claim that Gay's defense attorneys have made as they say his death was a "tragic accident."
Both witnesses told jurors that Gay ran from the scene moments later, and prosecutors also called a man who was in the bar and ran after Gay and caught him behind a nearby home.
The man told jurors that Gay told him he never intended for Kingston to be killed.
That was one of the reasons that Gay's defense team asked the judge to dismiss the second-degree murder charge, and after hearing arguments from both sides, the judge said he would consider the issue overnight and rule Thursday morning.
If he did throw the charge out, Gay would have still faced voluntary manslaughter or manslaughter charges.
Gay has not commented during the trial, and on Wednesday Gay's attorney, David Rudolf, said his client is feeling the pressure.
"Obviously there's of stress right now. It's not easy but I think he's holding up as well as he could," Rudolf said.
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Defense says man's death outside Dilworth bar was accident, not murder