A gun found at Providence Urgent Care is the latest evidence in the murder trial of Aaron Hobson, cousin to MU football player Trey Hobson, who was killed during MU’s 2010 Homecoming weekend.
Hobson was killed in the parking lot of Break Time convenience store on Nifong Boulevard during an alleged robbery on Oct. 23, 2010.
Lee Carter, one of eight co-defendants charged with the robbery and murder, testified in defense of Tony Lewis on Thursday. Lewis was charged with second-degree robbery and second-degree murder in Hobson’s murder.
Carter is currently serving a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree robbery and armed criminal action. During his testimony, Carter said he was involved in the altercation that broke out shortly before Hobson was shot.
During his original hearing, Carter told the court he acted with Lewis to commit the robbery that ultimately lead to Hobson’s murder.
When he was put on the stand by the defense Wednesday, he had a different story.
“I said what my attorneys told me to say in order to get the plea deal (of second-degree robbery and armed criminal action),” he said. “(The police) told me I would have been charged with murder if I didn’t take the (plea) deal, so I did.”
Since his sentencing, Carter has changed his original testimony, saying Lewis was not involved in any robbery or murder that occurred that night.
The defense also called witness Charles Bowers, a friend of Lewis, who heard gunshots while he was outside of the Peachtree Catering and Banquet Center. Once he heard shots fired, Bowers said he got out of his pickup truck and ran to Hobson’s car, which hit a curb shortly after he was shot.
“He was slumped over in his seat, he was leaning over the passenger seat and his eyes had rolled to the back of his head,” Bowers said. “He kept saying ‘it hurts, it hurts.’”
The prosecution said Hobson became a target to robbery when he pulled into the Break Time parking lot while holding $204 in $1 bills. Witnesses say Hobson was approached because of the money and brought to the back of his car, where a gun was pointed at his head by Daron Peal, who has already plead guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree robbery. The prosecution said Hobson was able to get back into his car, where he was shot.
Surveillance video from Break Time shown in the courtroom Tuesday confirms this version of events. But Lewis’ defense said Lewis doesn’t even know six of the seven co-defendants and wasn’t involved in the case.
“Tony Lewis didn’t shoot Aaron Hobson,” Lewis’ attorney Jennifer Bukowsky said as she placed her hand on Lewis’ shoulder during opening statements Tuesday. “He didn’t touch Aaron Hobson. When he is not with his family in Boonville, you can find him at the local bowling alley. He wasn’t involved.”
Lewis was arrested in November 2010 and charged with the murder and robbery along with six other co-defendants. Seven defendants have plead guilty, and one has gone to trial and been convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree robbery. Jerel Bryant, who was found with the murder weapon in Decatur, Ill., was never charged in connection to the case and is serving a two-year prison sentence for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in Illinois.
Haley Saalborn, a registered nurse at Providence Urgent Care, which is 300 feet from the crime scene, also testified Thursday saying she found a gun similar to the murder weapon, a 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun, near a sign advertising the business while she was picking up trash around the property. The defense team claims this could actually be the murder weapon and was discarded by one of Hobson’s friends immediately following the murder.
The trial is likely to continue through Saturday.
Angie Andera contributed to this story.