Mississippi wife testifies she saw teen kill her husband

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October 28, 2009

Anonymous The Meridian Star Wed Oct 28, 2009, 11:29 PM CDT

PASCAGOULA (AP) — A Hattiesburg woman testified Wednesday that she saw a young man shoot her husband last year when the couple stopped for directions at a Moss Point gas station.

Linda and Michael David Porter had gotten lost going to their grandson’s football game.

Linda Porter testified during the capital murder trial of 16-year-old Darwin M. Wells, one of four teens accused in the Oct. 23, 2008 shooting death. Wells is the first to go on trial.

Linda Porter said her husband got out of the car and was approached by three young men in the parking lot. She said she saw one of the young men, with a white towel over his head, fire a shot. She did not identify him.

‘‘He just points and shoots and glass shatters,’’ Linda Porter told jurors, according to WLOX-TV.

She recalled that her husband told her: ‘‘’Baby I’m shot. They got me. Call 911.’’’

The Hattiesburg American reported that jurors also saw a videotaped statement Wednesday from Wells, who is accused of pulling the trigger. He told police days after the shooting that he only asked Michael Porter for $1 because he was thirsty.

Wells testified that he repeated his request because he thought Porter didn’t hear it. He said Porter opened the car door to try to get away.

‘‘I guess by me being behind him he got scared,’’ Wells said in the video. ‘‘I said, ’Wait, wait, wait, I was just asking for a dollar.’’’

Wells said in the videotape he had a gun in his pocket but he thought it was jammed. The teen testified he pulled out the gun ‘‘and then it went off.’’

Wells later told police that the gun was at his grandmother’s home in Moss Point. Police went to the home and found a .38-caliber revolver under the sofa.

Also charged with capital murder in the slaying were 15-year-old Terry Hye Jr., 14-year-old Tevin James Benjamin and 17-year-old Alonzo Kelly, all of Moss Point.

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