The trial opened Tuesday in the case of Charles Jones and Chauncey Owens, two adults who are charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of 17-year-old Je’Rean Blake outside a party store on Mack Avenue in Detroit in 2010.
That homicide led to the death of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who died accidentally in a subsequent police raid on a home where Jones, Aiyana's father, was believed to be staying.
According to a story by Elisha Anderson in the Free Press, Assistant Prosecutor Mark Hindelang told two juries hearing the joint trial in Wayne County Circuit Court today that Owens got into a confrontation with Blake and told him: “Stay right here. I’ve got something for you.”
Owens is accused leaving and returning to the scene a few minutes later in an SUV and shooting him with a silver revolver. Prosecutors contend Jones provided the gun.
“I don’t think it’s as simple as the prosecution painted it to you,” Owens’ attorney, David Cripps, said.
“The evidence is going to fall incredibly short of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Jones’ defense attorney Leon Weiss said.
