Spelman murder trial: Jury deliberating Saturday

The jury resumed deliberations at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Late Friday afternoon, the jury asked to take a second listen to audio of Atlanta police Detective David Quinn interviewing Benton's aunt, Sheila Kitchens.

In the interview, she told Quinn that she picked Benton up from an area near campus after the incident.

The interview, recorded in October, contradicted the statement she gave from the stand on Thursday in which she denied giving Benton a ride.

An earlier report on AJC.com erroneously stated that Kitchens' statement was the same on the stand and in the recording.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. ordered dinner for the jury around 6 p.m., and suggested they continue deliberations until 8 p.m.

Before Fulton Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. released the jury to deliberations, they heard final arguments calling for them to either convict Benton, or give him justice, as defense attorney Jackie Patterson urged, declaring him innocent.

“Mr. Benton wants you to give him justice,” Patterson told the jury as he gestured to Scales of Justice on the defense table. “There is no way Mr. Benton committed this crime.”

Fulton assistant district attorney Eleanor Ross was nearly choked up as she placed Lynn’s blood-smeared glasses on top of a photo of the slain Spelman College sophomore, displayed for the courtroom from a projector.

“For getting a scholarship, all that hard work paying off … this is what’s left,” This defendant may not have intended to kill Jasmine Lynn on the night of Sept. 3. But when he raised that gun and fired into a crowd, he intended to kill.”

Clinton Lynn, Lynn’s father, told the AJC just after closing arguments that he was satisfied that the assistant DA had proven the case against Benton.

“The prosecutor did a pretty good job,” he said.

Bedford released the jury just after 11 a.m. Friday, with instruction on how to proceed with deliberations.

Benton is being charged with murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a gun during the commission of a felony.

The six men and six women must now wade through two days of testimony, with a host of witnesses who were found to have been untruthful at some point, either during the investigation or on the witness stand.

The 12 must consider the circumstances of the fight that started that early morning on Clark Atlanta University’s campus, and the six shots that police and witnesses said were fired by a man wearing a Mohawk, a red jacket and khaki shorts, who dropped a tan and red book bag as he fled.

Testimony from witnesses of the shooting and the preceding fight were varied, in some cases putting the shooter in a white shirt, dreadlocks, a hoodie or skinny jeans.

But Ross cautioned the jury that different people could see different things, and encouraged them to focus on the “common threads” of the book bag, the Mohawk, and the jacket.

“Don’t think that because very single witness didn’t come in here and tell you the exact same thing that that is reasonable doubt,” she said.

Patterson reminded the jury, however, that several of the state’s witnesses who are Benton’s friends lied.

“None of those individuals told the truth when they were interviewed by police,” he said. “And none of them told you the truth when they were here in court.”

Patterson also suggested that Atlanta police homicide Det. David Quinn and Fulton District Attorney’s investigator Marshall English weren’t completely honest, pointing to lies told when Benton was interrogated and to witness – Brandon Hall – who fingered Benton in a police line up Wednesday from the witness stand.

“Mr. Quinn didn’t tell the DA that Hall knew Devo,” Patterson said. “That detective was participating in a cover-up. That was the most tainted photographic lineup ever.”

Ross discounted Patterson’s accusation, noting that Quinn excluded two other line-up findings from his investigative report because each witness “indicated two possible subjects,” one of which was Benton.

She said Hall’s familiarity with Benton may have actually helped him identify the shooter.

“He said he saw (Benton) earlier, and maybe he recognized him and thought, ‘hey, that guy looks familiar,’” Ross told the jury. “(Hall) was already keyed in on his face and on his features.”

Patterson continued to blame Benton’s friend, Clarence Carter for the shooting, and pleaded with the jury to let his client go free.

“Mr. Benton is asking you to do something he can’t do for himself,” Patterson said. “That is clear his name.”

Lynn’s mother, Constance Franklin, and grandmother, Carolyn Williams, were in tears as Ross completed her summation.

“It’s a miracle that he didn’t kill anyone else,” Ross said to the jury. “Do not let him escape. Do not let him avoid taking responsibility for what he did.”