The adult daughter of the Brunswick woman whose baby was fatally shot earlier this year testified Wednesday she grew suspicious of her mother following a phone call the night of the shooting.
Ashley Glassey, 22, said Sherry West called to ask how long it would take before her baby’s insurer would send her a check.
“The whole conversation didn’t settle well with me,” said Glassey, the first witness called by the defense.
De’Marquise Elkins, charged with shooting 13-month-old Antonio Santiago between the eyes as he sat in his stroller, is on trial in Cobb County along with his mother. Karimah Elkins is accused of lying to police and throwing the .22-caliber handgun used to shoot the toddler into a salt-water pond north of Brunswick.
The trial was moved to Cobb due to the extensive media coverage the case has received.
Defense attorney Kevin Gough, who has said he believes “one or both parents” may have been involved in their son’s death, planted several potential motives.
But jurors heard little of it, as prosecutors objected repeatedly to the personal and, they argued, irrelevant nature of his questions.
“Her statements are bizarre, inexplicable … there was something very wrong with Miss West that day,” Gough said.
Glassey said she felt compelled to call police the next morning to share her concerns.
“I told them I had a conversation with my mom and some of the things she told me didn’t add up. I needed to talk to a detective on the case,” Glassey testified. But she never heard back.from investigators.
“I felt like I got blown off,” she said.
Glassey said West was not pleased when her daughter told reporters about their conversation.
“She was very mad at me,” Glassey said. “That’s the last time we talked.”
On Tuesday, West testified she was certain Elkins, 18, was the killer. But the defense alleged that, when presented an assortment of photographs of Brunswick youths who were not in school that day, West identified Elkins’ alleged accomplice, Dominique Lang.
The state rested Wednesday following more than five days of testimony. Antonio’s father, Louis Santiago, is on the defense’s witness list and is expected to take the stand Thursday. Jurors should receive the case by Friday.
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