On the witness stand Monday, Trevone Moore, the key witness is a complex and seemingly murky DeKalb County murder case changed his story again.
The 23-year-old was shot on Sept. 17 in the same shooting that killed his friend Andre Pitts, 22. Initially, Moore and others who'd also been in the car on Old Covington Highway when it was shot up told police they'd just come from a party. Then Moore told Detective W.K. White they made the party up and that Pitts was actually killed because he'd just robbed a "dope house."
But on the witness stand, Moore returned to the initial story, claiming that the police coerced him into telling the robbery story and that he thought they would beat him up.
“They pressured me,” Moore said.
Not true, said the detective.
White said he told Moore he only wanted him to tell the truth, which the detective believes is what Moore finally told him in the story about the robbery, a story Moore also told two other people who came to the police with the information.
Judge Nora Polk wasn’t swayed by Moore’s testimony and allowed the state to continue its case against Moore’s friends, Joshua Johnson, 21, and Djanoi Ramgeet, 20. They are charged with felony murder in Pitts’ death.
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Police allege they are guilty of that crime because they participated in the plan to rob the dope house, which led to his death. Felony murder doesn’t require you to physically kill someone, just commit a crime that leads to their death.
The detective said Moore isn’t charged with felony murder because he hadn’t read Moore his rights before Moore confessed what happened.
Exactly what police believe happened that day is murky because of the varied statements of all the people involved.
The gist is that Pitts, Johnson, Ramgeet and Moore drove to the area of the dope house and parked at a gas station. At least Pitts got out and went to do the robbery (some accounts had Johnson also going to do the robbery) and then those in the car heard gunshots.
Pitts called and had the three come pick him up and, once in the car, said they needed to go.
A tan SUV blocked them in the road and gunshots hailed on their car as two men got out of the SUV.
The alleged robbery crew pulled over and called 911. Pitts was rushed to an Atlanta hospital and was never able to give his side of the story, though police went and tried to interview him.
The detective said he doesn’t know who fired the shots that killed Pitts.
He said Moore, Johnson and Ramgeet haven’t been able to give him a description of the shooters.
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