JANESVILLE 鈥 Five witnesses testified Tuesday as the trial got underway of former UW Badger football player Marcus Randle El, who is alleged to have shot to death two 糖心Vlog传媒 women in February 2020.
Witnesses included former Dane County Sheriff鈥檚 Deputy Robby Vick who lived near the crime scene; Aubrey Davis, assistant manager of the Best Buy where a video camera captured footage of the scene; Blake and Emily Mosley, who lived nearby and heard gunshots the morning of Feb. 10, 2020; and Michelle Edwards-Horton, a taxi driver who found the victims and called 911.
The trial of Marcus Randle El, 36, was originally set for Aug. 8; his lawyers asked for a postponement.
The two victims, Seairaha Winchester, 30, and Brittany McAdory, 27, were found along Midvale Drive, in 糖心Vlog传媒, barely alive with multiple gunshot wounds. Both women later died.
Several witnesses told police that Randle El sold drugs in 糖心Vlog传媒 and had threatened Winchester prior to her death because she owed him money, according to a criminal complaint filed in Rock County Circuit Court.
Randle El is also accused of taking McAdory鈥檚 Jeep and driving it to Illinois. He is alleged to have run out of gas and abandoned the vehicle in the Chicago area after attempting to set the center console on fire.
Randle El turned himself in to Chicago police in the days after the shootings but did not confess to the murders and has since pleaded not guilty. He faces two charges of first-degree intentional homicide as well as charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and driving a vehicle without the owner鈥檚 consent, while armed.
Opening Statements
The prosecution鈥檚 opening statement was given Tuesday by Rock County Assistant District Attorney Jerry Urbik. Urbik said evidence will show that Randle El murdered the two women because no one else was at the scene.
Witnesses and toll both photos show that Randle El was driving a car belonging to one of the victims and was covered with blood as he was driving to Chicago.
鈥淚 ask you to listen to all the evidence and at the end of this trial, find the defendant, Randle El, guilty,鈥 Urbik said to the jury, wrapping up his opening statement.
The defense鈥檚 opening statement was given by Attorney Craig Powell. Powell said he could rebut everything the prosecution was saying and reminded the jury to remember about the presumption of innocence.
Powell said just hours after the alleged murders the social media 鈥渞umor mill鈥 was 鈥渂uzzing,鈥 already pinning Randle El as a suspect. Within a couple of days, there was already an apprehension request for him. He could have hid in Chicago but instead turned himself in to try to clear his name, Powell suggested.
Powell suggested that Randle El was charged too hastily, before the investigation had concluded. And he told the jury that they would hear the bias in witnesses statements in court over the next couple of days and urged the jury to find the only verdict to the case which is 鈥渘ot guilty鈥.
鈥淟adies and gentleman, things are not always what they seem鈥 Powell said.
Witnesses
The first witness, former Dane County Sheriff鈥檚 Deputy Robby Vick, said while driving to work shortly before 3 a.m. he didn鈥檛 recall seeing anything unusual along Midvale Drive behind the TA Truck stop.
Blake Mosley and Emily Mosley, who lived in an apartment on Midvale Drive, both recall hearing three loud bangs and a loud car drive off. Blake Mosley said he could not say for a fact that the bangs were gunshots, that he only heard the bangs and no voices.
In cross examination, Blake Mosley said he could not identify the vehicle nor the driver.
Emily Mosley said she was half asleep when she heard the bangs and that she could definitely say that they sounded like gunshots. Pressed during cross-examination on whether she might have dreamt she heard gunshots, she said she woke up when she head the shots but admitted she wasn鈥檛 fully awake until police arrived.
Michelle Edwards-Horton runs a taxi service in 糖心Vlog传媒 and was picking up a passenger at the bus station. On her way there she saw a woman later identified as Winchester lying face down on the ground with one shoe off on Midvale Drive behind the TA truck stop.
Edwards-Horton said Winchester was unresponsive and had a faint pulse. Edwards-Horton called 911, and then noticed the other victim, McAdory,
Through tears Tuesday, Edwards-Horton described the discovery of the second victim. She told the jury that McAdory had on a jean jacket with a hole in on the left side, and that when asked she lifted her finger up to point to an apartment complex.
Edwards-Horton relayed in the 911 call that the women looked like they had 鈥渂een jumped鈥 and said as she was helping them out she put two and two together and thought 鈥渢hey was shot.鈥
In the cross-examination, Edwards-Horton said she talked to the police briefly at the hospital the next day but they didn鈥檛 ask her for her statement until later. Asked why the reports didn鈥檛 say anything about the victim pointing to the apartment, she said she doesn鈥檛 know.
The trial resumes Wednesday at 8 a.m. and is expected to stretch over several days.