St. Albans man guilty of murder
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A jury found a St. Albans man guilty Monday in the shooting death of a man in North Charleston in 2010.
The Kanawha County jury found Garland Murray, 27, guilty of shooting Gregory Poole three times in the head in April 2010, in a drug-related killing, though prosecutors have not declared a specific motive.
He was also found guilty of burglary and kidnapping charges. The jury recommended mercy in Murray's sentencing.
Late in the evening of April 20, 2010, Poole had just finished watching a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game with his wife when he left his Woodward Drive home to sell drugs to Murray and his brother, Deshawne Taylor, according to Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Erica Lord.
Poole and his wife, Ebony, were on supervised release for federal drug convictions. Gregory Poole dealt mostly with marijuana. Ebony dealt "heavier" drugs like crack and powder cocaine, according to trial testimony.
Ebony Poole was still watching TV when Taylor returned to the home, used Gregory Poole's house key to unlock the door and told her to come with him. After a brief struggle, Ebony fled when she saw that Murray was waiting with her husband in his car outside of the home, apparently threatening him at gunpoint.
According to Lord, Murray and Taylor then forced Gregory Poole to drive them to the area of Second Avenue. A short time later, a woman saw one black man chasing another and called 911 when she heard a gunshot and a man yelling "help me."
Lord said Murray had fired a single shot that hit Poole in the nose and entered his brain. Poole, still attempting to flee, left traces of blood on a car and a fencepost before falling to the ground.
Taylor had also originally been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap. Prosecutors said the investigation showed he was not the gunman.
Reach Travis Crum at travis.c...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A jury found a St. Albans man guilty Monday in the shooting death of a man in North Charleston in 2010.
The Kanawha County jury found Garland Murray, 27, guilty of shooting Gregory Poole three times in the head in April 2010, in a drug-related killing, though prosecutors have not declared a specific motive.
He was also found guilty of burglary and kidnapping charges. The jury recommended mercy in Murray's sentencing.
Late in the evening of April 20, 2010, Poole had just finished watching a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game with his wife when he left his Woodward Drive home to sell drugs to Murray and his brother, Deshawne Taylor, according to Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Erica Lord.
Poole and his wife, Ebony, were on supervised release for federal drug convictions. Gregory Poole dealt mostly with marijuana. Ebony dealt "heavier" drugs like crack and powder cocaine, according to trial testimony.
Ebony Poole was still watching TV when Taylor returned to the home, used Gregory Poole's house key to unlock the door and told her to come with him. After a brief struggle, Ebony fled when she saw that Murray was waiting with her husband in his car outside of the home, apparently threatening him at gunpoint.
According to Lord, Murray and Taylor then forced Gregory Poole to drive them to the area of Second Avenue. A short time later, a woman saw one black man chasing another and called 911 when she heard a gunshot and a man yelling "help me."
Lord said Murray had fired a single shot that hit Poole in the nose and entered his brain. Poole, still attempting to flee, left traces of blood on a car and a fencepost before falling to the ground.
Taylor had also originally been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap. Prosecutors said the investigation showed he was not the gunman.
Reach Travis Crum at travis.c...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.
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