2:05 p.m.
Prosecutors’ witnesses are testifying this afternoon in a courtroom so packed that some would-be spectators were turned away.
Prosecutors Jeff Bennett and Rebecca Wetzel are building a case that Marcious Cousins, 26, fatally shot Michael Blanchard in the back after Blanchard approached Cousins’ car to find out why people in it were arguing.
Cousins’ lawyer, Andrew Childress, is trying to show that Cousins shot Blanchard in self-defense - Blanchard attacked Cousins as he sat behind the wheel of his car, and Blanchard reached into the waistband of his pants, leading Cousins to think he had a gun, Childress said.
Jury selection took about an hour and a half. The jury is comprised of six men and six women.
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3:00 a.m.
A jury trial is set to begin this morning for an Orange County man charged with murder in the April shooting death of a Lynchburg man in the parking lot of a Candlers Mountain Road hotel.
Marcious Cousins, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Cousins is accused of shooting 24-year-old Michael Blanchard Jr. on April 20 in what has alternately been described in earlier testimony as self-defense and a case of mistaken identity taken too far.
At an August bond hearing, Cousins’ lawyer, Andrew Childress, said his client was only protecting himself. Childress said Blanchard attacked Cousins while he sat behind the wheel of his car.
In an even earlier hearing, two people in Cousins’ car that night testified Blanchard reached into the driver’s window and punched him in the head, then backed away and appeared to be reaching in his pants for a gun.
Witnesses testified Cousins worked at Alliance Industrial Corp. here, that his mother lives in Concord and that he was at the hotel that night to pick up a local high school student he had been dating.
At the same hearing, one of Blanchard’s friends, Charles Scott, testified he flagged down Cousins’ car, mistaking it for a friend’s vehicle.
Scott said the people in the car made a fight out of it. Blanchard came into the lot after the argument had started. As Blanchard approached the car to find out why they were arguing, Scott said, Cousins took a gun from a passenger and shot Blanchard in the back as he tried to run away. Childress hinted there was more to the argument, though. Although Scott denied it, the defense lawyer repeatedly questioned whether Scott and Blanchard were members of a White Rock Hill gang.
Jury selection is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. in Lynchburg Circuit Court. The trial could last two days.
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