‘Who was robbing who?’ Defense tries to flip script in Columbus gun sale murder trial

A Columbus murder trial could become a question of who robbed who as a defense attorney tries to flip the script on a 2020 homicide involving a proposed gun sale.

Ty’Shaun Quintavious Sylvester and Jessie Lee Harper are accused of shooting 20-year-old Quincy Atkins in the back as Atkins tried to drive away from an armed robbery on April 18, 2020.

The pair also robbed two friends who were with Atkins, but they escaped unharmed, prosecutor Sadhana Dailey said during the trial’s opening statements Tuesday.

She said Atkins and his friends took Atkins’ Dodge Charger to meet Sylvester at a vacant house on Cusseta Road to buy a Draco, a semi-automatic firearm made in Romania, similar to an AK-47. The gun had been advertised for sale on Facebook, she said.

Sylvester was holding the Draco when he met them, and Harper also was armed as the pair ordered the trio to surrender their valuables, Dailey said.

They took a gun from Atkins, a cell phone from Atkins’ friend Anthony McGhee, and a gold chain from the third victim, Dwayne Johnson, she said. McGee and Johnson were ordered to get out of the car, she said.

She said one of the suspects then asked, “Where’s the rest of it?” Atkins responded, “In the trunk,” to get the suspects to move to the back of his Dodge, she said.

When they opened the trunk, Atkins tried to speed away as Sylvester and Harper opened fire on the Dodge, she said. Atkins traveled a short distance before crashing into a house and bleeding to death, Dailey said.

The others ran away, she said.

Prosecutors played 911 recordings from passersby reporting the shooting around 5 p.m. A woman calling in said that she saw a man shooting as a car raced away, and that parents with small children were nearby. She could be overheard comforting her child, saying, “It’s OK.”

She told a dispatcher, “My son seen the whole thing. He’s 6 years old.”

A male caller reported hearing eight shots, at the scene near Betjeman Drive, and said a man was down on the ground there.

Dailey told jurors that on the following April 28, police looking for Harper and Sylvester saw them traveling in a Jeep Patriot, and tried to pull it over. The pair abandoned the Jeep in the road and ran away, but police searching the vehicle found Atkins’ gun inside, she said.

She said Sylvester discarded a backpack that had two guns inside it, but the weapons used to shoot Atkins were never recovered.

Both suspects were captured in May 2020.

Defense responds

Sylvester’s attorney William Kendrick told jurors the defendants were the victims of the robbery, asking, “Who was robbing who?”

He claimed Atkins and his associates were setting up Sylvester and Harper to be robbed, luring them with the promise of selling the Draco.

He said Jackson contacted Sylvester via Facebook about buying the gun, but Jackson did not show up for their initial meeting, only Atkins and McGhee. So Sylvester backed out, contacting Jackson to ask what was up, he said.

That led to a second meeting with all five men present, where they haggled over the gun’s price before the shooting began, he said. He claimed Sylvester and Harper were the ones who were shot at first.

He said shell casings found at the scene were from a 9-millimeter pistol, the kind of gun Atkins had. The Draco fires a 7.62-millimeter bullet, he said.

Harper is represented by public defender Sirena Saunders, who said her client was not involved in any of the communications related to the gun sale. She told jurors not to blame Harper for any evidence that incriminates only Sylvester.

She suggested that as jurors listen to the testimony, they ask themselves, “Does this story make sense?”

Sylvester and Harper both are 26 now. Besides murder, they face charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault, using a gun to commit a crime, obstructing police and being convicted felons with firearms.

Sylvester has a June 3, 2016, conviction for first-degree burglary, and Harper was convicted December 18, 2019, for selling marijuana, according to their indictment.

If convicted of murder, they each face life in prison.