Attorneys for two defendants on trial for a triple murder in the Harvard Park neighborhood in 2021 again on Tuesday pressed that stories from a third defendant who pleaded guilty two weeks ago changed as the lead investigator in the case took the stand for a second day.
Attorneys for Kelton Galmore of Jacksonville and Larry McClain Jr. of Springfield did not put on any witnesses after the prosecution rested its case. Both declined to take the stand when asked by Presiding Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin.
Galmore and McClain could face 45 years to natural life behind bars on each count and mandatory life if convicted on two or more first-degree murder counts. Any sentence would have to be served at 100%.
More: Man shot after doing donuts, driving recklessly in Springfield, police say
Closing arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday before the case goes to the seven-man, five-woman jury.
Savante English, 27, and Keyera Gant, 25, of Springfield, and Bryant K. Williams, 27, of Houston, Texas, were all fatally shot in a house in the 2500 block of South 10th Street on Aug. 9, 2021.
English and Williams, a budding rapper in the Houston area who went by the name BK Yola , were childhood friends in Springfield. Williams was scheduled to return to Texas the day of the murder.
English and Gant were cousins.
Attorneys Monroe McWard and Mark Wykoff again tried to bring into question the believability of Joseph Hembrough's testimony.
Hembrough, who like Galmore and McClain was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, pleaded guilty on the eve of the trial and was sentenced to 20 years in the Department of Corrections.
Hembrough testified against Galmore and McClain on Friday, but had been cautioned that the plea could be revoked if he wasn't being truthful.
Springfield Police Det. Ryan Maddox, the case agent, testified that he interviewed Hembrough three times and confirmed that Hembrough initially told him that he wasn't present for the shooting and robbery, though he provided Maddox a blow-by-blow detail.
During a Feb. 22, 2022, interview, Maddox said Hembrough's story changed "somewhat," though he admitted to being present at the scene.
Asked by McWard, Galmore's attorney, if it was fair to say that Hembrough "lied," Maddox said he was "forthcoming but minimized his involvement."
"There were some inconsistencies?" McWard asked.
"Yes," Maddox responded.
Some of those inconsistencies, McWard and Wykoff said, centered around the amount of drugs taken in the robbery at the 10th Street house the night of the murders, who the Mercury Milan used by Hembrough belonged to, the identity of a gray satchel at the crime scene and about Hembrough seeing Gant that night.
Pressed by McWard, Maddox said he couldn't recall if Hembrough said "something to the effect that he wasn't going to spend the rest of his life in jail."
Maddox testified to obtaining digitial images from Hembrough's garage after he was evicted from his home in January 2022. Timestamps showed that the Mercury Milan Hembrough used was not in the garage at the time of the crime.
On cross, McWard continued to insist that the crime scene was "compromised or disturbed" for a full 12 hours before police arrived and that witness Letravian Medley of Springfield was in the house twice and "might have" touched two of the victims.
Another Springfield Police Det. Jason Sloman testified earlier that Medley was in the house earlier.
Maddox admitted the scene was "open."
McClain was identified as being at a one-year Celebration of Life for De’Arius Equan Jones and at an after-party at the 10th Street home, both on Aug. 8, 2021. Maddox confirmed that a print from McClain was lifted from a glass jar that contained cannabis used at the party.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Investigator: 'Inconsistencies' in statements given by murder defendant who pleaded guilty
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