MANSFIELD — Austin Jones testified Wednesday that he was defending himself on the night he shot Cedric Daniels in the chest.
Jones, 21, is charged with murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and having a weapon under disability in connection with the shooting death of Daniels on Nov. 3 at 112 Cleveland Ave.
According to the 21-year-old from Decatur, Illinois, he met his girlfriend — Brianna Daniels — in May 2015 when he went to her house to have his hair braided. They dated and he later stayed at her place on 112 Cleveland Avenue.
Other than a few fights and break-ups due to “relationship stuff,” the couple was strong in their feelings toward one another, he said. Jones became friends with Cedric, Brianna’s brother.
On Nov. 3, hours preceding the incident, Jones, Brianna and Cedric had cocaine delivered to the house on Cleveland Avenue, according to Jones’ testimony. The three got high together and then Cedric and Jones decided to go to the American Legion bar on Harmon Avenue.
They stayed at the bar for a while before deciding to pick up Jones’ girlfriend, Brianna.
“I went back to the house to pick her up. We did more cocaine and then went to the bar,” Jones sheepishly said to the jury.
At the bar, the arguments started. Jones said it was because he began having a conversation with another woman. The argument became so abrasive the couple was thrown out of the bar, he said.
Cedric followed his sister and boyfriend out to the parking lot, where more arguing — not fighting, Jones added — happened. The three got in the car to head home.
“But then she jumped out of the car, I think she was going back to the bar,” Jones said. “Me and Ced (Cedric) got out to get her back into the car.”
Jones said they were successful in getting Brianna back into the car, but the arguing continued when they continued driving.
“I didn’t want to argue anymore so I got out of the car to walk home,” Jones said.
He then said Brianna got out as well, but Cedric retrieved her and ultimately they all got back into the car, homeward bound.
When the trio reached home, Jones said he remembers grabbing cigarettes in the car before he walked up the stairs to go to the bathroom.
“I remember there was people outside the house and there was a fight happening at a white car,” he said.
Jones described a house in tumult, the details were sketchy. But he was upstairs, in the bathroom, avoiding Brianna who was now arguing with her mother.
“I was tired of all the yelling and screaming so I went to her (Brianna) bedroom to get away from it,” he said.
His defense attorney, Ralph Bove, asked him what happened next.
“I sat on the wall with my head in my hands and then Cedric came into the room and closed the door,” he answered.
Jones said Cedric asked about the gun.
“He thought it wasn’t safe with everything going on to have a gun in the house so I told him it was under the bed,” Jones said.
When Cedric picked up the gun, Jones said he put it in his waistband and then Brianna burst through the door.
Cedric left the bedroom after some yelling from Brianna, he said. Once Cedric left the room, the couple sat on the bed and Jones lit a cigarette.
“I asked her if she was cool now,” Jones remembered.
Then the argument started again, this time ending in Jones packing his clothes in a duffle bag and Brianna throwing objects across the room.
“Just slinging stuff around,” he said.
Jones said he grabbed her from behind in an effort to calm her down when she screamed for her brother’s help.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt her,” Jones said, pausing between sentences.
Jones said he then opened the door and saw Cedric reaching for the door at the same time. Cedric then punched Jones in the ear, triggering what Jones described as a wrestling match in the upstairs hallway.
The gun fell from Cedric’s waist at one point in the scuffle. Then Jones said he remembers Cedric standing over him with two hands on the gun, pointing it at his face.
“I was scared,” Jones said fighting tears.
Jones said he tried to get the gun from Cedric in a scuffle that caused the gun to fire. He got the gun from Cedric and the two were standing, facing each other in the children’s room, when Cedric charged.
“I didn’t want him to get the gun,” Jones testified. “It all happened very fast. I tried to say ‘stop’ and explaining. I remember shooting twice. I didn’t want to do it.”
In their closing arguments, Bove and Richland County Prosecutor Bambi Couch Page argued whether Jones was defending himself.
Page does not believe Jones was defending himself.
“He said he shot (Cedric) because he didn’t want Cedric to get the gun back,” Page said to the jury. “That’s not a standard of defense.”
Bove insisted Jones did not shoot Cedric with the purpose of killing him.
“The forensics don’t lie. And the forensics are on the side of the defendant,” he said. “Austin is not emotional, but he was sad. He said it himself, it shouldn’t have happened.”
The jury will reconvene at the Richland County Common Pleas court Thursday at 9 a.m. to deliberate the verdict.
