Jury selection begins for Marsean and Patrick Macon...

Jury selection begins in homicide case
Jury selection began today in a trial of three men charged with the deadly gang-related shooting last year of Edward Griffin at a San Bernardino stoplight.

The three defendants - Patrick Shaun Macon, Marsean Macon and Norris Anthony Crawford - appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court as trial proceedings got under way.

Lawyers anticipate opening statements and testimony could begin next week.

San Bernardino Police say a vehicle pulled up to a red light on Feb. 9, 2007, at Ninth Street and Medical Center Drive, and another car stopped behind it.

Someone got out of the second car, walked up to the first car and fired several shots before fleeing, police said.

Officers in the area heard the gunshots at 9:08 p.m. and saw the suspects' car leaving the scene. Officers caught up with them and took three men into custody.

Two men inside the first car were struck by the gunfire. Griffin, 20, of San Bernardino, was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he died. The second man was also taken to the hospital and survived.

Patrick Macon, 28, Marsean Macon, 35, and Crawford, 29, were charged with murder and attempted murder, according to court records.

Police say Griffin was also involved in a drive-by shooting that left a man severely wounded in January 2007 on West Alturas Street, in San Bernardino. Griffin was reportedly with Keith Slaughter, who was recently convicted as the driver in that shooting.

All three are scheduled to appear in court this morning at 10 AM as jury selection continues.

Yeah I read this in the papers yesterday.

SAN BERNARDINO - The gang member convicted of shooting 14-year-old Jarred Mitchell two years ago was sentenced today to nearly three centuries in state prison.

Judge Ronald Christianson sentenced Keith Slaughter Jr. to 201 years and eight months to life on seven of the counts and 94 years on 11 other counts, at a hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Christianson denied a motion for a new trial filed by Slaughter's lawyer James Michael Dorn.

Family members for Mitchell said they were pleased the case was over.

A seven-woman, five-man jury found Slaughter guilty in April of 18 of the 20 counts against him.

Jarred was shot as he danced and hung out with friends on West Home Avenue in May 2006. A young woman tried unsuccessfully to pull him to safety inside her car when gunfire erupted, according to court testimony.

Slaughter's wife, Angelique McBride, said she didn't believe the defendant received a fair trial and said he did not kill Mitchell.

Slaughter, 20, was also ordered to pay $7,500 restitution to the victim's restitution fund. Dorn confirmed that he will file paperwork to appeal the trial's outcome.

SAN BERNARDINO - Prosecutors described last year's deadly shooting of 20-year-old Edward Griffin as gang "payback" when the trial got under way Monday for three men charged with the slaying.

The three defendants - Patrick Shaun Macon, Marsean Lamont Macon and Norris Anthony Crawford - were in a red Saturn that pulled up to a car containing Griffin and another man at a Westside intersection Feb. 9, 2007, prosecutors said.

Gunshots were fired into the victim's vehicle, killing Griffin and wounding the other man. Unbeknownst to the suspects, police were nearby on an unrelated traffic stop.

"The police officers heard the gunfire, and were on the scene immediately," Deputy District Attorney Lisa Rogan told jurors during her opening statement Monday.

After a short chase, the two passengers in the vehicle jumped out the car near 29th and E streets, police said. The Saturn's driver, Marsean Macon, traveled south on E Street for another 200 to 300 yards and then stopped for police.

Defense lawyer James Gass told jurors, during his opening statement, that Griffin had been trying to make a name for himself and gain a reputation.

"Everyone knew Edward Griffin was driving around shooting people," said Gass, who represents Patrick Macon. "But nothing had been done about it."

Macon was receiving threats from a street gang after his friend, 24-year-old William Sessions, was shot and killed in July 2004, the defense lawyer said.
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Sessions died from gunshots after two men walked up to him in a courtyard grass area at a 19th Street housing complex.

Gass said his client shot his gun, under threats, in self-defense. Jurors would see Griffin's shooting was justifiable homicide, he said.

Lawyer Ralph Harrison said there was no evidence or testimony that a car pulled up behind a car carrying the victims at Ninth Street and Medical Center Drive on the night of Griffin's shooting.

Harrison, who represents driver Marsean Macon, also said there was no evidence of an agreement to shoot anyone, he said.

"None. Zip. Zilch. Zero," Harrison said in court during his opening statement.

Both Harrison and Gass denied their clients were gang members.

Harrison also disputed the police version of events after the shooting. Once police targeted the Saturn, Marsean Macon drove about 100 feet when the two passengers got out, he said.

Crawford's lawyer, Denise McLaughlin, declined to give an opening statement at the start of the trial.

About two days before Griffin's death, he and another man, Keith Slaughter Jr., fired gunshots at and wounded a man on West Alturas Street, near Medical Center Drive, police say.