Trial set for second of four brothers in 2007 killing|[05/13/08]
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The second of four brothers to be tried for killing a 25-year-old Vicksburg man is expected to stand trial in June.
Matthew NashMatthew Nash, 29, brother of 30-year-old Anthony Trevillion, who was found guilty in April and sentenced to life in prison plus 53 years, is scheduled to face prosecution in the Warren County Circuit Court June 23.
Those waiting to be tried are Nash, brothers Armond, 28, and Alonzo Trevillion, 35, and Rufus Armstrong, 32. The five reportedly went to 1224 Grammar St. at about 3 a.m. on June 17, 2007, following a confrontation with Justin Maurice Harris at a downtown club, and some fired shots into the home, killing Harris, who was 25.
According to various testimony given during Anthony’s trial, the defendant and Harris were fathers of children by the same woman.
All five were charged and later indicted for murder, two counts of aggravated assault, shooting into an occupied dwelling and felony possession of a weapon.
Following a three-day trial that ended April 16, Circuit Judge Frank Vollor imposed the statutorily required life sentence for murder for Anthony Trevillion and later added the 53 years to run consecutively based on the additional verdicts. The life term means Trevillion is not eligible for parole until he’s 65. The 53-year sentence will start then.
District Attorney Ricky Smith said the same sentence will be sought for all defendants.
“While not all did the shooting, each played a role in the fatal crime,” Smith said. “Whether one defendant just drove them to the location or another just provided the weapon, none of that matters. All acted in concert and each should be held equally accountable.”
According to police, two guns were used in the crime – a 12-guage shotgun and an AK-47 assault rifle. It was the AK-47 that Dr. Steven Hayne, a pathologist with the Mississippi State Crime Lab who testified during the trial, said killed Harris. While testifying at his trial, Anthony Trevillion admitted going to Grammar Street with the others and firing the 12-gauge shotgun into the home.
Trevillion said it was a friend from New Orleans, whom he identified only as “Killer C,” who fired the AK-47. No such person is believed to exist, police said. An appeal notice has been filed.
Two days after last month’s trial, Trevillion’s sister, Aletha Trevillion, 33, 1310 China St. Apt. B,, was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly threatening a witness who testified in her brother’s trial. She was arrested again eight days later and accused of stabbing a man in the back.
Twelve years ago, Anthony and Armond Trevillion, along with two other men, were indicted on two counts of murder for the deaths of Nathan Carson Jr., 26, and Frederick Freeman, 19, who were shot to death Aug. 18, 1996, outside the former River City Cabaret at Mulberry and Levee streets. Anthony was 19.
One of the other co-defendants took blame for the killing and murder charges. The teens were convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to 15 years in prison.