The murder trial of a man accused of robbing and fatally shooting a wedding guest outside an Atlanta event venue four years ago continued Tuesday with the defendant testifying in his own defense.
Jayden Myrick was 17 when Christian Broder, a Washington D.C.- area restaurant manager who was in town for the July 2018 wedding, was shot and killed.
Broder, 34, was standing with his brother and two friends, waiting for an Uber outside the Capital City Country Club, when Myrick and three other teenagers drove up in a stolen Dodge Charger, prosecutors allege.
Myrick is accused of pulling out a 9mm pistol and demanding the group’s cellphones, wallets and purses. After robbing the guests he turned and headed back toward the car, police said.
Broder, who had a 9-month-old daughter and a wife who taught Pre-K, was shot once in the stomach. He died at the hospital nearly two weeks later.
Now 22, Myrick is charged with murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, participating in a criminal street gang and a host of other counts. While four people were charged in the crime, Myrick is the only one currently on trial.
Following the shooting, the victim’s relative picked Myrick out of a six-person lineup and identified him as the shooter, according to prosecutors.
Fellow defendant Torrus Fleetwood, who allegedly drove the car that night, entered an Alford plea last week to charges of armed robbery, voluntary manslaughter and participation in a criminal street gang. In such circumstances, defendants do not admit to being guilty of the crime but instead acknowledge it’s in their best interest to enter a plea.
Fleetwood will be sentenced to 30 years in prison under the deal, but could be eligible for parole sooner after getting credit for time already served, according to his attorney.
Another co-defendant took the stand Monday, telling the jury Myrick was the only person who got out of the car ahead of the deadly shooting. The man, who was 15 at the time, said he was later given $20 of the robbery proceeds.
Superior Court Judge Rachelle Carnesale ordered the media not to use the name or image of that cooperating witness in an effort to protect his identity.
After the shooting, the defendants drove around for a while before going to a Walmart in Morrow, an investigator testified. Jurors were shown surveillance footage of Myrick buying chips and soda at the store about four hours after the shooting.
On the stand, Myrick recounted the events of that evening but denied being at the scene of the robbery. He said he saw some friends at an apartment complex along Delano Road that night, shot some dice and later went to Walmart in the stolen Charger.
He admitted to being in a gang, but told defense attorney Overton Thierry he was wrongly identified as Broder’s killer.
“The day that Mr. Broder was shot, did you go to Buckhead and participate in the murder?” his attorney asked.
Myrick said he did not and accused his co-defendants of conspiring against him.
“They knew what happened that night and wanted to blame me,” he said. “They were out and able to (collaborate) with each other while I was incarcerated.”
Lead prosecutor Chris Sperry noted on cross-examination that Myrick had been taking notes with his left hand. The person who shot Broder also held the gun in their left hand, he told the jury.
Separately, Myrick is also charged in a sweeping Fulton County gang case alongside rappers Young Thug, Gunna and more than two dozen others. In that indictment, Myrick and two other defendants are accused of trying to “shank” rapper YFN Lucci in February at the Fulton County jail.
On Tuesday, an Atlanta police detective testified that Myrick is a member of the Nine Trey Gangsters, a set of the Bloods gang.
Mark Belknap, who is assigned to the Atlanta Police Department gang unit, said Myrick has several tattoos depicting his allegiance to the Bloods, including two face tattoos he didn’t have at the time of his arrest. Jurors were also shown old Instagram posts in which Myrick allegedly flouted his gang affiliations.
Myrick, who had a lengthy criminal history as a youth, passed through every level of Georgia’s juvenile justice system before his murder arrest, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found.
After Myrick burglarized a home, a judge sent him to club meetings rather than detention, court filings showed. In a robbery case, another judge set Myrick free after he served two years of his seven-year sentence. Later, a court employee vouched for Myrick, helping him remain free.
In a 2018 interview, Myrick’s mother said supervising her son was sometimes more than she could manage.
“I was in charge of monitoring him — 24 hours,” Jauvena Myrick said. “I still had to work, and I still have four other kids. It was very hard.”
Jayden Myrick’s testimony is expected to resume Wednesday morning.
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