KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Jury selection starts Monday for three young Knoxville men accused of ambushing and trying to kill two Austin-East High School students in January 2021 as they left the school.
Two of the defendants -- Deondre Davis and Rashan Jordan -- have already been convicted of murdering another A-E student in February 2021, also as he was leaving the East Knoxville school. They're currently serving life prison sentences.
The third defendant is Ahmad Gatlin.
All three were under age 18 at the time of the January 2021 murder attempt. They've since been transferred from juvenile court to face trial as adults. Davis and Gatlin are now 19; Jordan is 17.
Like the prior trial for Davis and Jordan, this week's proceeding is expected to highlight weapons and ballistics evidence and cellphone stills and videos in which the young men brashly showed off weapons, some of which prosecutors say were used in the crime.
The trial also features an extremely rare bid by the state to prohibit Knoxville media outlets from filming and broadcasting the testimony of a key witness -- one of the two young people who were in the vehicle that left Austin-East and fled the defendants to an East Knoxville gas station, where both the defendants and the victims traded gunfire.
WBIR has asked Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword for a hearing to challenge the state's bid to forbid the filming of state witness Azley Mills.
In its motion, the prosecution, identifying Mills as "A.M", cites her safety as the reason to prevent broadcast or recording of her testimony.
SHOOTING, CHASE END AT GAS STATION
Mills and Johnkelian "John John" Mathis were leaving Austin-East the afternoon of Jan. 14, 2021, when they were ambushed by Davis, Jordan and Gatlin, the state alleges. Gunshots first were fired near the Jarnigan & Son Mortuary across from the school.
The gunmen chased the pair to the Exxon station at Magnolia Avenue and Cherry Street. Mathis, 17, had a .45-caliber pistol, which he fired at the attackers. The defendants had several weapons including a .40-caliber pistol and a 9mm pistol, the prosecution alleges.
Prior testimony has shown Mills, Mathis or both suffered minor injuries. They fled to a bathroom where they ditched the .45-caliber gun, prior court hearings have shown.
Jordan, Davis and Gatlin, the state alleges, fled in a stolen Honda Pilot.
A month later, Davis and Jordan shot and killed Stanley Freeman Jr., 16, in a likely case of mistaken identity as Freeman left school to get ready for his job at McDonald's. Davis and Jordan trolled outside the school and briefly chased him, firing repeatedly until he wrecked nearby.
Davis and Jordan were tried and convicted in the spring in Sword's court for Freeman's murder.
Prosecutors TaKisha Fitzgerald and Larry Dillon presented jurors with multiple photo stills and videos in the spring trial showing Davis and Jordan holding weapons and riding in a car, the same car they were in when they chased down and killed Freeman.
A pistol and a modified assault-style rifle were used in the killing. Knoxville police recovered the guns at Davis's Cathedral Lane home in February 2021.
According to the prosecution, photos and videos recovered from the defendants' phones also show them with at least some of the guns thought to have been used in the January 2021 attempted murders.
Davis appears in multiple photos, sometimes with his friend Jordan. In one still Davis is holding what appears to be a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson featuring text that reads, "When the opps come in the party."
In another image, Gatlin is depicted with the modified assault-style rifle.
Defense attorneys Mark Stephens, who represents Gatlin, Hoai Robinette, who represents Jordan, and Ashlee Mathis, who represents Davis, objected to the images in a hearing Nov. 6, arguing they're speculative, prejudicial and show their clients in a bad light.
The following day, Sword ruled most of the proposed pieces of evidence will be allowed to come in during trial. Sword said there's ample proof the trio illegally possessed firearms.
The judge, however, said he would bar the state from introducing one video that shows the three young men together with a text box that reads, "Wildin". Each has a gun.
"But it's the court's understanding that the state does not claim that these weapons are ones used in this case, To the contrary, one of the firearms appears to be a Glock," the judge wrote.
At least for the time being, Sword said that video won't be presented to the jury.
Also, the judge said he wasn't ready to permit introduction of a video showing Gatlin holding cash in a car. If Fitzgerald wants to enter that video, she'll first have to ask for a jury-out hearing for further discussion with the court and defense.
VICTIM KILLED IN LATER SHOOTING
Mills has previously testified -- in the transfer hearing for at least two of the young defendants back in 2021. Cameras were not allowed at that hearing, which is routine, although Mills contacted WBIR afterward and threatened to file a lawsuit for being identified as a witness in a public proceeding.
Mathis, her boyfriend, was shot and killed in August 2021 while in Lonsdale. No one has yet been charged in his killing.
For much of 2021, the Austin-East community was racked by violence, including the deaths of several students. Some of those killings remain unsolved.
In April 2021, Anthony Thompson Jr., 17, illegally brought a gun to school. He had that loaded gun when Knoxville police officers confronted him in a bathroom.
His pistol fired, and police returned fire in the confrontation, killing Thompson. His mother is now suing the city over the death.
Thompson had gotten an adult acquaintance to procure the pistol for him in what's commonly called a straw purchase. Kelvon Foster, 24, was ordered to serve 10 months in prison for the crime. He was released in August, federal prison records show.
