Mall shooting defense attorneys push back on ‘experts’

by Madalyn Bierster

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A motion hearing for the Oglethorpe Mall shooting case went into the night, wrapping up around 11 p.m., after hours of testimony.

The 2-day-long hearing was held to determine whether 2 experts should be allowed to testify in the upcoming trial.

Defense attorneys spent hours arguing why the two experts, the medical examiner and the state’s gang expert, should have their testimonies kept out of the trial. Multiple allegations were made about gang ties in the case, which the attorneys said was hearsay and opinion.

Oglethorpe Mall shooting suspects in court as battle over evidence begins

Medical examiner testimony challenged

All six defendants’ attorneys cross-examined the medical examiner, arguing it is unprecedented in Georgia for this type of case and that the state is trying to pioneer a new method on felony murder.

The defense also challenged the validity of the Davis study, the method used to form the medical examiner’s opinion. Defense attorneys said the study is unreliable because typically the perpetrator and the suspect are having an interaction when the victim dies.

In this case, the victim, Tina Smith, was not shot or near any suspected shooters. She was running from the shooting and had heart complications.

All 6 Oglethorpe Mall shooting suspects appear in court Tuesday

Gang expert testifies on affiliations

The gang expert testified that all six suspects are gang affiliated — two in the OTH gang and four in the 1100 gang.

He used social media, music, captions on photos, and hand signals as key identifiers.

He alleged two suspects have family members who are also gang members.

Defense attorneys argued that much of the visuals the expert mentioned were not provided for the court or attorneys to see. They questioned the expert’s experience in his role, arguing the evidence could be considered hearsay.

None of the 6 defendants were in the state gang database prior to the shooting, according to the defense, who argued much of the evidence on gangs is unreliable.

Skye Musson, Royce Haynes’ defense attorney, said: “I would argue that there’s an extraordinarily high concern for error rate that this court should act as a gatekeeper when we have somebody who is operating off of basically what is hearsay about you. If somebody goes on to Reddit and says something, and it ends up in a report that then is utilized to prosecute somebody for gang activity, that is problematic.”

Kaitlyn Walker, Aujawan Hymon’s defense attorney, said: “They did not provide you video footage; he made reference to it. They did not provide you with the lyrics he referred to. They did not provide you screen grabs, or search warrant authorizing Instagram to prove to the court they have satisfied the work they have done.”

“I think that they’re trying to pioneer a whole new method here that extends the felony murder law so far that there’s just no stop to it. If anybody fires again anywhere and somebody hears it and falls over a heart attack anytime soon, we’re going to wind up having jury trials,” said Dahmil Johnson’s attorney Jonah Pine. “This is a volatile case. It has moved the community, but the law is the law.”