Jurors hear from victim’s girlfriend in Gavin Roberts murder trial
Jurors hear from victim’s girlfriend in Warren murder trial
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WARREN -- The girlfriend of 37-year-old Brice Hilton, who was shot dead in front of her, recalled that moment and those leading up to the shooting as she took the stand Tuesday in Gavin Roberts' murder trial.
Blair Legg was pregnant at the time with Hilton's baby when the man's life was cut short almost a year ago on the night of Nov. 19.
The shooting took place on Colonial Street and South Feederle Drive SE in Warren.
Walking the jurors through that day, Legg told them the reason she and Hilton came to Warren from their home in Sharon, Pa., was to buy a cellphone for Hilton's son's birthday.
Before showing up to the location where the purchase was to take place, Legg said she and Hilton stopped to get $140 from an ATM to give Hilton the money for the transaction.
As the couple neared the meeting spot, Legg told the court that the person Hilton contacted about the purchase called to make sure they were meeting.
At the transaction location, Legg said Hilton approached two men, one of them Roberts and the other identified as Carter Hall.
A third person named William "Duece" Cole Jr. was present inside the vehicle Roberts and Hall came in but did not step out of the vehicle.
Legg told the court that as she watched the transaction, Hilton and Roberts kept passing the box back and forth but when Hilton realized there was no phone in the box, she said he began to walk away.
"At that time, I heard 'Pop, pop, pop,' " Legg said. The defendant, according to Legg's testimony, approached their vehicle, where an a wounded Hilton was on the ground.
That's when she heard one of Hilton's last words.
"All I heard was Brice say 'No' and then I heard a pop," Legg said.
By the time Legg made it to him, she said he was unresponsive as she tried to perform CPR.
When asked by the prosecution if she saw the shooting, Legg told them she saw the shooter's arms extended and heard the shots but could not see the gun firing. However, she was able to tell investigators that night and the jurors Tuesday that Hall was not the shooter and Roberts was.
She identified Hall by a distinct cross tattoo under his right eye. When the shooting began, she said Hall was crouched with his hands covering his ears.
After the shooting, Hall and Cole Jr. retreated to Cole's father's home on Oak Knoll Avenue and told him what they witnessed.
Cole Jr. and his father, William Cole Sr., testified Tuesday.
Sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle driven to the robbery gone wrong, William Cole Jr. told the jurors he saw Roberts shoot Hilton.
Afterward, he said Hall ran back to the car and drove away. The pair eventually ended up at the home of Cole's father. Later, when Roberts showed up to the Oak Knoll Avenue home, William Cole Sr. was the one who disarmed and held Roberts at gunpoint in the basement until police arrived.
The gun used during the shooting was a revolver with red bandanna-styled tape around a portion of the firearm.
This distinct feature came in handy when Warren Detective Mike Altiere presented photos of Roberts over the duration of a few months that depict him holding the red bandanna-taped revolver. The series of photos end with the last one dated Nov. 14 -- five days before the shooting death of Hilton with that weapon.
Nine of the 13 witnesses expected to testify did so Tuesday. The trial will resume this morning as a forensic pathologist is expected to take the stand.