Prichard man asks judge to toss murder charge arising from Thanksgiving weekend shooting

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - An attorney for a Prichard man charged with murder and assault in connection to a shooting at a home that doubled as a nightclub asked a judge Thursday to dismiss the case.

The shooting took place at a home Sweeney Lane nicknamed the “Hit House” over the weekend after Thanksgiving, killing Jovonni McKeller and wounding Trinijala Turnbow.

Defense attorney Bucky Thomas, who represents Bryson Earl Davis, pointed to testimony by the surviving victim at a preliminary hearing in May for co-defendant Travon Motez Glover. She said she never saw Glover. Based on that testimony, a different judge last month dismissed the charges against him.

Thomas said the victim’s testimony also applies to his client.

“We’re saying he’s not even there,” Thomas told FOX10 News. “He wasn’t even identified as being there.”

Mobile County District Judge Zackery Moore did not immediately rule. The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office told FOX10 News that prosecutors oppose the request.

Thomas submitted a transcript from Glover’s preliminary hearing in which Turnbow testified that she never saw the defendant. Thomas said the testimony mostly concerned Glover but that the basis is the same.

“We’ve got to a point now where the main detail of my client being present there, actually being the shooter, you know, there was a recantment on that,” he said.

In Glover’s case, Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis withheld a ruling until June and subpoenaed the owner of the house on Sweeney Lane. That man, Willie Baker Jr., appeared for the hearing but invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to answer most questions.

Baker did testify that friends and family gathered on Nov. 26 for a “celebration of life” event for a man who had passed away and that gunfire erupted shortly after midnight.

Cheriogotis said at the time that there was not enough evidence to sustain the charges against Glover.

Thomas said the transcript should provide enough basis to allow Davis, 28, to be released from jail.

“I think it pretty much speaks for itself as it relates to the co-defendant, which again, same fact pattern, same circumstances,” he said. “So hopefully, it will be the same case for Mr. Davis.”

Even if the judge dismisses the charges, the DA’s Office has the option of presenting the case to a grand jury. But Thomas suggested there is a chance prosecutors might be persuaded not to pursue the case against his client.

“At the bare minimum, it opens up a dialogue between myself and the prosecutors as it related to Mr. Davis,” he said. “And usually, those things can be worked out, you know, outside of even a judge having to make that call.”

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