Murder Trial Begins in Shooting Death of Chapel Hill Infant

Opening statements were delivered in the Orange County Courthouse Friday morning in the murder trial of 24-year-old Ramone Jamarr Alston.

Alston, along with 25-year-old Pierre Je Bron Moore, is charged with shooting and killing 1-year-old Maleah Williams in late 2015.

Williams was shot while in her mother’s arms outside their apartment complex on an unusually warm Christmas Day. The infant died three days later.

Assistant District Attorney Jeff Nieman said during his opening statement that this was a “tragic case of a cycle of violence that didn’t end until it took the life of the most innocent person imaginable.”

The “cycle of violence,” as Nieman called it, dated back to June 2014, when Nieman said that Alston’s home was broken into three times that month, with the suspects allegedly holding Alston, his girlfriend, their child and Alston’s mother at gunpoint.

On the day of the shooting, a fight broke out between two individuals – identified as Shaquille Davis and Jaylen McNair – at Trinity Court Apartments, Nieman told the jury. That ended with McNair allegedly taking money and marijuana from Davis. At that point, Davis told McNair, “I’m getting you back,” the prosecutor said Friday.

Davis then allegedly met Alston and Moore at an apartment complex. There, according to prosecutors, a plan was hatched to go back to Trinity Court and “get” McNair. Nieman said that Alston also believed that McNair was one of the individuals who had broken into his home the previous year.

Davis was the first suspect charged in the shooting death of Williams, but those charges were dropped.

Several hours after the fight on Christmas Day 2015, a vehicle allegedly being driven by Alston drove down the small road in front of Trinity Court, where approximately 20 people – eight of whom were children – were outside. The vehicle then stopped when nearing the exit of the apartment complex, the passenger got out of the vehicle and fired shots into the crowd, according to the prosecution.

“One of those bullets tore through the head of Maleah Williams,” Nieman said.

The state alleges that, in addition to the passenger – alleged to be Moore – shooting at the crowd, the evidence will show that Alston too got out of the vehicle, discharged a firearm and then sped away.

Nieman told the jury Friday that weapons stolen during a break in on Nuttal Place near Piney Mountain Road in September 2015 ended up in the possession of Alston and Moore.

One of the attorneys representing Alston, Jonathan Trapp, reminded the jury that Alston is presumed innocent and that the burden of proof is on the state.

“Everything must be proven,” Trapp said.

The defense said that the jury would see evidence showing that shell casings from the scene came from one gun, and that no DNA evidence was traced back to Alston. Trapp also said eyewitnesses said the shooter jumped from the passenger side of the vehicle while it was still in motion.

Trapp repeated to the jurors at several points during his opening statement “sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer.”

Trapp said there would be no evidence of any plan of retaliation, as Nieman alleged.

Alston has been charged with discharging a weapon into occupied property and first-degree murder. Nieman said the state is not pursuing the death penalty, meaning if Alston is convicted on the murder charge, the only sentencing option will be life in prison.

Wake County Judge Rebecca Holt is presiding over the case, which is expected to last between two and four weeks. The trial against Moore is not expected to begin in the near future.

Murder Trial Begins in Shooting Death of Chapel Hill Infant

On Air Now: 97.9 FM