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Video, photographs, witness testimony, the murder weapon found in his car.
Allen County prosecutors stacked what looked like a mountain of evidence against Anthony A. Parish on Tuesday, accusing him of the shooting death of 30-year-old Antoine J. Woods.
The 20-year-old Fort Wayne man, a suspected D Boys gang member, is serving 40- and 50-year prison sentences for two separate shootings.
He went on trial Tuesday in the slaying of Woods, who was gunned down in his car near the Dove Shack bar early on Aug. 25, 2008. Parish is charged with murder, felony murder and robbery.
In the first two hours of the trial, the jury was presented with:
•A video of Parish rapping with others inside a south-side carwash shortly after the killing while waving a .38-caliber revolver, the same type of gun used in the slaying.
•A photo taken of Parish after the killing. It shows him wearing a silver chain connected to a silver medallion with an astronaut on one side. It’s the same medallion Woods had worn the night of his death, but it was missing from his body when he was found by police inside a car near the Dove Shack bar.
•Testimony from one of Parish’s former friends, who said Parish left the carwash with others to go to the Dove Shack near the time of the killings and came back later with the medallion in tow, claiming he got it by doing a "petty murder."
•Opening statements from prosecutors claiming ballistic tests showed a .38-caliber revolver found in Parish’s car was the murder weapon, that Woods was shot in the head, and that Woods’ medallion was found in Parish’s grandmother’s home months after the killing.
John Bohdan, Parish’s attorney, told the jury his client was being made to take the fall for the killing and that testimony from his grandmother would show he was at her home, in the 2200 block of Charlotte Avenue, at the time of Woods’ death.
"The evidence is going to show Anthony Parish is the scapegoat for the actions of somebody else," Bohdan said, adding that no witness would place Parish at the Dove Shack the night of the killing.
When police searched Parish’s grandmother’s home, they found Woods’ necklace in her purse, according to court documents.
She told investigators the necklace belonged to a friend of hers, then she said it belonged to her daughter’s boyfriend, and later she told Parish to tell the police the boyfriend found the necklace outside the home, court documents said.
Previously, Parish pleaded guilty to attempted murder and aggravated battery in an October 2008 shooting and was convicted by a jury of attempted murder, aggravated battery, pointing a firearm and carrying a handgun without a license in another August 2008 shooting.
With Parish during at least one of the previous shootings was Rico Parrish, 24. He was never charged in connection with the shootings but served as a key witness for prosecutors Tuesday.
Rico Parrish can be seen in the video shown to the jury, rapping with Anthony Parish and others. He said the group was also doing cocaine and that the carwash is a place for locals to party.
His testimony had Anthony Parish leaving for the Dove Shack bar and returning with Woods’ necklace making claims of doing "a petty murder."
In questioning Rico Parrish, Bohdan tried to shift suspicion from his client.
He asked Rico Parrish whether he gained anything from prosecutors for his testimony and whether he had given the gun used in the killing to Anthony Parish. Rico Parrish said no to both questions and also denied telling police they could find the gun in Anthony Parish’s car.
Bohdan also asked whether Rico Parrish had had troubles with Mack Porter, a Fort Wayne man accused of killing a local 17-year-old recently, and whether Rico Parrish made any statements to suggest he would kill Porter like he killed Woods. Rico Parrish denied that, saying he knew Porter but had no feud with him.
The trial is scheduled to continue today.
