[TRIAL UPDATE: At about 5:20 p.m. Friday afternoon, the judge recessed the court for the weekend. Courts in Orange and Chatham counties have been cancelled preemptively for Monday because of the approaching winter storm, so the earliest the jury deliberations will reconvene is next Tuesday, January 27. Jurors had deliberated about 5½ hours since they began Thursday afternoon.]
Twenty-four hours after they began their deliberations (which is about four to five hours of actual deliberation), jurors were still considering the fate of Issiah Mekhi Ross on Friday afternoon.
Jurors began their deliberations around 4:00 p.m. Thursday, following closing arguments and four-and-a-half days of testimony that culminated with Ross taking the stand in his defense on Wednesday, January 21, at the Orange County superior court in Hillsborough.
Ross is charged with fatally shooting Devin Clark, 18, who was also a student at Eastern High School, and Lyric Woods, 14, then a freshman at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, during the early morning hours of Saturday, September 17, 2022. The medical examiner who autopsied their bodies testified last week that Clark had been shot six times and Woods, seven times.
The autopsies revealed that many of the wounds had been to the victims’ backs, indicating that the teens had been attempting to flee when they were fatally shot. Woods sustained two gunshot wounds to her neck that had been fired at close range, according to the autopsies performed by Dr. Lauren Scott, associate chief medical examiner with the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The victims’ bodies were discovered by two men riding a four-wheeler along a power line easement off Buckhorn Road, near the intersection with Yarborough Road, on Mebane’s outskirts around 3:00 p.m. Sunday, September 18, 2022.
Ross testified Wednesday that he had given Clark a ride – who planned to meet up with Woods for sex after she sneaked out of her house late Friday, September 16 – feared for his life when Ross began brandishing a weapon following an argument over sex with Woods. DNA swabs taken from Clark and Woods confirmed that the victims had engaged in some type of sexual activity that night but excluded Ross as a “contributor.”
Ross had given Clark a ride to meet Woods that night in exchange for a promise of sex, based on earlier evidence and testimony in the trial.
The defense has contended that Clark shot Woods during the argument and then turned the gun on Ross, who wrestled Ross for it before shooting Clark in self-defense.
Ross testified Wednesday that, after the shooting, he left the scene and went to the Petro Travel Center at 500 Buckhorn Road after realizing that the GMC Terrain he’d taken without permission from his mother was completely out of gas. He said he’d rolled the victims’ bodies to get them out of the way of the vehicle so he could go get gas, returning to the scene shortly afterwards to retrieve the Under Armour quarter-zip sweatshirt he’d inadvertently left behind.
Ross testified that he hadn’t contacted police afterwards, telling jurors “my brain was melting” and that all he wanted to do was go home to is mother’s apartment in Mebane, where he was living at the time. The day of September 17, Ross testified, his mother told him to go stay with his father in Delaware after seeing that her GMC Terrain had been damaged – though he denied to his mother that he’d taken her car —when he backed into a cement pillar at the Petro, which was captured on video at the gas station and later collected for evidence by investigators.
Ross denied having confessed to the murders to his then-friend, Christian Sykes, a key witness who identified Ross as the shooter in a recorded interview with an Orange County sheriff’s investigator on Monday, September 19, 2022 and testified at the trial on Tuesday, January 20.
Jurors heard closing arguments Thursday by Ross’ defense attorney, Jonathan Trapp, and the prosecutor, Orange County assistant district attorney Anna Orr.
Defense Closing Argument
- Trapp told the jury that the events of September 17, 2022, were not planned or premeditated and argued Ross acted in self-defense.
- The defense highlighted physical evidence (such as lack of shots or blood in the vehicle) and questioned testimony from a witness (Christian Sykes) who said Ross confessed, arguing it was inconsistent with the evidence.
- Trapp also reviewed differences between murder charges and emphasized the requirement that the jury must be certain beyond a reasonable doubt before convicting.
Prosecution Closing Argument
- Orr urged the jury to use their judgment when considering Ross’ testimony, noting Ross had a reason to minimize or justify his actions – adding that he’d had an opportunity since his arrest on October 5, 2022 and the trial to study the evidence and shape his testimony accordingly.
- Orr told jurors that the evidence contradicted Ross’ self-defense claim, including the locations of gunshot wounds on the victims, suggesting they were shot while running away.
- Orr also noted that Ross did not tell the witness Sykes he acted out of fear for his life or that Devin Clark shot Lyric Woods, which the prosecution said was inconsistent with Ross’ trial testimony.
- Orr contended that each of the 13 bullets that Ross fired, killing the victims on September 17, 2022, including his decision to continue firing the 9mm handgun even after the victims “were felled,” represented a choice.
Jury instructions – and their subsequent questions
Visiting superior court judge Stephanie Reese delivered her instructions to jurors late Thursday afternoon, following closing arguments in the double-murder trial of Issiah Ross, 21, in Orange County superior court.
Reese gave jurors two options for verdicts in the death of Lyric Woods, 14: guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder. There were no options to return a verdict for a lesser charge in Woods’ death.
For the death of Devin Clark, 18, the judge instructed the jury that they may find Ross: guilty of first-or second-degree murder; guilty of voluntary manslaughter; or not guilty. The voluntary manslaughter verdict was offered as an option in connection with a self-defense/excessive force instruction.
The prosecutor, Orange County assistant district attorney Anna Orr, argued that Ross had used excessive force by firing eight 9 mm rounds at the victims – and then firing four more times – as “insurance” to make sure that Woods and Clark were dead even after they had been “felled” as they attempted to flee.
For the self-defense claim, Reese told jurors Thursday afternoon that, were they to conclude that Ross had acted in self-defense but used excessive force in doing so, they could return a verdict of voluntary manslaughter, rather than first- or second-degree murder in Clark’s death.
Reese emphasized to jurors that they were to deliberate on the evidence and testimony and return a verdict based on whether the evidence and testimony met the statutory elements of the charges.
Shortly before 5:00 p.m. Thursday, jurors sent visiting superior court judge Stephanie Reese, who presided over the trial in Orange County superior court, a note asking to reexamine the crime scene photos; video surveillance from the Petro station; and cell phone data analysis performed by an FBI agent.
On Friday morning they also asked to see victims’ autopsy reports to review locations of the wounds. They also asked to have replayed the recorded interview with Christian Sykes from September 19, 2022, where Ross is alleged to have confessed to his friend about committing the murders.
Friday afternoon, at about 4:45, they asked for two more things – a report from one of the investigators and a transcript of the defendant’s testimony. This time, however, the judge rejected the requests – first because the requested report had never been entered into evidence and because the transcript hasn’t been typed up yet.
Later, at about 5:20, the judge dismissed jurors for the weekend. Courts in Orange and Chatham counties have been cancelled preemptively for Monday because of the approaching winter storm, so the earliest the jury deliberations will reconvene is next Tuesday, January 27. Jurors had deliberated about 5½ hours since they began Thursday afternoon.
