The trial started Wednesday morning in Alamance County superior court for a former Winston-Salem man who is charged with first-degree murder in a shootout at a trailer park in Green Level in 2021.
Garyonded Stepney, 46, black, male, formerly of 2604 Stockton Street, Winston-Salem, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in a shootout in a trailer park at 1051 Wyatt Road. The trailer park has a Burlington street address but is located within Green Level’s municipal jurisdiction, based on 911 calls from neighbors that were played for the jury Wednesday morning.
Stepney has entered a plea of not guilty.
The attorneys – Alamance County assistant district attorney Iris Morales for the state and Don D. Carter of Greensboro for the defense – made their opening arguments in the case Wednesday morning.
The shootout began shortly after midnight on April 8, 2021, based on the facts of the case that Morales outlined for jurors in her brief opening argument Wednesday morning. Morales is prosecuting the case with chief assistant D.A. Alex Bass.
The shootout left two dead: Barney Dale Harris, 39, black, male, who had been a popular Spanish teacher and basketball coach at Union Academy Charter School in Monroe prior to his murder; and Alonso Beltran Lara, 18, Hispanic, male, who lived in the trailer with his brother where the shooting occurred.
In July 2021, Stepney was arrested in Greensboro and charged with first-degree murder in Lara’s death and with trafficking heroin and cocaine, according to his court file. An Alamance County grand jury indicted Stepney on the murder charge in September 2021.
Investigators said at the time that Harris and his brother-in-law, Steven Alexander Stewart, Jr., 37, black, male, formerly of 304 Old Lilesville Road, Wadesboro, had traveled to the trailer park in Green Level to steal money and drugs from a trailer that was believed to be a stash house for the infamous Sinaloa cartel.
Morales told jurors during her opening statement that Harris and Stewart had picked the defendant up while they were en route to Green Level, though she gave no indication of how the two alleged co-conspirators knew Stepney. Once they arrived at the trailer, Harris began walking toward a victim (presumably Lara), while Stepney, “almost boxing him in,” started walking toward the victim from the other side of the trailer.
Stepney and Stewart were nowhere to be found when investigators arrived on the scene, Morales acknowledged, as she urged jurors to hold Stepney accountable for “a reckless plan that put many lives at risk and ultimately left death in its wake.”
Stepney’s defense attorney, Carter, poked holes in what he described as a case that hinges entirely on the claims of the surviving co-conspirator, Stewart.
Stewart appears to have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Harris’ death but later had his charges reduced in exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He is also set to testify against Stepney, based on a list of 21 potential witnesses that prosecutors filed Monday.
“Not guilty: that is the only verdict…This is more about what they don’t have, or they choose not to be presented,” Carter told the jury.
There is no evidence – no DNA, no fingerprints, and no eyewitnesses – that ties Stepney to the crime, Carter countered Wednesday morning. “Two people are deceased, and no one knows who killed Mr. Lara and Mr. Harris,” the defense attorney told the jury.
According to evidence that prosecutors provided during the discovery phase, Stepney was a “friend and business partner” with Harris, who happened to have been murdered on the same date and at the same location as Lara.
Stepney is a father of three children – now in their mid-20s and teens – and prior to his arrest was employed as a manager with a company called Luxury Transport and Logistics, according to his court file.
“Listen to why Steven [Stewart] is testifying,” Carter told the jury. “The only two people who were there were Mr. Stewart and Mr. Harris…I anticipate you’ll [hear] Stewart say he stole his cousin’s gun, which they find at the scene. [Stewart] will say he had an AR-15 and another pistol somebody gave him.”
“I anticipate that every witness that takes the stand cannot tell you what happened,” Carter said in his opening statement. The defense attorney claims that, as recently as two or three weeks ago, prosecutors were working with Stewart and sheriff’s investigators to “try to make the story fit” their theory about what happened.
Stepney’s court file indicates that he has rejected a plea offer but gives no other information; that document reads, “See court reporter’s note for further detail.”
Stewart sentenced to 10-15 years for pleading guilty to second-degree murder
Stewart was initially charged with first-degree burglary on April 11, 2021 and with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on April 12. The charges were later reduced as part of a plea agreement, according to documents on file in Alamance County’s court system.
In August 2025, Stewart pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for a reduced sentence ranging from a minimum of 15 years, 10 months to a maximum of 20 years, according to his court file, which includes a note stating that Stewart is “not to be house[d] with Garyonded Stepney.” The D.A.’s office dismissed the firearm possession charge, as well as a charge of first-degree burglary, against Stewart last August, according to the court file.
Stewart also received credit for time served, 1,576 days, while awaiting trial. He is currently incarcerated at the Alexander Correctional Institution, about 16 miles south of Wilkesboro, according to the state Department of Adult Correction.
Meanwhile, Stewart’s wife, Santana Monique Stewart, black, female, also of Wadesboro, was subsequently charged in March 2022 with felony obstructing justice and with being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder for her alleged role in the case. The D.A.’s office dismissed the charges against Santana Stewart in August 2025 as part of the plea agreement with Steven Stewart, her court file shows.
Taylor Ray, a patrol lieutenant with the Alamance County sheriff’s office, testified Wednesday morning that two individuals had been shot – “one deceased, one still alive” – when he was called to the scene that night.
Despite wearing a bulletproof vest under his clothing for the raid, Harris was found dead, laying on a bed in one of the bedrooms inside the trailer where Lara lived with his brother, Juan Daniel Salinas Lara, whom investigators also believed was involved in the shooting. Alamance County court files give no indication that Juan Lara has been apprehended.
Lara had been bound by his hands and feet during the raid before he was shot execution-style in the back of the head, investigators said at the time. Lara had already been transported to the hospital by the time he arrived on the scene, Ray testified Wednesday.
When he entered the trailer he spotted the body, as well as an open bag which he said contained about a kilo, approximately two pounds, of narcotics, Ray recalled from the witness stand.
Jurors hear 911 calls
Jurors also heard Wednesday morning recordings of six 911 calls from neighbors who described the scene as bullets whizzed past their trailers, which were nearby lot #27 where the shooting occurred.
Lora Shields, a supervisor in the Alamance County central communications office, confirmed Wednesday morning under cross-examination by the defense attorney that the first 911 call had come in at 12:53 a.m. on April 8, 2021.
One caller had been standing on her back porch when she heard shots break out and ran back inside, where she crouched down on the floor as she heard “a big truck” speed away, she told the 911 operator.
A woman called 911 to report that a male named “Alonso” had called her, saying he’d been shot. The caller, who later identified Alonso Lara as her cousin, reported that he was awake and breathing. The 911 operator assured the panicked caller that police were in the area.
Jury selection wrapped up Tuesday afternoon. The jury consists of five white males; three white females; two black females; one Hispanic female; and one black or biracial male. Two white females and one white male were seated as alternates Tuesday afternoon.
Alamance County superior court judge C. Douglas Green is presiding over the trial, which is expected to run through late next week.
Stepney faces a sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.
