Witnesses take stand in first day of cold-case murder trial

JACKSON, Tenn. — A 2014 murder case that seemingly went cold until charges were filed earlier this year heats up in court Tuesday with the first day of witness testimony.

Corbyn Davis sits in a Madison County courtroom. He’s charged with killing Jamar Rogers.

State attorneys say the deadly encounter happened in a parking lot at the Omni Center in 2014.

The first witness to take the stand Tuesday is Rogers’ fiancee. She says the couple were together that night.

“He opened up the door and we heard like three shots, and he opened it up some more, and he was like ‘bae, I’m hit,'” Marlissa Smith testified.

Smith says she and Rogers had been clubbing when they decided to leave together.

Their exit was shown on surveillance video in court.

Defense attorneys attempted to discredit Smith’s memories from the night because she openly admitted she had three cocktails.

In court, Smith testified she saw Davis in the parking lot and he called out to Rogers.

It’s testimony backed up by another witness, Demarcus Triplett, who says he was driving Davis around that night.

“When he said ‘what’s up,’ I turned my head and I heard a gunshot,” Triplett said.

Triplett says he was then told to start driving away. “Y’all see somebody with a gun and he just shot it, you’re going to do what the man say,” he said.

While investigators say they did find shell casings in that parking lot, the defense said it’s unclear who may have fired them.

Records show Davis has a lengthy arrest record dating back to 2008 and includes probation violation, evading arrest and domestic violence charges.