• Prosecutors use several witnesses in attempt to show Ramel Troy was involved in death of Chase Powell in March 2002.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

A dozen people paraded to the witness stand in the Superior Courtroom here Monday through Wednesday as the state sought to place a 24-year-old Clarkton man at the scene of a 19-year-old’s murder more than five years ago.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Gentry advised the jury Monday in his opening statement that the state would show that Ramel Theodore Troy killed Jonathan Chase Powell on March 27, 2002.

Gentry said Troy was in a car with his girlfriend Tara Thomas in November 2002 and told her, “I killed that boy.” Troy then told his girlfriend how he did it as Powell pleaded for his life.

Thomas has yet to testify as Gentry and fellow prosecutor Lee Bollinger have elicited information from law enforcement officers, crime experts and private citizens – including the mother of the victim – to lay the groundwork for a first-degree murder conviction.

‘External violence’

However, all fingerprint and DNA testimony showed evidence only linked to the victim of the March 27, 2002 killing.

And, the state’s chief medical examiner testified that Powell died from an unknown cause, but it is “our opinion that it was an act of external violence.”

The jury in the first-degree murder trial was ushered out several times during the three days for the state and defense to have statements and physical evidence introduced or excluded.

An unexpected development Wednesday probably escaped the jury’s detection, although it is not known if any of the 11 women and three men witnessed Troy make a vulgar gesture with one of his fingers as he exchanged looks with the victim’s family on the right side of the courtroom.

Bailiffs threatened

Judge Gregory Weeks admonished Troy and sternly told him that he would not tolerate such acts and threats to bailiffs. (See separate story below)

Gentry’s statement to the jury Monday morning showed Troy told his girlfriend (Thomas) in 2002 that she would probably leave him because of what he was going to tell her.

“Chase Powell wanted to sell some Ecstasy pills, and Ramel Troy and “Pepe” Powell took him to a wooded area. He squatted on his knees and swore on his mother’s life that if they let him go, he’d tell no one about what was happening,” the prosecutor told the jury.

“Ramel Troy wanted the speakers and the stereo in Chase Powell’s car, and he put a gun to his neck and shot him,” Gentry declared. He said Troy and Pepe Powell took the car back to Clarkton, and got Acie Kelly to help take the electronic equipment from the 1991 Honda.

Shirt in cornfield

The car was taken to Shipman’s Auto Sales on N.C. 211 where the defendant and others tried to sell it, but they couldn’t, so they drove to Rosindale Road east of Clarkton and left it on the shoulder of the highway.

Gentry also told the jury that fingerprint and DNA evidence would only identify the victim. He noted Chase Powell’s shirt was found in a cornfield across the road from the wooded area where his body was found 21 days after he died.

“The medical examination was difficult, but it will show it was possible he was shot,” Gentry declared.

There will be evidence of telephone calls from the Horry County Jail that reveal Ramel Troy’s involvement in the murder, plus the defendant had a book bag taken from the victim’s car that had an amplifier in it, the jury heard.

Jurors hear defense

Kevin Peters, one of two defense attorneys for Troy, told the jury there were 4,000 pages of documents in the case.
But, none of them would show any fingerprints, DNA or genetic material that connected Troy with the death.

“There’s no weapon, no blood splatter,” Peters stated. “Important testimony from Dr. John Butts, the state’s chief medical examiner, will say the cause of the victim’s death is undetermined.”

A second autopsy in December 2003 was performed as the state sought evidence of a shooting death, but again, there was no such evidence found, the attorney said.

Peters mentioned that Bobby Ratliff of Clarkton was in jail in 2003 and talked to investigators about the murder. Soon, there was a plea agreement with Ratliff about other charges.

Key witness

“Finally, in 2004, there’s a key witness for the state – Corey Peterson. He’s in jail for violating his electronic house arrest and he’s facing other charges. All of a sudden, he wants to make a deal,” the attorney said.

Peterson gets 30 days on a felony drug charge. Peterson is released from jail, but doesn’t appear for his probation hearing. Finally Peterson commits an armed robbery and is arrested in early 2005, Peters related.

“He talks to the law again. He gives them more information, and he’s promised that if he testifies against Ramel Troy he won’t be indicted as an accessory after the fact of first-degree murder,” Peters declared.

The attorney told the jury that the same situation involved Acie Kelly, another witness for the state. Kelly is in jail, offers information, and arrangements are made for him to plead to drug charges, but his sentence is delayed so he can testify against Troy.

Mother first witness

Rosemary Powell, mother of the victim, took the stand at 10:15 a.m. Monday, and said she and husband Bob had been married 28 years. Chase was her second son, with Justin David Powell the oldest.

Chase had been working at Southern Tire and Muffler here. He failed his senior year in high school and was attending Southeastern Community College to get his diploma and living at home.

She said she was the owner of the 1991 Navy blue Honda, but “it was Chase’s car.” He put a new stereo in it with big speakers, and had new rims installed.

The mother said Chase “would sometimes stay away at night. I knew he would smoke some pot, but nothing else,” she related. She said she had heard of Ecstasy, but didn’t know about him selling it. “He didn’t have any money.”

Identified shirt

She said she last saw him at supper on March 27, eating fried chicken from Pigford’s with some biscuits from KFC. “He left between 7:30 and 8 o’clock.”
She identified a photo of Chase and a friend that showed her son dressed in a red and blue striped shirt, the shirt found in a cornfield more than 160 feet from his body. She also noted he had a black book bag.

She identified photos of the stripped Honda. She noted her son didn’t come home that Wednesday night and by Friday morning she was worried. Her husband called her mid-morning Friday and told her Chase’s car had been found.

Bob and Rosemary Powell filed a missing person’s report Friday evening. They put out flyers, went to different stores in Whiteville and Clarkton, with family and friends helping.

Witness embarrassed

She related the family got a phone call from a Whiteville man and said Chase was seen on March 27 with a man named “Nut” (co-defendant Terrence Tyrell Burden). She didn’t go back to work that next week, and finally on April 17, 2002, she was told her son had been found.

Kirby Derrick Elkins, 21, was the second state’s witness. Dressed in street clothing, Elkins was visually embarrassed as he entered the courtroom. He was brought here from a state prison where he’s serving a year’s term for driving while impaired in a Bladen County case.

Elkins said he had known Chase Powell at Whiteville High School, and in the late afternoon of March 27, 2002 he met Chase at the Amoco station (now closed) across from Hardee’s in Whiteville.

Elkins related that he and Chase were selling Ecstasy pills, and he gave Powell 10 pills that night. They had been selling the drug “for about a year,” and Powell put them in his book bag. Chase was in his Honda, alone.

The witness was visibly embarrassed again as he walked out of the courtroom past the Powell family, his face and neck changing to a distinct red.

62 telephone calls

Major Joey Johnson, a member of the administrative staff at the Horry County Jail near Conway, S.C., was the third witness. He told about the jail’s telephone system, which is used by inmates, and how recordings of all calls are subject to monitoring and recording.

Johnson said he supplied investigators with 62-recorded calls, amounting to more than seven hours of conversation, all of them made in the spring of 2002. The calls were by the defendant and three friends – arrested on drug charges less than 72 hours after Powell’s death.

Acie Kelly Jr., 27, of Clarkton, spent more than five hours Monday and Tuesday telling how he was involved in the case.

Matthew Shaw, 24, now living in Leland, testified “Pepe” Powell brought a “dark colored Honda” to Shipman’s Auto Sales along N.C. 211 near Clarkton at 12:30 a.m. on a date he didn’t identify.

Honda was ‘a hot car’

Shaw said he was told the Honda was “a hot car,” and Powell wanted to sell it. He said he didn’t see a second car, and did not see Troy at his grandfather’s business early that morning. Shaw did not buy the car.

Erica Paulette Young of Council, a Bladen County school teacher, testified Tuesday that she saw an abandoned car with “shiny rims” on Rosindale Road on March 28, 2002 at 9 a.m.

She said at 6 p.m. the next day, the car was “on blocks” and the tires and rims were gone.

Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Kinlaw, then a Bladen County sheriff’s deputy, said he took a call on March 29, 2002 about an abandoned car on Rosindale Road, and identified it as being registered to Rosemary Powell of Whiteville. The car had been stripped and had no license tag.

SBI Agent Adrian Williams, a crime-scene investigator, testified Wednesday morning about the photos he had taken of the Honda in an Elizabethtown garage where it had been placed after being removed from where it was found.

Blood located

Williams noted the car was muddy on both sides with thick mud underneath. He lifted six prints from the outside of the car, and saw what he thought was blood on the roof, hood, the driver’s door, and a smear on the inside of the driver’s door.

Each of the jurors was furnished legal pads and pens Monday. Once in a while a juror will make a note, but 90-percent of the time they listen without making a written entry.

They spent nearly two hours Wednesday examining numerous photos of the stripped Honda, plus latent prints found on it, and scattered pieces of paper and documents found inside the vehicle.

Weeks, after a conference in chambers with the state and defense, allowed the state to introduce two of eight photos showing Powell’s body as it was found on April 17, 2002 – 21 days after his death.

Graphic photos

“Although the photographs are graphic and show an advanced state of decomposition and can inflame the jury, they must be shown as the state attempts to show the possible cause of death,” Weeks stated before allowing the jury to return.

He noted strenuous objections from the two defense lawyers. The jury didn’t flinch as they viewed the two photos, but took much less time with them than they did looking at photos of the Honda.

SBI Agent Steve Combs testified that he took photos and notes of the crime scene the day Powell’s body was found. He said the teenager was “badly decomposed” with “not many features recognizable.”

Powell was leaning back against the root ball of an overturned tree, with his feet and legs underneath him. The body was 114 feet off the dirt-gravel Baldwin Road, just over a mile inside the northern boundary of this county.

DNA testimony

A red and blue striped shirt was found in a field on the opposite side of the road, 50 feet from the road.

SBI Agent David Freeman, a forensic biologist for the SBI for 11 years, said DNA collected from one of Powell’s leg bones was a match for material gathered from the glass in the driver’s car door.

Freeman said there was a “partial” match to blood from the roof and the windshield-roof area of the Honda.

There was no match to the victim or any other DNA provided to three cigarette butts and a paper towel.

The agent said there was no match to Troy’s DNA in any of his tests.

Lindsey A’more, a latent prints specialist with the SBI, said she matched one of the prints from the vehicle with the victim. She was unable to get enough detail to match others. The print was from the window of the driver’s door.

Autopsy report

Other prints obtained from papers in the car were also matched to Chase Powell. There was no match of any print to those of Troy.

Dr. John Butts, chief medical examiner for the state since 1986, testified to the first autopsy performed by Dr. Thomas B. Clark III, a report reviewed and approved by Butts when it was made.

He testified dental records were used to make a positive identification. Butts said “flesh from the face and neck areas” were largely missing, and the autopsy showed “no known cause of death.”

Butts said all of the tissue and small bones from the neck area were gone, and it was evident the body had been attacked by an animal and/or insects. “There were no neck organs present.”

The doctor said Clark’s autopsy did not rule out a possible gunshot wound to the neck. He said a second autopsy from the exhumed body showed it was “unlikely that a bullet passed through the head from the jaw up.”

Suprising answer

Defense Attorney Rick Smith was surprised, as was the judge and the state, late Wednesday afternoon with one of Butts’ replies to a question.

Smith asked if Butts would recognize handwriting by Clark, and the medical examiner replied, “Yes.” Smith approached Butts and showed him a document and asked if the writing was by Clark.

Butts immediately said, “No!” Smith was shocked, and Judge Weeks’ eyebrows rose. All of the jury’s attention was on Butts and Smith. The attorney retrieved the sheet of paper, and asked for a recess.

It was learned Smith made a mistake and selected a copy of a handwritten document that was made by a person other than Clark, the man who performed the first autopsy. At this point the defense ended its questioning of Butts.

Mike Ramos, an attorney from Brunswick County, is an interested spectator of the trial. Representing Terrence Tyrell “Nut” Burden, Troy’s co-defendant, Ramos is present most of the time. Once in a while he goes to Smith or Peters and suggests a question to be asked of witnesses.

Judge warns Troy that courtroom
antics, threats will bring shackles

Judge Gregory Weeks

Ramel T. Troy

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Ramel Theodore Troy had a bad day in the courtroom Wednesday. Not necessarily from witnesses trying to link him to a 2002 murder, but from his actions toward the victim’s family and threats of harm to two bailiffs.

Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks warned him twice – out of the hearing of the jury – that Weeks wouldn’t tolerate such behavior, and any more such behavior would result in him being shackled in open view of the jury.

Weeks learned at the lunch break that the 24-year-old Troy had apparently twice made a vulgar gesture with the middle finger of his right hand to the family of Jonathan Chase Powell during testimony.

“I understand you made some gestures in the Powell family’s direction. No bailiff saw it, and it was apparently done on the sly. I told your defense attorneys to handle it, but now there’s another problem,” Weeks told Troy just before the opening of the Wednesday afternoon session.

Weeks said he had been told there were threats made by Troy to at least one bailiff, and called for all the bailiffs in the courtroom to speak out and report any such activity by the defendant.

Two bailiffs reported threats, one last week and one Wednesday. The judge noted that Troy was angry as he was being led to the holding cell behind the courtroom for lunch.

“You had a problem with having handcuffs on, and then when you got your lunch, you threw it all across your cell. Do you have any comment?” Weeks asked.

Troy started to reply, but then his attorney Kevin Peters advised him to say nothing. The defendant also declined to comment about what Weeks called “giving the finger” to members of the Powell family.

Weeks told Troy he had the power to put him in shackles, and even the power to remove him from the courtroom.

“This is not a threat. I’ll do whatever I need to do to ensure this trial is not interrupted and is conducted with decorum.”

Weeks told Troy it was “in your best interests to not draw attention to yourself in front of the jury. If you create a negative impression, then this could harm you regarding your guilt on innocence in this case.

“I have the power to do what’s necessary. If you force me to take action, I’ll have no option. I don’t want to shackle you. That mean’s you’re a dangerous person. Your primary thought should be what are you doing that could affect you in a negative way,” the judge added.

Just before the end of Wednesday’s testimony, the jury was sent out for a discussion of law.

Before they were called back, Weeks turned to Troy and told him to move his chair to face the front of the courtroom. Troy, sitting at a right angle to the judge, moved the chair about six inches.

“Mr. Troy, that’s not good enough. Move your chair so you face the front of the courtroom,” Weeks told him in measured terms.

Peters again spoke to Troy, and he grudgingly moved his chair so it faced the spacious courtroom table used by the state and defense.

Troy glanced and stared at the Powell family many times during the eight days of jury selection. He stared and looked at them several times during the first three days of testimony this week.

Troy is shackled by chains around his ankles and handcuffed each day as he’s brought from the jail to the courthouse. His handcuffs are attached to a waist chain that restricts the use of his arms. He’s been in custody since his arrest in March 2005.

The ankle shackles, waist chain and cuffs are removed for him to enter the courtroom. He wears a shackle – underneath his pants -- that is on the front of his legs and prevents him from running.

It’s awkward to walk with the leg shackles in place, and Troy enters and leaves the courtroom out of sight of the jury. He’s always seated when they see him.

None of the defendant’s family or friends attended the Wednesday session. Troy’s mother, confined to a wheelchair, and some friends attended Monday and Tuesday.

Witness says he removed stereo from victim’s car

Acie Kelly Jr. testifies in trial of Chase Powell’s acccused killer

Lee Bollinger

Kevin Peters

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Acie Burney Kelly Jr., a 27-year-old Clarkton resident, was the center of attention for more than five hours Monday and Tuesday as he testified about how he was involved in the death of a Whiteville teenager in 2002.

Kelly took the stand Monday at 2:30 p.m., dressed in a large T-shirt and loose pants, his hair in shoulder-length dreads held back on each side of his forehead.

He answered questions from Assistant District Attorney Chris Gentry for more than 90 minutes Monday before being cross-examined for nearly three hours.

He identified himself as a “cousin” and friend of Ramel Theodore Troy, the 24-year-old from Clarkton on trial for first-degree murder in the March 27, 2002 killing of Jonathan Chase Powell, plus theft of drugs and a 1991 Honda Accord from the victim.

Troy in a Honda

Kelly said he was living in the Oakdale public housing apartment complex in 2002, the cluster of buildings also known as the “Project,” located along U.S. 701 Business on the south side of Clarkton.

Kelly acknowledged that he saw Ramel Troy in a Honda Accord in the Project in March 2002. Kelly had been playing cards and took a break and walked outside. Troy was alone in the vehicle.

Marvin Joval “Pepe” Powell was in a Ford Taurus and drove up at the same time. “I got into Pepe’s car and we went to my cousin April (Munn) Willis’ house out in the country,” Kelly said.

“Pepe (now deceased) asked me to take the stereo out of the Honda,” Kelly stated. He said Troy followed in the Honda as they went to the Willis home off N.C. 211, “about five to seven miles away.”

15-minute job

Kelly said he went to the door and got a screwdriver from Fonzie Johnson, Willis’ boyfriend. He said it took about 15 minutes to remove the stereo from the dashboard of the Honda.

The Willis home was selected because they had a carport that was lighted, evidence showed.

Kelly said while he was working on removing the stereo unit, Troy and Pepe were at the trunk of the Honda. He said he didn’t know who removed the speakers from the trunk, but he saw Troy “toting them” after they had been taken from the trunk.

Kelly also said there was a book bag in the trunk of the Honda, and “Ramel took it.”

The group left, again with Troy driving alone in the Honda, and went to “Fish Man’s” house off N.C. 211, where Pepe talked to Matthew Shaw about buying the Honda, and then about buying the “shiny” tire rims. No sale took place.

Car wiped clean

Kelly also related the Honda was then driven to White Plains Road, and left on the shoulder. Troy and Pepe Powell, however, didn’t leave until they “wiped it down” inside and on the outside. A shirt taken from the Honda’s trunk was used for the wiping.

Kelly said he saw the speakers again a couple of days later when Troy had them at the Scotchman convenience store in Clarkton. “He was trying to sell ‘em.”

Troy, Kelly, Corey Peterson and Ronald Campbell, referred to as “Iceberg” throughout testimony from several sources, and Pepe Powell went to Myrtle Beach on the night of March 29, 2002, two days after Chase Powell was last seen in Clarkton.

About 5 a.m. the following morning (March 30) all but Pepe were arrested for possession of marijuana by South Carolina authorities. All were jailed in Horry County, S.C.

Recorded phone calls

Kelly testified about some conversation inside the jail, and mentioned that Troy asked him a question. “He said something like, ‘What would you do with a white boy in the woods?’ Kelly did not elaborate on what the question meant, and didn’t say he answered.

The witness also testified at length about several phone calls made from the jail to family and friends in Clarkton.

These recorded calls were played for the jury, and it was difficult to understand much of the conversations, but there were times when it was obvious what was being said.

Kelly identified the voices, including his and his mother’s, plus Troy, Pepe and Ronald Campbell, a cousin of Troy’s from Durham.

Kelly also noted that he saw Troy in possession of two Ecstasy pills at the beach. This evidence was offered after a young friend of Chase Powell testified that he gave Chase 10 of the pills in Whiteville on the evening the victim disappeared. (See main story)

Missing ‘dude’

Troy is heard on one of the recorded calls saying he had $255, but needed at least $600 to pay a bondsman to get out of jail. He’s heard telling his mother to “tell Pepe to sell the speakers and amp, and I’ll have enough (money).”

Pepe is called in another recorded conversation, and Pepe told Troy “to be quiet,” stop sending messages about who’s “talking” in Clarkton, and stop talking about a certain subject.

Pepe said he was “talking about that other thing” involving “that dude who got missing.”

It was also mentioned that the “amp” (amplifier unit) was in a “book bag” in Troy’s possession.

Kelly admitted under cross examination by defense attorney Kevin Peters that he was in the Bladen County Jail on felony cocaine and marijuana charges in December 2004 when he was first interviewed by the SBI.

Some inconsistencies

Kelly admitted that he first said he rode with Troy in the Honda that night, but said that was wrong. Peters kept peppering Kelly with questions about other inconsistencies in his three lengthy interviews with investigators.

He also admitted that a fraud charge involving a counterfeit check had been dismissed in Columbus County, and his judgment in two similar counts in Bladen County had been continued until after he testified.

Kelly denied getting concessions from the state, and said, “I did it, and I’ll do the time.” He said he didn’t recall talking to the SBI and being told that if he testified truthfully he wouldn’t be charged as an accessory after the fact.

He also admitted he told his mother, “I don’t know nothing about no damn white boy.” He told his mother he wasn’t going to take the rap in the case.