Eyewitnesses Tuesday rehashed details of the shooting death of Christopher Cole during the opening day of testimony in Leslie Sharp’s murder retrial.
Kayla Huffman, Nicole Transchina and Alissandra Inzuna were in the car with Sharp on Nov. 10, 2008, when she shot and killed Cole on Kelly Road in Oktibbeha County.
All three women described the shooting as “murder” and each testified they never felt threatened by Cole when the four women confronted him on Kelly Road. Sharp claims she shot Cole in self-defense after he fired a pistol in the air.
The first trial ended on May 21 after a a juror hyperventilated during deliberations and needed to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. The final alternate juror had been dismissed, so 16th District Circuit Court Judge Lee Howard declared a mistrial. The decision came in the middle of the jury’s nearly three hours of deliberation.
At the time of the shooting, Inzuna was dating Cole and had caught wind that he was pursuing a romantic relationship with Huffman, who said she’d been friends with Cole since she was 13.
Huffman and Inzuna exchanged text messages the morning of the killing, ultimately agreeing to meet and later confront Cole together about pursuing relationships with both of them.
Huffman picked up Inzuna from Starkville High School, where she was a student at the time, and drove to the home of Joseph Turnipseed, who was a friend of both Cole and Inzuna, on Kelly Road.
“I picked her up, so we could discuss how to catch him in a lie,” Huffman said.
Cole often frequented Turnipseed’s home when he was off work, Inzuna said, but he wasn’t there when they arrived. Since Inzuna was skipping school, she and Huffman remained at Turnipseed’s home until school let out.
Huffman had exchanged text messages with Cole throughout the day, feigning interest in a relationship with him to provide Inzuna proof of Cole’s intentions.
Huffman and Inzuna then met up with Transchina and Sharp at Transchina’s mother’s house.
Huffman, Inzuna and Transchina talked about the situation and knew Cole was at Turnipseed’s home because Huffman had been in contact with him. The women got in Huffman’s 1999 Chevrolet Malibu while Sharp went to retrieve something before joining them in the vehicle. Huffman, Inzuna and Transchina all testified that they didn’t know at the time that Sharp went to get a gun.
Izuna said Transchina and Sharp joined her and Huffman for “support” and because they had nothing else to do.
“It was mainly my idea, mainly so he could see me and Kayla in the car,” Inzuna said. “But friends like to hang out with each other, so they rode with us.”
Both Inzuna and Huffman described the mood in the car as jovial, as they sang and danced to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Both said Sharp, who was seated in the back seat behind the driver, was mostly quiet during the ride.
The women arrived at Turnipseed’s home and saw Cole standing outside in the yard. Cole got in his Ford Ranger and drove off before coming to a stop near the intersection of Rockhill Road and Kelly Road.
Inzuna exited Huffman’s vehicle and went to sit in Cole’s truck to talk. When she exited Cole’s truck, she said she returned to Huffman’s car and was laughing about the incident.
Cole then exited his truck and approached the driver’s side of the vehicle, where Huffman was seated, and began shouting obscenities at them. Transchina said she then saw Cole put his hand in the air and fire a shot from a gun before turning to walk back to his truck. Inzuna said she never saw Cole with a gun; Huffman said she didn’t see Cole’s revolver until he had turned around to walk back to the truck.
Inzuna said she didn’t hear the first shots fired until Cole turned around to walk to his truck.
Sharp’s attorney, Jack Brown, focused most of his attention on the differences in initial statements, corrected statements and testimony in May. In Transchina’s initial statement, she said Cole shot in the air and at the ground. Tuesday, Transchina said Cole only shot in the air. Brown also pointed out Huffman never referred to the shooting as a “murder” in her testimony in May.
Tuesday, Inzuna testified she never saw Sharp duck or dodge any shots and that the only shots she heard came from Sharp’s 9 mm semi-automatic.
Cole fell onto his face near the front tire of Huffman’s car. According to Huffman and Inzuna, Cole’s body was facing his truck.
Inzuna, Huffman and Transchina tended to Cole and applied pressure to his wounds with clothing from Huffman’s car. Two 911 calls were made, though only one was between the dispatcher and one of the people at the scene, Sharp.
“I shot him. He fired at me,” said Sharp on the 911 recording. “I shot Chris Cole. Get a medic.”
Oktibbeha County EMS Director and County Medical Examiner Michael Hunt responded to the call and said Cole had a major injury to his femoral artery and had copious amounts of blood coming from the wound. Cole was pronounced dead at the scene.
OCSO Deputy John Davis, who was the first to respond to the scene, said he found 10 shells from Sharp’s weapon and six bullets left in the magazine. Cole’s revolver had one spent round and four left in the cylinder that had been struck by the hammer but didn’t discharge.
In addition to the eye witnesses, Hunt and Davis, the prosecution called OCSO Investigator Mahyar Netadj to describe the scene of the incident.
Testimony was scheduled to continue today.
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