The Columbus woman accused of killing a South Carolina man at an alleged gang party wept on the witness stand Thursday as she recalled his shooting.
Elysia Cooley was 16 when Marcel Samedi died from a gunshot wound to the head at Wilson Homes apartments on June 5, 2021. She is among four people charged with his murder, and she was testifying against three alleged Insane Crips now on trial.
Gang prosecutors with the state attorney general’s office said she risked her life taking the witness stand, as she has been threatened while jailed.
When lead prosecutor Thomas Kegley asked her why she took that risk, she shed tears in reply.
“My brother is Marcel’s age right now,” she said. “And if the roles were reversed, I would want someone to tell my mom and my brother the truth.”
Kegley asked how long she’d known Samedi.
“About a year, before he passed,” she said.
In the courtroom audience, Samedi’s mother Martine Azor began to cry, as did others, and Judge Richard Winegarden excused the jury to tell Kegley the emotion was distracting jurors.