Darrius Eugene Spearman who took the stand Wednesday, claimed he was acting in self-defense when 19-year-old Marcus "Fish" Allen was shot on the dance floor at Tiffany's, a Port Arthur club located at Houston Avenue and 10th Street. The Nov. 25, 2007, shooting occurred as rap music filled with the sound of gunshots played in the background.Spearman and Allen were members of rival street gangs and their mutual hatred was part of what motivated the murder, Jefferson County prosecutor Ramon Rodriguez told jurors in his closing. In support of his contention, he noted that when asked by defense attorney James Makin to write the names of the two gangs on a dry-erase board, Spearman switched from red to blue.
"Without anyone asking him, (when) asked about the Crips he writes it in blue," Rodriguez said in his closing. "That's the mindset. I'm red, he blue. We're red. Them other people- they blue."
Spearman, a member of the Bloods-affiliated 4-2 Pirus, also wrote down his family members' names Wednesday as part of Makin's effort to refute the validity of a statement read by the prosecution during his trial Tuesday.The statement, said to be provided by fellow Piru-member Korwin Thomas to police, indicated that Spearman had punched and then vowed to kill Allen the day before after Spearman's sister, "Dee Dee," told him Allen had taken money out of her purse.Thomas, who spoke of PCP use during that period, testified Tuesday that he did not recall providing this statement, read to jurors by Ramon Rodriguez.Spearman testified Wednesday that he never confronted Allen, a member of the rival Crips-affiliated 5-2 Hoova gang, at a Port Arthur apartment complex as the statement alleged.Running through the list of siblings one by one, Spearman testified that none of them go by the name "Dee Dee." His attorney later emphasized Thomas' testimony that he was perpetually high on PCP at that time in his life and encouraged jurors to question how reliable his testimony was if there is no "Dee Dee."Rodriguez, however, noted that it would not be unusual for someone to call Spearman's oldest sister, Dewanda, "Dee Dee," placing a check mark above each of the two Ds in her name.Spearman claimed he first saw Allen on Nov. 25 when he approached him on the dance floor at the club and began throwing gang signs as Z-Ro's "I'm a Gangsta'" played. The two began to fight, Spearman testified, and he hit Allen, knocking him back. Allen drew a gun and they struggled. Spearman said he pushed the gun away from himself and toward Allen before it went off."I had nothing against him. We was just fighting and I didn't know it would go to gunplay," he said.Asked on cross-examination by Rodriguez which hand the gun was in, Spearman testified that it was in Allen's left hand.On rebuttal, Rodriguez called Allen's father, Alfred Allen, who testified that his son was right-handed."If you're right-handed, this is your dominant hand and you're strapped, you're packing, where are you going to have your gun?" Rodriguez asked in his closing. "Common sense will tell you that."
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