Three Columbus men indicted again on murder charges

Three men who had murder charges either dropped or dismissed in May were reindicted Tuesday on accusations they caused the death of a man in July 2009.

Carlos Brown, 24; Kubiat Ekperikpe, 34; and Clarence Demarcus Mahone, 24, were indicted on charges including murder and aggravated assault, court records state. They face charges in connection with the July 19, 2009, shooting death of Maurice Hollis, 24.

Police have said that Brown, Ekperikpe and Hollis were looking for marijuana the night of the shooting. That led them to Mahone’s Main Street apartment early that morning, though the defendants have given conflicting statements about who waited at the car and who accompanied Hollis to the apartment. It’s also unknown who knew about the alleged plot to rob Mahone, police said.

Shots were fired, and Hollis died from a gunshot fired by Mahone, prosecutors have said.

Grand jurors initially indicted them on charges including attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault, though they tossed the murder charges because of a 1981 state Supreme Court case, State v. Crane.

The court ruled in that case that a defendant can’t be found guilty of felony murder when the intended victim kills one of the defendant’s accomplices, because the death was caused directly by the victim, not the defendant.

The June Supreme Court ruling of State v. Jackson reinterpreted the law, said defense attorney Frank Martin, who represents Ekperikpe.

“In essence, it overruled Crane,” Martin said. “It was a split decision, but a majority said they thought that the causation of death could be caused by the conspiracy, if there was one.”

Martin said Ekperikpe would raise the point that the State v. Jackson decision came after the fatal shooting.

“I’m disappointed because there was already one indictment where nobody was indicted for murder,” Martin said. “It just complicates the case. Now, we’re back to ground zero, starting all over again.”

Defense attorney Michael Garner, who represents Brown, said he strongly disagreed with the high court’s decision.

He plans on filing several challenges on behalf of his client.

“My client’s position is that he never even went up to where this happened,” Garner said.

Mahone is in the Muscogee County Jail. Brown and Ekperikpe have not yet been rearrested.