Murder defendant Euri Jenkins, 33, lost a fight Wednesday morning ahead of his upcoming murder trial. Judge Kirk Volker ruled that jurors will hear evidence that wife and victim Makeva Jenkins, 33, was pregnant when she was fatally shot on June 29, 2017, and that her husband previously told a witness he wasn’t happy she was expecting.
#JenkinsTrial – The judge rules against defense and will allow the jury to hear the victim was pregnant and that the defendant told a witness that he wasn’t happy about it. pic.twitter.com/GCKlhNKoPy
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) January 22, 2020
Defense lawyer Gregg Stuart Lerman tried to block that evidence. He asserted it wasn’t relevant to the alleged motive behind the murder, which was life insurance money. Jenkins’s defense also wanted to stop jurors from hearing evidence the defendant moved on very quickly after her death, even going to a strip club just over a day after the slaying.
#JenkinsTrial – Casey Anthony has been brought up in the motions hearing. Prosecutors comparing Anthony ‘living her best life” after her daughter died to Jenkins going to a strip club 30 hours after his wife was murdered. pic.twitter.com/MAQxFOi128
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) January 22, 2020
The witness to the pregnancy detail was identified as a “Miss Coleman.” The judge allowed her to testify. She was described as a former girlfriend: She was in a sexual relationship with Euri Jenkins, but she dumped him in 2012 when she discovered he was married. She stayed friends with him.
Makeva Jenkins was shot and killed while her husband was in the home, authorities said. Euri Jenkins allegedly offered friend Joevan Joseph, 21, $1,500 to commit the deed. The gunman admitted to killing the victim last year, and pleaded down to second-degree murder in exchange for testifying against the alleged mastermind. Joseph is set to spend between five and 20 years in prison.
[Screengrab via Law&Crime Network]
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