Murder trial gets weird

UPDATE: Feds get conviction

Last week, testimony from one of the star witnesses in the federal government’s death penalty case against Rejon Taylor, [http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/death_of_a_restaurateur/Content?oid=551037, took an unexpected turn.

The witness, Sir Jack Matthews, had been indicted along with Taylor and a third man, Joey Marshall. Both Matthews and Marshall pleaded guilty to the murder of Luck, who owned Violette restaurant on Clairmont Road, and they agreed to cooperate.

In exchange for their pleas, the two men would be spared the death penalty. For their cooperation against co-defendant Taylor, they stand the possibility of having their mandatory life sentences reduced.

Marshall took the stand first, two weeks ago, and his testimony was what prosecutors expected. According to Chattanooga’s TimesFreePress.com, Marshall described how he, Taylor and Matthews burglarized Luck’s upscale home in the months leading up to his death, then — after finding out that Luck was pressing charges against Taylor — kidnapped him and drove him to Tennessee. Shortly after crossing the state line, Matthews and Taylor shot Luck, Marshall said.

A week later, however, Matthews gave a version of events that dramatically differed from Marshall’s. According to Chattanoogan.com:

Sir Jack Matthews shocked prosecutors on Thursday by completely reversing his earlier statements and saying he, Taylor and Joey Marshall had been on a trip with the restaurant operator to deliver a package of marijuana to a house in Collegedale Tennessee. Prosecutor Steve Neff on Friday said that testimony by the government witness was “inherently ridiculous.”

But that’s not all.]