Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
3
Man guilty of murder at Miles
A jury has convicted a Fairfield man of murdering a Miles College freshman after a dispute over a basketball.
Korrin Osborne faces 20 years to life in prison for the April 2003 shooting death of Woody Julian Jr., 19, of Rockford, Ill. Osborne and Julian were in a group playing pickup basketball near a Miles dormitory.
The game had ended when another man in the group picked up the ball - for no apparent reason - and hurled it, Assistant District Attorney Lynneice Powell said. Words were exchanged. The man retrieved the ball, and extended his hand to make amends to the group.
Everyone shook his hand excep
t Osborne, Powell said.
Osborne left. He returned with a gun and
shot at the crowd, which was still gathered on the basketball court. Julian, who was not the intended target, was shot and killed.
"He said he was going to `air out' Miles," said Powell, who prosecuted the case with Lane Tolbert. "He admitted shooting the victim, but said it was not intentional. The big thing in this trial was intent. The jury saw past his explanation of what happened."
Erskine Mathis, Osborne's lawyer, argued that the shooting was a reckless act but not intentional.
During the trial this week, Osborne took the stand and demonstrated how he crouched down and pulled the trigger. The jury took 90 minutes before returning a guilty verdict Wednesday. Sentencing is set for April 8.
"The only thing we could send Woody's mother back to Illinois with was justice," Powell said. "Her son came t
o
Alabama for an education and we failed her. I hope she left with the feeling that justice was done."
************
Miles Col
lege is one of dem Historically Black College (HBCU), knowha'm'say'n.
T.N.B.
Man guilty of murder at Miles
A jury has convicted a Fairfield man of murdering a Miles College freshman after a dispute over a basketball.
Korrin Osborne faces 20 years to life in prison for the April 2003 shooting death of Woody Julian Jr., 19, of Rockford, Ill. Osborne and Julian were in a group playing pickup basketball near a Miles dormitory.
The game had ended when another man in the group picked up the ball - for no apparent reason - and hurled it, Assistant District Attorney Lynneice Powell said. Words were exchanged. The man retrieved the ball, and extended his hand to make amends to the group.
Everyone shook his hand excep
t Osborne, Powell said.
Osborne left. He returned with a gun and
shot at the crowd, which was still gathered on the basketball court. Julian, who was not the intended target, was shot and killed.
"He said he was going to `air out' Miles," said Powell, who prosecuted the case with Lane Tolbert. "He admitted shooting the victim, but said it was not intentional. The big thing in this trial was intent. The jury saw past his explanation of what happened."
Erskine Mathis, Osborne's lawyer, argued that the shooting was a reckless act but not intentional.
During the trial this week, Osborne took the stand and demonstrated how he crouched down and pulled the trigger. The jury took 90 minutes before returning a guilty verdict Wednesday. Sentencing is set for April 8.
"The only thing we could send Woody's mother back to Illinois with was justice," Powell said. "Her son came t
o
Alabama for an education and we failed her. I hope she left with the feeling that justice was done."
************
Miles Col
lege is one of dem Historically Black College (HBCU), knowha'm'say'n.
T.N.B.
